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.