In The Woods by Tana French
In the Woods is first in an excellent series about the Dublin murder squad. The 4th installment, Broken Harbor, comes out on July 24th so I’ve been re-reading them all. Or in my case, re-listening. I highly recommend Tana French books in general but especially in Audiobook format. The opening scene of In The Woods takes place in a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984. Evening approaches and mothers are beginning to call their children home. But on this particular evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror. He is wearing blood-filled sneakers and is unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later that boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But the secret comes out when Rob Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox are called in to investigate another disappearance. That teaser on the book jacket was enough to make me want to read more. Once I finished In The Woods I could not wait to read The Likeness, which focuses primarily on Cassie Maddox and Faithful Place featuring another detective on the same squad. That’s one of the many great things about this series – you don’t have to read them in order. It helps but is not necessary, as they all feature a different character from the same Dublin Murder squad. If you enjoy Harlen Coben or Val McDermid, I think you will also enjoy Tana French. If you love Irish accents, try the audio versions!