Book Review-In the Woods

I have become a big fan of books with "unreliable narrators." In addition to the main story, which is usually a mystery, the reader has to determine when the narrator is telling the truth and when s/he is lying. It is an intriguing twist to the psychological thriller genre.

I just finished In the Woods by Tana French. Not only is there the mystery the narrator is trying to solve in the present, but there is a mystery in the past that affects the characters' actions, AND the narrator tells you at the outset that he lies. Wow!

The story takes place in Dublin, Ireland. A young girl has been found murderd in a small suburb of Dublin. One of the detectives that is assigned to the case is the sole survivor of a 20 year old child disappearance case from the same town. When they were children, Det. Ryan's two best friends disappeared and he was found in the woods gripping a tree, his shoes filled with blood (not his own.) He didn't remember a thing that had happened, and the other two children were never found. Are the two cases related? Ryan decides not to inform his superiors of his connection to the earlier case (he has changed his first name so as not to be associated with the case.) He and his partner try to solve the case, but come against deadends whereever they look. Psychological suspense at its best.

Other good books with unreliable characters are:

In the Woods By French, Tana 2008-05 - Penguin Books 9780143113492 Check Our Catalog For readers who like their hard-boiled police procedurals with an international flare ("USA Today"), this thriller marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense. …More

The Little Stranger By Waters, Sarah 2010-05 - Riverhead Books 9781594484469 Check Our Catalog The "New York Times" bestseller and Booker Prize contender that "delivers...a ghost story that creeps up your spine" ("Seattle Times"). " One post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline. Its owners-mother, son, and daughter-are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his. …More

The Egyptologist By Phillips, Arthur 2005-05 - Random House Trade 9780812972597 Check Our Catalog From the bestselling author of "Prague comes a witty, inventive, brilliantly constructed novel about an Egyptologist obsessed with finding the tomb of an apocryphal king. This darkly comic labyrinth of a story opens on the desert plains of Egypt in 1922, then winds its way from the slums of Australia to the ballrooms of Boston by way of Oxford, the battlefields of the First World War, and a royal court in turmoil. Just as Howard Carter unveils the tomb of Tutankhamun, making the most dazzling find in the history of archaeology, Oxford-educated Egyptologist Ralph Trilipush is digging himself into trouble, having staked his professional reputation and his fiancee's fortune on a scrap of hieroglyphic pornography. Meanwhile, a relentless Australian detective sets off on the case of his career, spanning the globe in search of a murderer. And another murderer. And possibly another murderer. The confluence of these seemingly separate stories results in an explosive ending, at once inevitable and utterly unpredictable. Arthur Phillips leads this expedition to its unforgettable climax with all the wit and narrative bravado that made "Prague one of the most critically acclaimed novels of 2002. Exploring issues of class, greed, ambition, and the very human hunger for eternal life, this staggering second novel gives us a glimpse of Phillips's range and maturity-and is sure to earn him further acclaim as one of the most exciting authors of his generation. "From the Hardcover edition. …More

The Listener By Nayman, Shira 2009-12 - Scribner Book Company 9780743292825 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Nayman's riveting and haunting first novel of madness and passion is set in apsychiatric hospital just after World War II. …More

Life of Pi By Martel, Yann 2003-05 - Mariner Books 9780156027328 Check Our Catalog A BookPage Notable Title This brilliant novel combines the delight of Kipling's "Just So Stories" with the metaphysical adventure of "Jonah and the Whale, " as Pi, the son of a zookeeper, is marooned aboard a lifeboat with four wild animals. His knowledge and cunning allow him to coexist for 227 days with Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. …More