One Summer night, two decades ago, three missing children: Peter, Jamie and Adam. For them, the woods that reach around Knocknaree have been a home away from home. They've picnicked in the ruins of an dilapidated old castle, made mischief in their favourite clearing, but they're almost in their teens; adult enough, at least, to understand that change is in the air. Jamie's mother is about to send her to boarding school, and the children know that her looming absence will mean the end of the precious bond that ties them together. They take to the woods. It's as easy a decision for them as A, B, C.
As day draws on and the evening gives way to a forbidding darkness, the police are called in to comb through the forest. After hours of searching, aided by townspeople and fearful parents, they find only Adam, catatonic against a tree. His shirt has two appalling tears through it; his shoes are sodden, black with blood. He survives, but his memory fails. Ryan grows up an amnesiac, unable to remember anything about the night his innocence was stolen – along, presumably, with the lives of his closest friends.
This snapshot of a countryside idyll shattered in an awful instant is only the beginning of something greater, but the intrusion of horror on normalcy informs much of Irish-born author Tana French's astonishing debut. Harrowing and haunting, to dismiss In The Woods as mere genre fiction is to the miss the point entirely.
Its principle character is indeed a detective: Adam Robert Ryan, all grown up – going now by his middle name but no closer to the truth of that fateful night. The narrative, too, is driven in large part by an investigation that bears striking similarities to the events he has done so much to distance himself from – the disappearance and tragic death of a young girl, Katy: an aspiring ballet-dancer whose hopes and dreams are forfeit for the sake of some sick scheme. She's the daughter of a local man who's been making noise about the development of a motorway through Knocknaree, so naturally there's no shortage of corruption and conspiracy to navigate. Where In The Woods sets itself apart from the by-the-numbers books that its genre is unfortunately rife with is in its clever use of some fairly standard devices. At each turn French is positively gleeful in her subversion of our expectations. There is, perhaps, something of Christopher Nolan's oft-acclaimed Memento in the way the author turns insignificances and asides on their head to embellish new meanings upon them. She's meticulous in her documentation, but restrained enough that she never so much as startles the flow of the story; her sense of pacing is excellent, her plotting precise and yet elegant.
Article comments
1 - Declan Burke
Hi Niall - At the risk of being overly pedantic, why should a critic be inclined to dismiss genre fiction, or describe it as 'mere genre fiction'? And as for there being "startling signs of life left in the old genre after all" - crime / mystery fiction has never been more vibrant, diverse and exciting. Criminality and its interpretations - or crime and punishment, as Dostoevsky put it bluntly - is as relevant now as it ever was, and arguably more so. I'm not quibbling with your review of In The Woods, mind - I'm simply saying that to suggest it's a bright beacon in a failing genre is utterly wrong. Cheers, Declan
2 - Niall Rough
I don't know that I would say that crime is a failing genre. Old, certainly, but if that were an offense I'd be guilty of it myself. My problem, if you want to frame it that way, is twofold: the ratio of gems to duds is - I think - decidedly unbalanced in favour of the latter, and despite the occasional standout, growing more so year on year. Again, though, in whatever medium and whatever genre you love, there's inevitably a lake of mediocrity and out-and-out rubbish to wade through before you arrive at something genuinely worthwhile.
My real issue with crime fiction is that the formula its authors employ time and again seem to me a crutch. I appreciate that the concept of a formula doesn't in itself necessitate some drastic overhaul, but in my mind it's long past time for that formula to be challenged rather than simply adapted. I don't agree that it's acceptable simply to be substitute the particulars, and so many of the writers who dominate the genre appear content to treat their narratives like an afternoon of Cluedo: crafting the same old stories but this time, stop the presses, Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the conservatory was framed! I think we may have to agree to disagree that the genre has never been more vibrant. And that's fine. A formula is only a problem when you've tired of it. For me, In The Woods reinvigorated the bullet points I'd grown wary of.
Mostly, though, I wanted to pick up on the idea that I've any kind of problem with genre. When I wrote that 'to dismiss [In The Woods] as mere genre fiction is to miss the point', the last thing I meant was to suggest genre fiction should be dismissed - only that, too often, it is, simply for its genre. I'm unapologetic in my love for crime, horror, fantasy and sci-fi - all genres sublimated on the suspicion that they share a selection of themes which are considered, on some level, low-brow, or outright inferior. It honestly angers me that so many critics and readers alike habitually sideline such novels, with no regard for their individual merits. On that, at least, I hope we can unite.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts though, Declan. Great to hear such considered points - and here on the internet, of all places...
3 - Declan Burke
Niall - Would love to disagree with you on most of what you've said above, if only for the sake of argument, but you've hit several nails squarely on the head. Yes, crime fiction needs to challenge itself (I think the increasing amount of European crime fiction coming available in translation is playing a part in that); yes, formula works (it worked fine for the classical Greeks, say) but formulaic is self-defeating, for an individual writer and for a genre in general; and I obviously took you up wrong on the 'mere genre' issue - humble apologies for that. Appreciate you taking the time to respond to my point(s), Cheers, Dec
4 - Niall Rough
Points well made need taking up, mate. Pleased to see someone defending the genre, at least - for all my problems with crime fiction, its a fond favourite still - and from your blog it looks like you're doing an excellent job of it. I'd be glad to hear a few of your recommendations, Dec. These translated tales in particular sound appealing; the difference the essential otherness of another culture can make can't be under-represented, the way the selfsame old that so often holds the genre back can be approached from entirely different perspective...
5 - Fuck me through the phone baby
i wanna read this book so bad!!!
6 - Spongebob Squarepants
Well i think that the book waas good evan tho i didnt read it.
7 - KNest
I am 1/3 way through the book. I think the book is PG 13, I do not recommend the book to young kids. But so far the book is well-build, very interesting to read.
8 - f u
this book is so good i love it so far im o nly lik half way threw it but it it difinitly not for little kids