A Look at Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad Series

Image via Viking Penguin

In the Woods

Synopsis: Rob Ryan is a detective with a dark secret. When he was twelve years old he was found in the woods near his home with blood on his shoes and his two best friends nowhere to be found. He has no memory of this event and 22 years later, there are no leads in the case. Rob is trying to put all of this behind him, even using a different name so no one knows his true identity, when the body of a young girl turns up in the same wood where he was discovered as a child. Rob and his partner Cassie, investigate the case, hoping to uncover more secrets about Rob’s past at the same time.

Why to read it: French’s first novel is also one of her best. What starts out like a seemingly typical procedural becomes a twisting tale with multiple suspects, all who seem equally guilty. Add a case from the past with very few clues and you have a compelling page turning novel.

While the idea of a mystery might draw you to this book in the first place, the characters will be what you remember long after you read the last pages. Rob and Cassie are so much more than a will-they-or-won’t-they couple (although you’ll really want them to), they are best friends and soulmates in every sense of the word. Cassie is strong and badass and one of the few people who won’t take any of Rob’s bs, she knows him better than anyone, and trusts him completely.

You too will fall in love with Rob. I guarantee it. It will happen slowly, he’s a problematic mess of a character who straight up tells you from the very beginning that he lies. But that won’t matter, by the time you remember, you will have fallen so deeply in love with him that it will be too late and anything that happens next will just blindside you. Both Rob and Cassie are deeply flawed and deeply damaged, it’s another thing that bonds them together and makes them compelling characters. It will be what makes you fall in love with them and it will be your ultimate undoing with this book.

If you like happy endings and tied knots, don’t read In the Woods. If you like dark, complicated characters, messy plots, and saying “OH MY GOSH” outloud more than once, pick up this book immediately. But only if you have time because once you do, you won’t be able to put it down.