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

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