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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A True Page Turner, 1 Jan 2001
By A Customer
As a first time Morse reader, who has since read all of the novels, I found this book one of the most satisfying I have ever read. As a bookworm, I relish it when I have found a genuine, compulsive, page-turner of a book (note the Oxford comma). I had seen many of the TV films, so knew the characters, and, though there are only 13 novels (14 if you count the short-story collection, I don't) to 33 films, they are the kind you can read over and over again. An interesting point in this book was that Colin Dexter takes into account what happens in between novels. To clarify, The Way Through The Woods was published in 1993, two years after The Jewel That Was Ours, in which time two series of Inspector Morse had been shown on ITV. Having recently seen both 'Promised Land' and 'The Death of the Self', neither of which were novels, I noticed something that, had it been absent, would grind at the eyes and ears of die hard fans. Dexter mentions that, hithero to the events in 'The Way Through The Woods', Lewis's only travel abroad had been (in addition to a single afternoon in a Calais supermarket) three weeks in Australia and two weeks in Italy. I consider this a compliment from Mr Dexter to those who both read his novels and watch the television films, which they inspired, as he knows that we would notice, was this left out. Other than this, I would consider this the best Morse book of them all.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Quality Morse Novel, 1 Aug 2000
This novel begins oddly with Morse on holiday, but it's not long before he's called back to Oxford where new evidence has emerged on a year old case. This Morse novel is probably one of the best in the series. It has a multilayered plot that leaves the reader pondering many aspects of it during the reading and trying to work out who did what and why. The writing has the quality that is expected from Colin Dexter and the characterisation is excellent. The resolution at the heart of the case was a little predictable, but it was a suprise when it was revealed. If you've only seen the television Morse, then read the real thing. The television films are very good, but I find the books Morse more satisfying.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's the small things which are important here, 7 Sep 2009
This is another real page turner from Colin Dexter. As with many other Chief Inspector Morse mysteries, there is a short prologue, but it is rather meaningless, if you don't read the whole book.
Quite unlike his previous novels Dexter starts this novel by sending Morse on holiday somewhere in Dorset, where he incidentally meets someone, whose acquaintance will play a role in a forthcoming mystery to be solved by Morse. What kicks this case off is a poem sent to The Times (by one of its readers), which breathes new life into a year-old case of a disappeared if not murdered backpacker from Sweden.
Morse is called back from holiday - quite against his will for a change - because his boss thinks that the inspector who investigated the case last year is no good. From there the book evolves into a typical Inspector Morse mystery with more than one possible plot and a whole bunch of characters potentially involved at more than one level. If you have read any previous Inspector Morse novels you will immediately recognise the style of this book.
You will again wonder what really happened at the scene of the crime and who might have done it, but this time Colin Dexter has made life a little bit easier for the reader because he drops quite a few hints, which do not make it all that difficult (compared to some of his previous Morse novels) to work out the outcome of the case.
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