In the Woods (Reprint) (Paperback) by Tana French

About the Book

For readers who like their hard-boiled police procedurals with an international flare ("USA Today"), this thriller marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.

Book Synopsis

The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher and "the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years" (The Washington Post).

"Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting." --The New York Times

Now airing as a Starz series.

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox--his partner and closest friend--find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

Review Quotes

[An] ambitious and extraordinary first novel...rank it high.
--The Washington Post

"Part whodunit, part psychological thriller, and wholly successful...French's plot twists and turns will bamboozle even the most astute reader...A well-written, expertly plotted thriller."
--NPR

"In the Woods is as creepily imaginative as it gets."
--USA Today

"Drawn by the grim nature of her plot and the lyrical ferocity of her writing, even smart people who should know better will be able to lose themselves in these dark woods."
--The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Tana French

"When you read Ms. French -- and she has become required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting -- make only one assumption: All of your initial assumptions are wrong"
--The New York Times

Tana French is the most interesting, most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years.
--The Washington Post

[Tana French] inspires cultic devotion in readers...most crime fiction is diverting; French's is consuming.
--The New Yorker

"To say Tana French is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. Rather she's simply this: a truly great writer."­
--Gillian Flynn

"French is a poet of mood and a master builder of plots." ­
--The Washington Post

"One of the most distinct and exciting new voices in crime writing."
--The Wall Street Journal

"French does something fresh with every novel, each one as powerful as the last but in a very different manner. Perhaps she has superpowers of her own? Whatever the source of her gift, it's only growing more miraculous with every book."
--Salon.com

About The Author

"It has become increasingly clear that American-born, Dublin-based Tana French is the most interesting, most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years. (The Washington Post) Tana is the author of the bestselling In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place and The Trespasser. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.