Book Review: The Searcher by Tana French

The Searcher by Tana French

Published: October 6, 2020

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 451

Synopsis: Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland. His plans are to fix up the dilapidated cottage he's bought, to walk the mountains, to put his old police instincts to bed forever.

Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. And once again, Cal feels that restless itch.

Something is wrong in this community, and he must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door.

Thoughts: I have read quite a few of Tana French's books, and in the past they have usually been based around the Dublin Murder Squad, though for her last two she has branched out to other areas. In this book, the main character, rather than being Irish, is actually an American retired policeman who has moved to a remote part of Ireland to start a new life following his divorce from his long-time wife. In the beginning, I was wondering if the book was actually meant to be a mystery at all, as I had just assumed it was based on reading French's previous novels. 

It is. It just takes a while to get to the actual mystery part of the story. As is often the case with French's mysteries, things are not so cut and dry once reveals start coming together about what really happened. As is often the case with quiet towns, things are not always what they seem. I didn't guess exactly what happened, but I started having certain suspicions, and those, at least, were confirmed by the ending. 

Cal is an engaging main character who is no-nonsense and would rather stick to his own business, thankyouverymuch. It's sort of your fairly typical, I'm retired, I'm not doing that again, except for this one last thing sort of story. And that's in large part to a young local kid named Trey whose family has always been cast aside as the "bad folk" of town not worth investing your time in. Once Trey comes into the picture, which is pretty quickly, I became much more invested in the story. It's not just about the mystery that Trey asks for help with, but also the relationship that develops between Cal and Trey. 

Overall, if you like more of a slow burn mystery, then this book is certainly worth picking up. If you need something fast-paced to grab you immediately, then you might want to stick to French's Dublin Murder Squad books.

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on Amazon 

What I'm Reading Next: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

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Chewy Chocolate Cookies

From the pictures alone, you may not think these cookies look like much. Just a generic chocolate cookie with some chocolate chunks, what's to write home about here? Well, quite frankly, a lot! These cookies were an unexpected amazement when I was baking up some holiday cookie packages to send to my grandparents. I'm not always the hugest chocolate fan, particularly when it's chocolate on top of chocolate (I mean, give me a chocolate chip cookie any day, but I'd always choose that over a chocolate chocolate chip cookie, if you know what I mean). 

So what makes these so good? They are so soft! They don't appear soft from the outside or when you're just giving them a gander in these pictures. In fact, you might think they look dry or something. But they are NOT. They stayed delightfully chewy and soft on the inside for over a week in an airtight container! That's some lasting power, especially when a lot of cookies will start to be dry and blegh after just a couple days.

Now, in the original recipe they're going to tell you that you need a lot of fancy chocolate to make these cookies shine. I'm here to tell you that they're good even without going super fancy. Dutch processed cocoa powder? I used Trader Joe's. Callebaut Intense Dark L-60-40NV baking chocolate? Try some Guittard bittersweet chocolate picked up at your local grocery. I also did not want to buy dark corn syrup just for this recipe, so I used light corn syrup instead and - still delicious! The point is, while those extra fancy ingredients may make them taste better, they're still awesome without them.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Author: Jen @ Fresh From The…
Servings: 16
Prep time: 00:45/
Cook time: 00:22
Total time: 01:30

Soft and oh-so-chocolatey cookies that last for days.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (about 2.5 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for coating
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7.5 ounces)
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (2.5 ounces)
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

Instructions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Place 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a shallow baking dish or pie plate. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Whisk corn syrup, egg white, and vanilla together in a small bowl.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low, add corn syrup mixture, and beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bowl once with a rubber spatula. With mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture and chopped chocolate; mix until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl once. Give the dough a final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at the bottom. Chill dough 30 minutes to firm slightly (do not chill longer than 30 minutes).
3. Divide dough into 16 equal portions; roll between hands into balls about 1½ inches in diameter. Working in batches, drop 8 dough balls into baking dish with sugar and toss to coat. Set dough balls on prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), 10 to 11 minutes. Do not over-bake.
5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature. Repeat with second batch of cookies.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated