A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an
astonishing new voice in psychological suspense
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of
1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this
warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and
silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of
the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing
blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail
of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the
found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder
Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a
twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he
and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest
friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly
similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only
snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the
chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him
and that of his own shadowy past.
Richly
atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly
convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is
sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The
Lovely Bones.