In the Woods

A stunningly accomplished psychological mystery which will take you on a thrilling journey through a tangled web of evil and beyond - to the inexplicable. 'The most breathtakingly brilliant and close-to-perfect thriller' Sophie Hannah 'Intricate and ... Read more

A stunningly accomplished psychological mystery which will take you on a thrilling journey through a tangled web of evil and beyond - to the inexplicable. 'The most breathtakingly brilliant and close-to-perfect thriller' Sophie Hannah 'Intricate and edgy top-notch psychological thriller' Woman & Home 'Sharply written, insidiously creepy . . . mesmerising' The Times 'Slick, sophisticated' Guardian 'A splendid, page-turning debut' She 'A rich multi-layered thriller' Choice 'Lyrical and haunting' Scotland on Sunday When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened. Twenty years on, Rob Ryan - the child who came back - is a detective in the Dublin police force. He's changed his name. No one knows about his past. Then a little girl's body is found at the site of the old tragedy and Rob is drawn back into the mystery. Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet but hope that he might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods. 'This is a real treat for Christmas . . . a classic murder mystery with plenty of twists and macabre detail . . . startlingly accomplished . . . French writes beautifully and is far from lazy when it comes to sprinkling clues and red herrings and developing the characters' Alyson Rudd, The Times 'This astonishing first novel weaves a web of intrigue to confound even the most astute: and its denouement, swift, shocking and sublimely executed, will remain with the reader long after the final page has been turned' Margaret Carragher, Sunday Independent, Dublin'A real show-stopper of a thriller . . . French tightens the tension slowly until squealing point; A splendid page-turning debut' She 'Unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting' The New York Times Less