And she didn't even wrap it up at the end. Rats! Could the old mystery resurface in some future work? Who knows - I do know it doesn't come back in the next one, because I've already read it (check back two). There were frequent references to the context of this book in The Likeness, but not to the extent that I think that I should go back and reread it knowing what I know now. It was a bit like the Irish police jargon and slang - just keep reading.
The villain of this one is a genuine masterpiece of the detective writer's art. French did drop enough hints along the way that for the experienced reader of detective fiction - beyond the standard police procedural - the finale is not a shock, but still remarkably drawn. Are we sure that French was a student of theater and an actor not a psychology student? Maybe theater is a clue to her writing. It is very visual and and remarkably "staged." She sets the stages and casts the players with impeccable precision yet without droning on in paragraphs of description. The reader gets to experience it all through the eyes of the narrator. That isn't easy to do in first person, but French does it brilliantly - without ever breaking character to explain someone else's response or action. And, by the way, the narrator of The Likeness is not the narrator of In the Woods.
I'm anxious to see/read her next.
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