In The Woods, Tana French

**SPOILERS BELOW**

I don't usually listen to audiobooks because my mind wanders and it's more difficult to pinpoint where my brain strayed than in a physical/ebook. However, in staunch defiance of the Quebecois early-Spring snowstorms, I've been walking a lot and needed a bleak, character-fuelled, wry companion.

I couldn't have made a better choice than In The Woods' narrator, Detective Adam Ryan (Ryan). A twelve-year old girl's body, Kathy, is found on an archaeological dig site, to which Ryan and his partner Cassie are called. The scene of crime borders the woods and estate where Ryan grew up, where his two childhood friends disappeared without a trace and he was found alone, the sole survivor of some mysterious tragedy, blood soaking his shoes. He was sent to boarding school afterwards and has returned to Dublin as an adult. There is evidence to suggest the two cases might be linked.

Ryan is an irresistible voice; he is frustrating in his inability to do right by others and himself (he has a habit of seducing the women in his life, before immediately dropping them and sabotaging whatever pre-existing friendship might have survived); he is self-aware and sarcastic, whilst being painfully blind to his own special concoction of hamartia (he allows his childhood trauma push people away, rendering him somewhat of a loner, when what he clearly needs is a real friend). He is a sucker for bouts of self-pity and lives in a war of attrition with his own brain: he cannot remember what happened on that night in woods, yet the memories are likely to grant him a freedom of sorts.

His partner Cassie is no less complex, yet more conventionally "likeable"*. She has insight into human psychology and is the first real friend Ryan has ever had. Their evenings of squabbling, in-jokes and wrestling matches are the inevitable precursors to them spending a night together. After that, despite Cassie's best attempts to repair their relationship (she sees, very reasonably, no reason why they can't go back to being best friends), Ryan shuns her in a mechanical and unsettling manner. He is heartbroken, obviously.

Against the backdrop of personal tumult, the case continues to be investigated. The person behind Kathy's murder, her psychopath older sister, Rosalind, is probably one of the most frightening villains I've ever read. Worse still, justice is not served in the moral sense (she does not go to prison, nor receive any sort of punishment), and the way surrounding characters cope with this (her mother chooses manic denial, her father sends the remaining sibling away to "keep her out of harm's way" and ponders upon how he wishes his eldest had never been born) is dark and depressing and utterly fascinating.

The reason I enjoy reading morally grey characters is because I like seeing elements of myself in them. Even the most engaging and sympathetic people harbour darknesses and unspoken desires: it's the way they grapple with them that makes them good, or interesting. Ryan doesn't always grapple with things in the "right" way, but it's obvious he's trying to find a way out of the woods (sorry) and just can't find a clear path. There is a comparison to be drawn between him and Rosalind: both are calculated and self-serving. The clear distinction is that our detective ultimately sabotages himself, Rosalind those around her.

This was a truly fantastic procedural with characters that linger. I will definitely continue the Dublin Murder Squad series, but must admit I am sad to see Detective Ryan doesn't make another appearance. I'm glad Cassie does, though!

*I've put this word in quotation marks because this is a concept I'm planning on writing an article about. It may just be me, but I've noticed a sharp uptick in readers desiring "likeable" characters, even in crime books. I like loathsome creatures... with some relatability peppered about. Anyway, more to come on this!