In the Woods (Book Review)

Synopsis: Goodreads

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.

My Review: 1- Think Twice!

I love suspense novels and the detective story and I thought that I would really like this one after reading the synopsis. Every time I was at a bookstore I would see this book, being drawn by the very cool cover, and I would read the synopsis and think, I should read this book. But something always kept me from actually buying it. Until one day I was in our cities second hand book store and found it on the shelf. I decided then and there that I must be destined to read this book. So I bought it.

Three kids go into the woods, when they are late coming home police are contacted and searchers begin searching the woods. What they discover is a lone boy hugging a tree with blood-filled shoes. He remembers nothing and the other two are never found. Now, twenty years later he is a detective who is trying to solve the murder of a child who was found in the very same woods he was found in. Forced to go back to his hometown and what could possibly be his memories he and his partner hope to uncover the killer from this murder and the disappearance of his friends over twenty years ago.

Sounds like a good story right? I admit the synopsis had me, but I was completely let down by the story. First of all I didn't really feel any connection to the characters, though there were moments when I genuinely liked them, they were easily forgotten. I like books that draw me in with their characters and leave me thinking about them long after I am done reading the book. Second, I was not fond of the way the story was told. It was hard to tell if the story was being told from Detective Ryan's memory or if you were actually living it with him. The thing that really bothered me about this is the fact that by flip flopping back and forth, details of the story were often told before they actually happened. Completely ruining it for me. I mean why do I need to keep reading when you already told me what happened? Third, the story was way too long, drawn out and boring. 

I love to read and fancy myself a quick reader, but during the time in which I was reading this book I kept finding excuses as to why I couldn't read the book. In fact I read three other books in the time it took me to finish this one. I dreaded reading this book like I dread reading my textbooks. But I forced myself to finish it, I mean I was destined to read it, right? Even though I did not enjoy the story I did enjoy the way the two main characters interacted, their relationship was probably the only thing I enjoyed about the book. Well at least I took a risk and gave it a try.