In the Woods [Hardcover]

"Wonderful, believable heroes and villains, a fantastic, driving plot that defies convention and keeps you guessing, and a stunning, shattering climax that will haunt you for weeks. But it also resonates with a deep, profound sadness, a longing for the simplicity of childhood, and the answers you can find in other people to the questions in your own life. It's brilliant. - William Hill, Hodder"

`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.'

`This is a wonderfully assured and beautifully written debut
novel, a multilayered psychological thriller that digs beneath the surface
of ordinary lives and delivers excitement and insight in large helpings.'

`The characterisation is spot on (Cassie Maddox, for one, just
leaps from the page) the dialogue pushes the story along, and the plot is
expertly fixed on the framework of the narrative. The book's author is a
professional actor; she can now add to professional author to her CV.'

`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.'

When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods one day with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened. Twenty years on, Rob Ryan -- the child who came back -- is a detective in the Dublin police force. He's changed his name. No one knows about his past. Then a little girl's body is found at the site of the old tragedy and Rob is drawn back into the mystery. Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet but hope that he might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi, and has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin. She works in theatre, film and voiceover and is a member of PurpleHeart Theatre Company.