In The Woods

enjoyable mystery novel with a degree of sensitivity and complexity missing in the usual murder investigation tale. the story told in first person, follows the climax and subsequent collapse of the personal and professional life of one detective Rob (Adam) Ryan.

the mystery is twofold; first is the relatively straightforward whodunit tale he and his partner are investigating and second the dimly recalled details of his own traumatic history. a nicely paced and well written peice of mystery fiction, the action centers around a child murder investigation that brngs our hero into close proximity to a place charged with meaning for him: the wood near his childhood home where as an adolescent he and two of his best friends disappeared for several days before only he is discovered with no memory of the events which befell the lot of them.

for a police investigator he shows a remarkable degree of ambivilance toward trying to recover his memory or discover the truth about the fate of his two closest childhood friends. yet as the investigation continues his carefully ordered coping strategy of avoiding the subject mentally begins to unravel. however, his only attempt to unearth his recollections offers no ultimately meaningful revelations, but instead serve only to alienate him from his meaningful current relationships.

while i fundamentally did enjoy this book, i found the primary mystery somewhat predictable, (i tagged the "culprit" on first introduction) and the secondary tale left questions unasked and unanswered in a way i felt was ncongruous with my expectations of the main character.

i also have a slightly weird tendency to hyperscrutinize when authors choose to write in the voice of a gender not their own. i find it is rare that an author can accurately capture the nuance of communication necessary to have the overall effect seem authentic. and while i considered this to be a better than average effort, there were a number of ways in which i felt detective Ryan behaved in a sterotypically "male" fashion that did not seem to serve any meaningful purpose in informing us about him. nor did they reflect the sensitivity this author showed herself capable of when describing other characters or atmospheric elements.

i do consider this to have been a much better than average murder mystery novel when left to its own merits. most of the things about it i didnt care for are pretty idiosyncratic and probably unique to my peculiarities.

recommended

Viking Adult (2007), Hardcover, 429 pages