In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)

I immensely enjoyed this crime novel set in Ireland. Told from first person perspective, our narrator is Rob Ryan, who is on the murder squad with his partner Cassie, who is a rare occurrence as female detective in that unit. A murder investigation brings them to a suburb that bears (and rather misses) many memories for Ryan. In 1984 he and two 12-year old friends disappeared in the woods, and Ryan was the only child they ever found again, with a shoe full of blood and no memory of what happened. Now, near those woods, a 12-year old girl's body is found.

While the investigation is the heart of the story, it's also about Ryan and Cassie Maddox, who are both broken, flawed people. It's about their psychology and relationship as much as the investigation. At the end of the novel, I felt sad for our narrator, a certain sad melancholy.

The whodunnit part is probably the weakest bit because I saw it fairly early, especially after receiving Cassie's history regarding psychopaths.

It's beautifully written, and I am looking forward to read further stories from Tana French.

It's not often I read mysteries, for some reason, so it was luck that I picked this one up. I enjoyed it immensely--the writing, the character development, and the plot.

This is a first-person narrative, from Rob Ryan's point of view. He and Cassie Maddox are the two main investigators in this tale, and their characters are very well developed, as is their relationship with each other. In the beginning, Rob and Cassie have a delightful friendship, with banter and picadillos that make for fun reading. Both have some real sadness in their pasts, and have coped with them in different ways.

As part of the Dublin Murder Squad, these two are investigating the murder of a 12-year-old girl, and are eventually joined by investigator Sam O'Neill. The threesome develop a pleasant friendship, one that seems to echo the situation Ryan knew in his boyhood--and still pines for.

As Ryan, Maddox, and O'Neill struggle to come up with leads and motives, many intriguing facts about this small town of Knocknaree and its denizens come to light. One of the reasons I thought this mystery was so good was its complexity--even if one guesses who must have done the job, the motive is illusive until the end.

Running parallel to the mystery are social changes within the Ryan-Maddox-O'Neill trio. In the end, for Ryan, there seems to be yet another echo of an earlier experience. I must add that Ryan did not paint himself as a wonderful person, and honestly, I thought he behaved reprehensively some of the time. Perhaps I should simply say, he could be a real jerk. Despite that, however, I did not hate him so much that I would avoid reading more about him. It's complicated...

I was very happy for Maddox and O'Neill. Especially for Maddox.

Even though I was able to guess the true culprit behind the murder when I was about half way through the book, I still found it very suspenseful. In fact, it only took me a few days to read it because I couldn't put it down. Yes, the main character turns out to be a total jerk, and there ae some loose ends that are left dangling, but I found the plot line realistic in the sense that the cops don't always get their guy, and criminals can slither through cracks in the justice system if they know how. Best friends don't always stay that way forever, no matter how close they seem at the time. I could have done without some of the unprofessional banter, but I'm not a cop and have never been questioned by them, so maybe they really do act that way. If Tanna French puts out another Dublin Murder Squad book, I would read it. Hopefully, the protagonist would be a little more considerate of others.