The Searcher
Best Book of 2020
New York Times |NPR | New York Post
"This hushed suspense tale about thwarted dreams of escape may be her best one yet . . . Its own kind of masterpiece." --Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post
"A new Tana French is always cause for celebration . . . Read it once for the plot; read it again for the beauty and subtlety of French's writing." --Sarah Lyall, The New York Times
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
"One of the greatest crime novelists writing today" (Vox) weaves a masterful, atmospheric tale of suspense, asking how to tell right from wrong in a world where neither is simple, and what we stake on that decision.
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Community Reviews
A little slow to start but well crafted story telling. Excellent character development and style.
Basically a procedural mystery, but with the restriction that the investigator doesn’t have many of the tools—technological, forensic, etc.—that he’s used to. So it ends up being a very person-to-person investigation. But the social world of western Ireland is still pretty foggy for Cal, making such a social exploration both more difficult and more dangerous. I found it a very effective setup, turning the most benign aspects of this rural space into their own kinds of mysteries & threats. It also exposes Cal himself, as he tries to discover which aspects of his life & personality have fallen away in this transition, and which remain.
French makes an interesting choice for a suspense novel, having long stretches where Cal doesn’t seem to be doing much investigating at all. Rarely did these feel like true lulls in the story, though—they developed Cal as a character, and allowed time for him to build unexpectedly complex relationships with other characters, almost without you noticing. By the end, it was easy to forget that Trey had ever seemed like a threat, or that Mart had ever seemed like a friend .
A really enjoyable read, and I’m definitely up for continuing into the series.