In the Woods Tana French

I read The Likeness before I read In the Woods and it was a mistake. I hate it when that happens. You read the more recent, better written novel first and then go back. Which isn't to say ITW isn't a great novel, but having just finished the former it made ITW easier to work out and thus a little disappointing.

The story begins with a tale about three kids that wander into the neighborhood woods one afternoon and many hours later one is found clutching a tree, terrified, speechless, with blood pooled in his socks. It's one of those stories that never get solved. The tragedy that looms. From there, the novel centers on Cassie Maddox and Rob Ryan, detectives on a fictional police force in Ireland who get called to the scene when a dead body is found in the middle of an archealogical dig, just outside the neighborhood where the kids disappeared 20 years ago. So, we have as a reader, two mysteries to solve.

SPOILER ALERT

Turns out Rob Ryan is the kid clutching the tree in the old mystery. I'm not sure how big a spoiler that is cause most readers had to see it coming. Anyway, Cassie is in on his secret but they don't tell anyone so he won't be taken off the case. You know that's going to cause some trouble.

Cassie and Rob start canvasing the area questioning the neighbors trying to figure out who would have killed a teenage girl and left her displayed in the middle of a dig. There are potential political motives with a new road being constructed destroying the dig site and affecting the surrounding property values, there's the 20 year old mystery that wasn't solved but many of the players are still around - adults now raising their own children, and there's a key investigator who's judgment is skewed.

The way the story unfolds is compelling and the layers of mystery that have to be peeled back are totally satisfying. The only problem was, I new who the killer was upon introduction. I don't know if it's because I had already read The Likeness of it's because it was that obvious, but it took a lot of the steam out of the story for me. To the point where I felt the killer was so obviously written it was at times insulting that the reader was suppose to be surprised. I wonder if it would have been the case if I'd not read her other work. Even knowing who it ultimately is that's done the deed, the unraveling was still a totally enjoyable read.