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Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to deal with the events of In the Woods. She is out of the Murder Squad and has started a relationship with fellow detective Sam ONeill but is too badly shaken to commit to Sam or to her career.
Then Sam is allocated a new case, that of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin. He calls Cassie to the murder scene and she finds the victim is strangely familiar. In fact, she is Cassies double.
Not only that, but her ID says she is Lexie Madison the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective.
With no leads, no suspects and no clues, Cassies old undercover boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: to send Cassie undercover in the dead girls place. She could pick up information the police would never hear and tempt the killer to finish the job.
So Cassie moves into Whitethorn House, poses as a post-grad student, and prepares to enter Lexies world
Then Sam is allocated a new case, that of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin. He calls Cassie to the murder scene and she finds the victim is strangely familiar. In fact, she is Cassies double.
Not only that, but her ID says she is Lexie Madison the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective.
With no leads, no suspects and no clues, Cassies old undercover boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: to send Cassie undercover in the dead girls place. She could pick up information the police would never hear and tempt the killer to finish the job.
So Cassie moves into Whitethorn House, poses as a post-grad student, and prepares to enter Lexies world
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Reviews
'Tana French's IN THE WOODS is a terrific debut . . . French's psychological insights into the damaged policeman's torment combine grippingly with the clammy atmosphere that surrounds the lethal woods. As an example of a novel in which the past returns to haunt the present, this scores very high marks.'
'Lyrical and haunting'
'A real show-stopper of a thriller . . . Author tightens the tension slowly until squealing point; Ryan's increasingly taut relationship with Maddox is woven cunningly around the crime plot. A splendid, page-turning debut.'
'A compellingly complex case with nuanced characters and a richly detailed sense of place'
'French expertly walks the line between police procedurial and psychological thriller in her debut.'
'A brilliant first novel . . . the reader's attention is slackened and tightened with a masterly hand.'
'Beneath the lyrical descriptions of hot summers and happy childhood memories in small town Ireland lies an unsettling psychological thriller... A compelling page-turner of sinuous twists and turns.'
'The most breathtakingly brilliant and close-to-perfect thriller I've read for a long time. I stayed up until three in the morning two nights running unable to put it down.'
'A must-read is Irish writer Tana French's IN THE WOODS, a literary, dark and absolutely compelling book set in Dublin where all manner of secrets are unearthed.'
'This astonishing first novel weaves a web of intrigue to confound even the most astute: and its denouement, swift, shocking and sublimely executed, will remain with the reader long after the final page has been turned.'