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Fabian {Councillor}'s Reviews > Grabesgrün
Grabesgrün
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Fabian {Councillor}'s review
bookshelves: all-time-favorites, read-2015, reviewed, library, year-2007, crime-fiction, mystery, detective-fiction, thriller-and-suspense, ireland, small-town-life, debut-novel
Jun 24, 2015
bookshelves: all-time-favorites, read-2015, reviewed, library, year-2007, crime-fiction, mystery, detective-fiction, thriller-and-suspense, ireland, small-town-life, debut-novel
It is impossible to even attempt to record the number of crime/mystery/thriller novels out there, and nearly all of them follow a similar pattern - something horrible happens, maybe an assault, maybe a rape, maybe a murder, and relatives/(police) detectives/whoever have to solve the mystery. This procedure has been applied thousands of times, and although exceptions to the usual pattern can, of course, always be found within the genre, they are rarely to be discovered.
But then there are books like "In the Woods". Tana French's debut novel starts off with a murder investigation, and it is actually one of those mentioned mystery novels. Someone dies, and two police detectives - Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox - have to solve the case. But it is so much more than that. Over the course of 700 pages *, "In the Woods" deals with human abysses, tortured minds and souls, deep memories and all too human fears. Tana French immediately captured me with her beautiful writing style and allowed me to enter a world full of treachery, hate ... and love. But it wasn't sad all the time. The author managed to include loosening and exhilarating scenes now and then, and then there was also the great relation between Rob and Cassie, two friends full of trust and closeness to each other, and you know immediately that it is only friendship which exists between the two of them. But what a fascinating friendship it is.
Although I can understand why people complain about the ending, this book was so intense, so sad, so funny, so mysterious and so thrilling, with some of the most realistic and interesting characters I've ever encountered in the thriller genre, that I will excuse her choices - just like in real life, not everything can ever truly be elucidated. The tension was not created out of action scenes, horrendous incidents or thrilling passages (which is why it might have dragged on for some parts of the story). No, the tension was created by psychological torture, by letting you feel empathy for Rob and just want to embrace him. Rob wasn't the perfect likeable character; he made more than one, more than ten, more than hundred mistakes, but doesn't everybody make mistakes? This much is certain: Tana French succeeded with making Rob one of my all-time favorite characters, but she succeeded even more with making me want to read more about the Dublin Murder Squad.
* I've read the German translation in the Hardcover format, which was 330 pages longer than the number of pages Goodreads mentions for the English original. The book definitely did not feel as long as 700 pages, but it was still such a heavy edition that you could probably commit murder with it.
But then there are books like "In the Woods". Tana French's debut novel starts off with a murder investigation, and it is actually one of those mentioned mystery novels. Someone dies, and two police detectives - Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox - have to solve the case. But it is so much more than that. Over the course of 700 pages *, "In the Woods" deals with human abysses, tortured minds and souls, deep memories and all too human fears. Tana French immediately captured me with her beautiful writing style and allowed me to enter a world full of treachery, hate ... and love. But it wasn't sad all the time. The author managed to include loosening and exhilarating scenes now and then, and then there was also the great relation between Rob and Cassie, two friends full of trust and closeness to each other, and you know immediately that it is only friendship which exists between the two of them. But what a fascinating friendship it is.
Although I can understand why people complain about the ending, this book was so intense, so sad, so funny, so mysterious and so thrilling, with some of the most realistic and interesting characters I've ever encountered in the thriller genre, that I will excuse her choices - just like in real life, not everything can ever truly be elucidated. The tension was not created out of action scenes, horrendous incidents or thrilling passages (which is why it might have dragged on for some parts of the story). No, the tension was created by psychological torture, by letting you feel empathy for Rob and just want to embrace him. Rob wasn't the perfect likeable character; he made more than one, more than ten, more than hundred mistakes, but doesn't everybody make mistakes? This much is certain: Tana French succeeded with making Rob one of my all-time favorite characters, but she succeeded even more with making me want to read more about the Dublin Murder Squad.
* I've read the German translation in the Hardcover format, which was 330 pages longer than the number of pages Goodreads mentions for the English original. The book definitely did not feel as long as 700 pages, but it was still such a heavy edition that you could probably commit murder with it.
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Reading Progress
June 24, 2015
– Shelved
December 21, 2015
–
Started Reading
December 27, 2015
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-23 of 23 (23 new)
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Fatty wrote: "Good to hear. Consider yourself my lab-rat for this one. :P"Hehe, I'll take that part willingly. ;D
Fatty wrote: "Fantastic review! I've been convinced -- will consider it more seriously. :) You've addressed all the misgivings anyone might have about reading a popular book from this genre!"Thank you! I'm sooo interested in your opinion. People seem to either love or hate this book, so it might also end up being a total disappointment for you. But I'm optimistic today :p
Fatty wrote: "Nooo. :P If you say the writing style is beautiful and the characters are realistic, that's half the battle won! Hahaha, people are always optimistic at the start of the year. :D"That's so true! I'm one of those people who always have good resolutions and then break all of them. Most used resolution: Don't be so lazy next year! Uh, well, you can probably imagine how this ends ... :D
Ooooh, I bought this one (for a quarter, woot woot!) on vacation. I need to read it soon : )
Kelly (and the Book Boar) wrote: "I need to read it soon : )"Yes, indeed! I hope you'll enjoy it :)
This book was so awesome! But the ending was TORTURE. I was so disappointed when Rob's mysterious past was left unresolved :(
Medini wrote: "This book was so awesome! But the ending was TORTURE."I think it would have received six stars by me if everything had been explained at the ending. ;) I'm fine with the way Tana French ended the novel, especially considering that I can't imagine a believable way to clarify the circumstances of this long-bygone crime. But I'm glad you liked the novel in spite of that, Medini. :)
I do hope Rob's story gets resolved in the upcoming books :P
Medini wrote: "I do hope Rob's story gets resolved in the upcoming books :P"Yes, that would be nice indeed! :b
Nice review. As much as I try to avoid modern thrillers (exactly for the reason you mentioned in the first paragraph) you made me interested in this one.
Tana French ist bisher die einzige Krimiautorin, die mich als kleine Krimihasserin voll und ganz überzeugen kann :-)
Evgeny wrote: "Nice review. As much as I try to avoid modern thrillers (exactly for the reason you mentioned in the first paragraph) you made me interested in this one."Thank you, Evgeny. As I already said, this one evoked quite polarizing opinions, so I back off from recommending it, but if you are in the right mood to read a psychological thriller with a lot of insight into the protagonist's mind, then "In the Woods" would be a perfect choice. :)
Sabah wrote: "Such a fascinating review Councillor. I certainly like the realistic depiction of the characters you've outlined. Not always a thriller type of gal, I may not add. But certainly a wonderful review!..."It always conjures a smile on my face to read your comments; thank you, Sabah! :)
Idril wrote: "Tana French ist bisher die einzige Krimiautorin, die mich als kleine Krimihasserin voll und ganz überzeugen kann :-)"Kann ich absolut nachvollziehen, und ich muss auch zugeben, dass ich Tana French nicht unbedingt als Krimiautorin, sondern vielmehr als Autorin psychologisch tiefgründiger Romane betrachte. ;) Hast du schon eine der Fortsetzungen gelesen?
Tana French has been lavishly praised by many of my GR friends, and so it's been a while that the book has been sitting patiently on my shelves, waiting to be picked. Your enthusiastic response prickles my idleness, Councillor. It also might be the final push for me to read the novel once and for all. Thanks for that and I am glad you started off 2016 on the right reading-foot! :)
Sabah wrote: "Councillor, the idea that any comment from me may make you smile, makes me smile effusively! Thank you, Councillor! I've reverted back to this name as I know my friend Councillor, Fabian seems like a separate entity ; )" Haha, okay. Feel free to call me whatever you like ;)
Dolors wrote: "Tana French has been lavishly praised by many of my GR friends, and so it's been a while that the book has been sitting patiently on my shelves, waiting to be picked. Your enthusiastic response pri..."I actually ended 2015 on the right reading-foot with "In the Woods", while my picks for starting 2016 were a little bit patchy so far. (I'm simply waaay behind with writing my reviews.) Thank you for taking the time to read my review and write such a wonderful comment, Dolors. I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on it in case you're indeed going to pick it up. :)
Lovely review! If I'm to be honest with myself, really, I think the first genres that I started out with when I began my reading lifestyle were the crime/mystery/investigative/suspenseful and thrilling genres. I loved and lived them. Buuuut now I can't remember the names of half the books I read from those genres. I wasn't on goodreads yet, soo...yeah no records were kept. Sadly.Over the years I think I've evolved as a reader - I think most, if not all readers do, really- so my inclinations have floated from genre to genre: Historical fiction to Young Adult to New Adult to Children and Middle Age to Dystopian (I know It's really impractical to say a book belongs to one genre alone because no book monopolizes only one genre, but I'm referring to that one genre that stands out most in a book and represents the greater part of it)
Now I enjoy all genres, not equally, of course. Haha. Don't laugh, but, the most constant genre in my life is the Children's and Middle grade books genre. I'm currently in my "Dr. Seuss phase". I never experienced him as a child, so I'm enjoying the little wonders of his works now. The long and short of it is, your review made me remember my crime and mystery days. Haha :)
And sorry for the epistle. I'm quite the rambler.
Anne (Anneshka) wrote: "Lovely review! If I'm to be honest with myself, really, I think the first genres that I started out with when I began my reading lifestyle were the crime/mystery/investigative/suspenseful and thril..."Thank you, Anne. And don't excuse for being a rambler, especially not if I could be called exactly the same. :P
I always had a soft spot for crime/mystery/thriller novels, an obsession which already started with Enid Blyton's novels and was then sharpened later on. By now, I love all the genres, although I tend to avoid sci-fi and Paranormal Romance because of bad experiences with those. At least sci-fi will be given a second chance one day, though. The only genre I HAVE to read a lot more of is Historical Fiction, I feel like I have neglected this genre for way too long.
You're so right about your statement that books never belong to one genre alone (well, at least in most cases). Most of them have several elements of different genres, and that's what makes a book interesting to me.
This is my next read,I have already read the Prologue and can't wait to start this book! Great review! ^^
Jenny wrote: "This is my next read,I have already read the Prologue and can't wait to start this book! Great review! ^^"That's great! I can't wait to read your thoughts on it. :)
Imagine my shock when I searched for book two and found out that there is only a fleeting glimpse of Rob in there. Here I lived in sweet oblivion that all of the gazillion effing loose ends are what is going to make up book two. What happened to Rob and Cassie - that was so effing unbelievable. I can't believe that for a couple of people who had known one another for years, falling out of whatever great relationship they had got going between them could be that easy. As if human relationship is that fragile. It's not, Fabian. It drove a stake through my heart. The pessimistic undertones caught me off guard and was such a hard blow to deal with. :'(
Me too! I literally pondered for hours whether I should read this one or Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" (both were positioned next to each other on the Crime shelf in my local library), but I finally picked this one. It's great so far; the male protagonist is so complex and funny at the same time.