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. To sum it up: odd, slow, too descriptive, bad ending. I wanted to love this book. After reading the synopsis, I thought I would, but...it was difficult to get into and seemed slow and repetitive much of the time. I just wanted to find out what happened! It was a page-turner at times, but I think I just wanted to hurry up and finish it...and then...the terrible ending! I guess some people wouldn't agree though...it did win the Edgar Award for best first novel by an American author.
I decided to give it 2 hearts (instead of 1) for "just okay" since I did like some of the character development and at times, I was anxious to see what happened next. Not a great one for me, though.
We'll see what the club thinks later today!
Are you keeping up with the 52 challenge?
