It's not the Dublin Murder Squad, and I will always be sad about that. But it's still Tana French so it's obviously well done and gripping if you let the story take you away and stop expecting murder squad levels of excitement. I cared about these people because I met them in The Searcher, so definitely start there. ( )

r is the second entry in Tana French’s Cal Hooper series. Like the first book it's brimming with character driven suspense but its crime novel aspect falls short of what I’ve come to expect from this author. It seems more like a bridge between the last book and whatever is coming next. ( )

There’s a long, slow build to this sequel to “The Searcher”, which also took its own time getting to the meat of the plot. This one takes off a little faster, with the return of prodigal son Johnny Reddy, bringing plans for a get-rich scam that will fleece a posh Englishman and enrich most of the village.

Retired cop Cal Hooper has his doubts about this from the get-go, but what he doesn’t see immediately is the effect it will have on Trey Reddy, still simmering and looking for revenge for a murder that happened years ago.

All the townfolk from the earlier novel reappear here, and Cal’s relationship with Lena moves into deeper water. When the get-rich scheme collapses with the murder of its intended victim, old enmities re-emerge among the community, fed by a source only Hooper recognizes, and then only when it’s too late to stop it without destroying people he has grown to love.

This is not a novel of pulse-pounding suspense, but rather one of an inexorably tightening net of betrayal, avarice, and obsession. Patient readers will be rewarded. ( )

Tana French used to be one of my favorite authors, and I still like her, but...this series isn't doing it for me. The prose is still lovely, and it had some good moments. The ending especially, did NOT see that coming but it made perfect sense and even redeemed a character I thought was problematic. I realize French is moving away from her earlier work. Her first six novels were crime novels, and her last three have been novels with a crime in them. I can understand she wants to do different things. But I'm not resonating with these characters.

Cal Hooper just isn't believable for me, as much as I try, and he was quite passive in this story, up until the very end. Trey's actions seem forced and irrational, which doesn't jibe with her character. In fact, the whole plotline was a stretch for me. And there was a lot of dialogue that just didn't go anywhere, or went on too long. Just blathering, and dudes giving other dudes shit, which just bored me after awhile. (The Wych Elm had this same problem). And Johnny Reddy--I just couldn't stand him, which is what French was going for, but reading about him got very tiresome. The only character I actually *like* is Lena, Cal's love interest.

But French's prose is luminous. And even though the residents of Ardnakelty deride the idea of fairies and suchlike, there is an eerie, faint touch of the supernatural, which French does so well. But it was a slow burn, and several times I wondered what the story was really about.

At the end, we are left hanging. Nobody gets what they want, and there's some moral ambiguity, which French does a lot of and I don't really mind. I just want to like the characters better, or at least care what happens to them. I'm having trouble rating this novel. And I'll read whatever she writes next, but I hope it's not another story about this weird little village. ( )

great read. Beautifully written. Do not want to go to that Dublin suburb?? ( )