In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French.

I was put onto this author by some friends on Goodreads. I liked the reviews they had written, so I slowly invested in the Dublin Murder Squad series to read at a later date. When I got to the end of The Deepest Grave by Harry Bingham, his author’s note explained the differences between crime thrillers and their writing styles. Tana French was one of the authors Harry highlighted for producing novels in the format and style I enjoy the most. And oh boy, Harry was right about Tana in his author’s note.

Okay, so I am rather late to the party as In the Woods was written in 2007. But do not let that put you off! This debut novel by Tana gained 4 literary awards and she deserved each and every one of them.

I found In the Woods a great book to live with. It is written in the first person following Detective Rob Ryan of the Dublin Murder Squad. It is told as though Rob is your friend and he is telling you a very long tale over a few beers. In the Woods is a very long novel, knocking just short of 600 pages but it is a great journey for the reader to travel.

I loved the mix and balance of this story. It has police procedure, strong characterization of Detective Rob Ryan, a great back story, mystery, a good plot, a good cast of supporting police officers, a good range of suspects for the murder and a good plot. I developed an empathy very quickly for Rob and it is nice how he talks the reader through the mistakes.

Tana sets her scenes very well indeed. I found her novel very easy to read and follow. Her vocabulary is very extensive and this novel is not cheap, throwaway writing. There is no need to second guess the person who committed the murder, you should just enjoy this novel for what it is. I liked all the psychology woven into the story, how the police profile suspects and how they question them. This all made for an intelligent and adult read.

I was very impressed with In the Woods and it gave me that great feeling of getting to know someone, warts and all. It was a joy to run with this book, day in, day out - I really engaged with it. Between reading sessions my mind was wondering who the murderer was and as the novel progressed I changed my chief suspect time and time again. There were many twists in the plot and I thought that yet another twist would lead to a suspect who I had earmarked earlier as the murderer but I was wrong!

I thought In the Woods was a great read and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. It gave me everything I wanted from a novel and I am so glad that I invested in the other 5 books in the series as when I got to the end, I just wanted to spend more days working alongside the Dublin Murder Squad.

In the Woods was written in 2007 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.