|
|
virginia-classifieds.net - In the Woods
virginia-classifieds.net is the where to go for the great discount prices on hundreds of
leading worldwide brands. Our catalog is large and updated frequently with products that you want.
With thousands of products, you are sure to find what you are looking for.
Why pay regular prices when you can buy discount items
online from virginia-classifieds.net? To start browsing our catalog, click on one of our categories on the menu
on the left under the section marked "Products", or use our search utility on the top menu to search using keywords.
|
List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $6.60
Your Save: $ 7.40 ( 53% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
|
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780143113492
ISBN: 0143113496
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2008-05-27
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
|
|
Buy this item today
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Underwhelmed (SPOILERS)
Comment: ** spoiler alert **
If I could, I'd probably rate this at 1.5 stars-- it ultimately upset me greatly, and annoyed me throughout, but it was good enough to keep me reading and I suppose that should count for something.
Maybe my opinion has been influenced by reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO immediately prior to this one. That book wasn't perfect, but it had characters you rooted for, didn't wallow too much in pop culture references, and most importantly IT SOLVED THE DARN MYSTERY.
Let's go through a few of these points. First, I don't think I've ever read a mystery novel with a less likable main character/narrator. Rob (Adam) Ryan is a majorly unpleasant jerk, plain and simple. Sure, he's been warped by his childhood and circumstances, but he does just about every annoying thing you could possibly imagine-- he constantly navel-gazes and feels self pity, he sleeps with then immediately plays the stereotypical male "I don't want anything to do with you now" role with his female partner (the person we were told was his best friend, and whom he would never ever sleep with), he acts like an idiot over the 17 year old villain/ temptress/ psychopath/ whatever betraying his partner, and by the end of the book he is worse off than ever. I know that lots of detectives (esp. in hard-boild stories) are unlikable, and have many personal issues, but this guy just took the cake. I wanted to take a baseball bat to his head. To make matters worse, French throws in this little gem towards the end of the novel:
"I am intensely aware, by the way, that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light. I am aware that, within an impressively short time of meeting me, Rosalind had me coming to heel like a well-trained dog: running up and down stairs to bring her coffee, nodding along while she bitched about my partner, imagining like some starstruck teenager that she was a kindred soul. But before you decide to despise me too thoroughly, consider this: she fooled you, too. You had as good a chance as I did. I told you everything I saw, as I saw it at the time. And if that was in itself deceptive, remember, I told you that, too: I warned you, right from the beginning, that I lie."
As if that excused anything... and NO, she didn't "fool" me, because YOU'RE the narrator and YOU'RE the one telling the story. This paragraph probably ticked me off more than anything else in the book.
Second, the book seriously dates itself with little pop culture references... from Simpsons quotes to mentions of Ricky Martin and The Simple Life. Gah. The beginning of the book felt like a very special episode of FRIENDS where Chandler, Monica and Ross solve a mystery. I'm a pretty big pop culture type of guy, but the references dropped in this novel just annoyed me.
The last part is a bit more controversial I suppose. There are two central mysteries in this book-- the first, what happened to Katy, DOES get solved in the course of the novel (the "big break" in the case is our hero realizing suddenly that the murder probably took place in a shed about 20 feet from where the body was found! Really?? No one bothered to think of that for a month?), but the deeper mystery about what happened to Rob/Adam and his friends is never resolved. Your mileage may vary about how annoying that is. Truth be told, it didn't annoy me as much as the fact that the true "villain" of the modern mystery walks without being punished in any way. How incredibly unsatisfying.
I know this was a first novel, so hopefully things will improve for her second book. I know, also, that this book won a major award and that lots of people seem to love it to death, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Horrible ending
Comment: Loved the book, couldn't put it down. But the ending was very disappointing. What's the point of a good mystery if the mystery is never solved?
Customer Rating:
Summary: $equel!
Comment: I am giving this book two stars instead of one, because the author did keep me entertained for most of the book. I really only cared about one of the mysteries in this book, and it was that mystery the author decided to leave unsolved. I won't spoil the ending, if you want to call it that, but can only say this book doesn't have one. The story comes to a close, like a daytime soap opera. If the reader wants to find out what really happened, and actually I don't anymore, you'll have to tune in (and buy) her next book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: `You're the perfect person for this case ..'
Comment: A twelve year old boy and his two best friends are playing in the woods during their summer holidays. Something happens: the two friends are never seen again and the boy who remains has no memory of the events.
Twenty years later, the boy is now a detective in the Dublin police force. A small girl's body is found in the same woods, and Detective Rob Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox are the investigating officers. And so, for Rob Ryan at least, the contemporary murder investigation becomes intertwined with the earlier mystery.
From my perspective, it is the exploration of the past that provides the most interest in this novel. Some foolish choices are made and consequences, as always, need to be faced and accommodated. Ryan becomes understandably (and perhaps predictably) caught in his own past and this creates several problems for the current investigation. Yes, some readers will work out the answer (the `who', the `why' and possibly the `where') to the present murder quite early in the book. Notwithstanding this, I found myself engrossed in the novel as I wanted to know more about the past mystery.
This is one of those novels that is almost not big enough, in scope terms, to include all of the themes that the author wishes to explore. Paradoxically, the breadth of the scope means that the depth of coverage is sometimes uneven.
I would have given the novel 3.5 stars, but 3 stars was too curmudgeonly for a novel that kept me thinking outside the plot. So, and in keeping with the spirit of the season, I've given the novel 4 stars. It is a first novel, and I look forward to reading more novels by Ms French.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Customer Rating:
Summary: This Lady Can Write!
Comment: While i will admit its a little slow and left me wanting, she writes very well and i will now read the next book The Likeness. If you are looking for action-this is not your book. But She gives us two mysteries and leaves us hanging with one. Hopefully she will shed light in the next book. If not, I still enjoyed this book.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
