Das Grab im Wald

I read a book. I also watched two previous Harlan Coben's tv series. Based on previous experience I was expecting something similar to Safe or Stranger. And it is not the same! Not at all!

What I found annoying about Safe and Stranger was the fact that all that middle aged average families live in the houses that most people living in UK won't be able to afford. And here we have Poland. And polish scenery. And public sector worker living in the flat like many other polish people!

I also loved summercamp. I remember going to the ones like the one from The Woods myself.

And series is in very slow pace, what helped to create atmosphere and gave time to reflect on the events, however I can imagine that for many people the show will be boring.

Some outstanding performances, script can sometimes feel a little slow and muddled but a very intriguing premise that is well executed.

A popular prosecutor solving his sister's murder back in 1994.

After the success of Harlan Coben's two series based on books "THE SAFE" and "THE STRANGER", He teams up with Netflix for the third tv series based on his book "THE WOODS" which this time in distinct Polish flavor.

Author's books usually starts with a single plot and uncovers more mystery with twists and turns, which was meticulously given in the tv series as well, but in the case of THE WOODS, it missed giving what we saw in the other two accomplishments.

Curtains raise, In 1994, End of the summer in Poland, four kids go missing into the woods, two found dead into the founds some days later and two found was still missing. Twenty-five years later one of the kids Artur found dead and was identified by the protagonist a reputed prosecutor Pawel. Kamila is one of the missing kid who is the beloved sister of Pawel. He sets a course to find what happened to his sister which is leads to twists and turns into the story.

The screenplay will take between 2019 and 1994 as Prosecutor takes his narrative back and forth when he founds out clues which are left to him by a stranger. Later episodes uncovers the one responsible for the murders and, more crucially, the events that actually took place that fateful night of kids gone missing.

As usual, we can correlate author's previous novel with this one, as this one also uncovers more than one mystery, hence each and every episode is important. One thing I really felt great is the translation of an English novel to a European series with the same texture of the atmosphere, characters.

Overall, It is a decent series but it is not a standout one among the creator's other books based novels. But it is good to watch if you like mystery and crime genre.

This was a gripping series...until the last episode or two. The plot holes are so large that, frankly, the resolution doesn't make any sense. For example, one character ends up somewhere where they logically could not be.

The pacing also had issues. Way too many long scenes of people staring off into space or kids posing for the camera only to have some important plot detail rushed through as quick as possible.

I hope the book is better because I really can't recommend the show.

First of all: I really don't like polish tv series, they're dull, with horrible acting and every actor speaks like having lockjaw, so when I turned "The Woods" I was very cautious and expected turning tv in circa 10 minutes. Well, turned out I watched four episodes at one go and today I finished last two. I loved locations and cinematography, acting is very good, also music is quite good. If you like scandi noir and tartan noir with its slow pace, twists and "nothing as it seems" plots - you'll be delighted as I am.