CBR4 #61 In The Woods by Tana French

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.

I read Broken Harbour a few months ago and didn't really enjoy it, but I got recommendations to read this book before giving up on Tana French.  I'm glad I followed those recommendations, because I enjoyed this book much better. The characters were more likeable or maybe there was less "backstory" to understand.

Overall this book was an excellent mystery and kept me on the edge of my seat.  I wish there was more discovered about the older case, but perhaps that is a future book for French.  The local town atmosphere played into the plot well. There was good dynamics between the main characters as well.  French's writing style is similar between the two books.