
Summary: As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm 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, wearing blood-filled shoes, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox – his partner and closest friend – find themselves investigating a case with chilling links to that long-ago disappearance. Now, with only snippets of buried memories to guide him, Rob has the chance to unravel both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.
Author: Tana French
Review:
I’ve heard a lot about this novel, how it’s creepy/unsettling, riveting, and one of French’s best works, so I had high expectations for this since I’ve yet to read a psychological thriller/mystery that was actually thrilling and creepy.
This is Tana French’s debut novel and it opened to glowing reviews about how brilliant the novel is and how raw and tender her writing is concerning the relationship between Rob and Cassie.
When I started reading this, I couldn’t stop. It was that good. The main plot which is about the murder of a young girl and the subplot about Rob’s childhood and his blocked memory are laid out brilliantly.
First, the main plotline; the murder of Katharine “Katy” Devlin. Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox are ‘newbies’ on the Murder squad. They are a close-knit pair and eagerly hop on the case. It is not until they find out where the murder happened that Rob remembers something.
This something is our subplot; Rob previously known as Adam, was one of three kids who disappeared in the woods of a small Dublin suburb. Adam/Rob was the only one that returned, his friends, Peter and Jamie weren’t even found. Despite being the only one that returned (blood all over and inside his shoes), Adam/Rob proclaims that this even had no profound meaning in his adult life, although he cannot remember that period of his childhood.
Now onto the writing. French does a brilliant job of laying down the story and creating and building these characters and their relationships, especially with Rob and Cassie. The writing is creepy and addicting. You just have to know what happens next.
But right around the time I got to the middle of the book, I felt myself getting annoyed with Rob. There were certain things he did and ways he acted that made me angry with him. I don’t know if it was French’s intention, but Rob is one of the worst murder detectives ever. Seriously. Out of most things in the novel, I just couldn’t believe that he was a brilliant detective who solved nearly all his cases. But I guess that’s the brilliant part; he’s completely fucked up and flawed aka real.
The Devlin murder case is written well; the whodunit feel and the set up, just perfect. But then it got to wrapping up the whole novel, both main plot and subplot, and I just felt like something was missing, something crucial to actually tie together the whole thing.
French did a brilliant job with the beginning and the middle (which is where most writers seem to lag) but the ending? The ending was empty. I finished the book and realized that this novel that started out so well and got me to the edge of me seat, left me disappointed and unimpressed.
I will probably read her other novels and I hope that in them, the endings are less rushed and filled with less wtfuckery.
Rating: 3/5