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As the #MeToo movement continues to accelerate, Tana French provides the American public with her answer to one of its most pressing questions: What is going through the minds of average men as they are finally made aware of all the ugliness and abuse going on around them? In Toby’s case, his sense of truth and reality start to crumble, turning a man with swagger and confidence into a helpless, sometimes hollow shell. Since sustained brain injuries wipe out large chunks of his younger memories, Toby’s ignorance of the tortures that his cousins Susanna and Leon faced as teenagers seem genuinely excusable, but the parallels to society are eerily strong. From that point on, the higher powers seem set on proving him wrong as Toby is beaten senseless by robbers and is later roped into a murder investigation stained by dark family secrets of physical abuse and sexual assault.

Toby opens the novel with the assertion, “I’ve always considered myself to be, basically, a lucky person,” going on to explain he’s avoided messy breakups, car accidents, drug addictions, and even braces. Despite the hokey title - let’s be honest, it’s more reminiscent of an R.L Stine novel from the ’90s than a sophisticated adult drama - and tiring 450 page-count, the plot immerses the reader into an eerie maze of uneasiness sprinkled with surprises, and French’s style certainly reminds any aspiring author what it means to craft believable, psychologically deep characters. Toby, a publicist who has managed to get through life with the help of his handsome, charming smile, finds his luck has run dry as he is launched head-first into a high-stakes tale of familial tensions, disease, betrayal, suspicion, and murder. A fan favorite in the mystery and crime genre, French has won acclaim for her Dublin Murder Squad Series, but “The Witch Elm” marks her first stand-alone suspense novel to date. Luckily, her gamble results in something timely and nuanced. As such, Tana French takes a significant risk in her new novel “The Witch Elm” by focusing on the well-off, charismatic Toby Hennessy, whose privileged life hits a bump in the road. If there’s any topic that has the ability to stir the pot in today’s boiling political climate, it’s the idea of entitled white men.