Review of "The Witch Elm: A Novel" by Tana French

Tana French is well known for her Dublin Murder Squad series. This book however, is a standalone, unconnected to French's other novels.

*****

Toby Hennessey always thought of himself as a lucky guy. He grew up in favorable circumstances; sailed through school; has two best mates named Sean and Declan; has a good publicity job at an art gallery; is in love with a wonderful girl called Melissa; lives in a comfortable apartment; and drives a nice car.



Toby feels like everyone likes him and he can talk his way out of any sticky situation.

An example of Toby's 'luck' occurs at work. The art gallery where Toby is employed is planning to show the works of young, disadvantaged artists - to help them break into the field. Toby is heavily promoting the exhibit across all social media when he discovers that one of the 'disadvantaged artists' is a fraud; he's really Toby's co-worker using a fake name to sneak his work into the show.



Being a nice guy, Toby keeps mum about the sham, but it comes to light anyway. Things blow up and the exhibit is cancelled.....but Toby keeps his job.

That's Toby's last bit of good fortune though. Soon afterward, when Toby comes home drunk from a boys night out, burglars break into his apartment. When Toby confronts the thugs, they beat him almost to death.



Toby sustains severe physical injuries, and the damage to his brain affects his thinking, speech, and memories. Thus Toby forgets large swaths of his past, and some of his remembrances seem to be lost forever.




As Toby is on the long, slow road to recovery - aided mostly by his mother and Melissa - the family gets some terrible news. Toby's paternal Uncle Hugo Hennessey, who lives in the family's large ancestral home, called Ivy House, is dying from brain cancer.





At the urging of his family, Toby agrees to stay at Ivy House temporarily, to assist Uncle Hugo in his final months. Melissa goes along and commutes to work every day.

Toby and Uncle Hugo start out as 'the lame helping the lame', but as Toby gets stronger he's able to prepare meals, help Uncle Hugo get around, and aid Uncle Hugo with his work as a genealogist.

The entire Hennessey family shows up at Ivy House every weekend, for Sunday lunch, and the crowd includes Toby's parents; his uncles and aunts; his cousins Leon and Susannah; and Susannah's husband and two school age children.



Toby, Leon, and Susannah grew up almost as siblings, and spent every summer together at Ivy House while their parents traveled around the world.

Events take a dramatic turn when Susannah and Leon drop by Ivy House one afternoon, and Susannah's kids find a human skull in the witch elm tree in the yard.





The shocked Hennessey's call the police, and - long story short - an entire skeleton is found in the hollow center of the elm. The bones turn out to be someone known to the Hennessey cousins, and the police investigation is on!

As the detectives pry into the lives of the Hennesseys - and their friends and acquaintances - secret after secret is revealed.



Toby seems surprised by some of the revelations, either because of the holes in his memory, or because he always thinks of himself as a good guy.

In the end all is revealed - about the skeleton and the assault on Toby - and it adds up to quite a story!

The mystery part of the novel is intriguing, but Tana French's novels are always about more than the crime(s). A large chunk of this book is about the characters and their interactions. Many readers find these sections compelling, but for me they slowed down the story too much.

For instance, the vicious attack on Toby is followed by many chapters about his therapy and healing. Toby is enraged at the goons who hurt him, and even resents the doctors - who are clinical and unable to assure him of a full recovery.



Toby takes out his anger on his mother, which he knows is cruel and unfair, but he can't seem to help himself. Toby is nicer to his angelic girlfriend Melissa, who's very caring toward Toby and Uncle Hugo.

There are also long sections about Uncle Hugo's work as a genealogist. Hugo's final client, a woman with a seemingly untraceable family tree, needs help unraveling her ancestry. Genealogical difficulties sometimes arise because of adoptions (official or not), and Hugo is determined to uncover the woman's history. There's a good bit about Hugo and Toby's work on the lady's background, aided in this case by the serendipitous discovery of a diary.



There are also long sections about Uncle Hugo's declining health and it's aftermath. Uncle Hugo's condition throws the family into turmoil.....and we get to know a bit too much about this.

The book has over 500 pages, which is at least 100 more than necessary (IMO). Nevertheless, this is an engaging suspense novel, recommended to mystery lovers - especially fans of Tana French. 

Rating: 3.5 stars