Suzanne
Rating:
Review
The premise of this book drew me in right away. Rob Ryan is a detective investigating the murder of a 12 year-old girl in the woods by a small town in Ireland. Rob has a secret: he himself was the victim of an unsolved crime in the very same woods some twenty years earlier, when he and his two best friends went into the woods and only he came out. His two friends were never found, and Rob was so traumatized that he has no memories of what actually happened. As Rob and his partner/best friend Cassie Maddox get their investigation of the recent murder underway, it becomes apparent that Rob is repressing more than just this one memory – he’s woefully in denial and out of touch with quite a few of his own feelings. As the investigation unfolds, he starts to remember small little flashbacks surrounding the incident from his childhood. Gradually I realized that Rob was losing it, through disturbing little hints and unsettling episodes here and there. The story has elements of a psychological thriller with a subtle hint of horror now and then without ever going over the top. The blend of genres works well.
Best Line:
"We think about mortality so little, these days, except to flail hysterically at it with trendy forms of exercise and high-fiber cereals and nicotine patches." (pg. 41)
Kim
Rating:
Review
At over 400 pages in paperback, I had hoped there was more to this story than being a whodunit. There is. Though the prologue is a mere two pages, it is most haunting in the final sentence, describing a summer of innocence lost. Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox have a brother-sister type of relationship, the kind of trusting comfort with one another borne out of countless hours together on the job, and off. Rob and Cassie work for the Dublin Police, and early in the story they are assigned to investigate the murder of 12 year-old Katy Devlin, found dead at a local archeological site. The ensuing investigation encompasses a few suspects but doesn’t really get going until 2/3 of the way through the book, because Rob and Cassie are interesting, verbose people that I surprisingly didn’t tire of in the least. They are likable and engaging, and though I found the ending a bit sad, I liked that the story wasn’t tied up neatly with a bow.
Best Line:
"I had never thought about this before, and it almost knocked me over: all the things we should have had."
