A great stand alone by Tana French.

I really enjoyed this intriguing and very creepy thriller!
A retired Chicago detective intending to enjoy fixing up his Irish property , becomes mixed up in the search for a local child's missing brother. Nothing is as placid as it appears in this small Irish village and backstories abound.

My only criticism is the incredible slow burn of the story. I found the first third of the story, while beautifully written, mainly just descriptions of the main character and the area. But overall a very good and entertaining read.

I have read all of the previous novels by Tana French and this is definitely one of my favourite authors.

Cal Hooper is ex-Chicago cop, recently divorced with a daughter who is still living in the USA. He has moved to a remote Irish village where he is renovating the house he has bought. He needed to escape and as the novel progresses, we learn about his damaging divorce and all that went with it.

He wants a quiet life and makes a couple of friends locally. He begins to get a visitor who learns to help with the renovation, a young kid called Trey whose brother has gone missing. Trey asks for Cal’s help in finding the brother which Cal cannot resist.

In this idyllic setting we discover that sheep are having their throats cut and the locals are trying to find out who is doing this. Cal is then warned off helping Trey in no uncertain terms but he cannot stop himself when Trey turns up at his house badly beaten.

It seems that all the local people have secrets and these are revealed gradually and Cal finds himself under threat.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Books UK, Viking and Tana French for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Excellent read and highly recommended.

The Searcher is the latest book by Tana French set in a remote Irish village. An ex-cop Cal Hooper moves to the Irish countryside after a divorce and a retirement from the police force in Chicago as he seeks a lifestyle change. Cal suspects that someone is watching him and soon enough he discovers he is being followed by a 13 year old local boy, Trey. Trey is an outcast amongst his peers and his only friend, his brother Brendan, disappeared a few months ago. Trey knows Brendan would never leave without saying goodbye and wants Cal to help him find out what happened to his missing brother.

Similarly to The Witch Elm, The Searcher is a slowburn mystery suited mainly for patient readers who appreciate well-written books with drawn out characters and clever plotting rather than books with rapid twists and turns. Tana French has done a fantastic job in depicting the atmosphere and mentality of the local community where everyone knows everyone else's business.

I savoured this book which reminded me that I should read more books from the author.

Rally enjoyed this story that has both a feel good story underneath as well as a good mystery on top. The characters are likeable and you can buy into the story.

I loved 'The Dublin Murder' series by Tana French so I was really looking forward to this one. This stand alone book is a lot different to that series although just as gripping. 

This is a story of ex detective Cal Hooper who following his move to rural Ireland is looking for a complete life change. He plans to spend most of his time renovating a cottage that is need of urgent repairs. His well intended dreams are interrupted when a a local boy asks him to help find his missing brother. The family is far from liked by the locals and there is little urgency by anyone including the police to locate the brother. Cal feels the need to help and find trouble beckoning.

This is not a fast paced thriller but a masterclass in storytelling with the author bringing the pages to life and making you feel like you can see the characters and scenery. This is excellent writing but not sure if it will be appreciated by lovers of fast paced thrillers.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Penguin UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A gripping psychological thriller set in rural Ireland. What makes this such an enjoyable book is the backdrop of beautifully-described Irish scenery with its wide sky and the rooks bickering in the trees behind Cal's old cottage. The local characters are so well-drawn you think you'd recognise them in the street. Cal thinks he'll live a quiet, rural life here after the bustle and tension of his former life as a Chicago cop. Once local teen Trey befriends him, he realises this is not to be, as a missing brother is involved. Having a daughter himself, he feels duty-bound to help. He soon finds out that not all the locals are simple farmers and shopkeepers but some have things to hide. If you enjoyed Tana French's The Wych Elm and her Dublin Murder Squad series, you should love this suspenseful tale.

The Searcher is an unputdownable page turner by Tana French. Slow to start it focuses on Cal Hooper an ex cop from Chicago who is doing up an old cottage in a quiet Irish village. He is approached by Trey Reddy whose brother Brendan has gone missing. His cop instincts kick in and he starts questioning the locals. Despite being warned off he continues looking into the case.
The characters are well developed and interesting and the setting is brought to life by Frenchs wonderful writing. The story itself isn’t as strong as her Dublin Murders series but still a great read.

This was a bit of a slow-burner but I really enjoyed it. The tempo may have been slower than other books I normally devour (including Tana's The Wych Elm') but it was even-paced, well-constructed, and compelling from start to finish. The main character, Cal, was such a relatable character, I felt like I knew him! And his relationship with the town and its residents was very interesting. The only criticism I have, if I can make one, is that I was hoping Cal got Tray a bike in the end! It's not a criticism per se, I was just expecting that and looked forward to being further moved, hehe. It was a great novel though, through and through. A sad yet heart-warming tale.

I cannot express the excitement I felt when I opened up my email to discover I had been approved to received a review copy of Tana French’s new novel from Netgalley.

Tana French’s skill at crafting a tense and suspenseful crime novel is clear from her Dublin Murder Squad books, and the standalone novel The Wych Elm. If you are a crime fan and enjoy a tightly-plotted crime procedural with regular shots of action, you will love her novels.

However, this is not why I love Tana French and will return to her writing time and time again. Her most evident skill lies in the characters she writes. In The Searcher you will find her usual Irish characters, this time with a more provincial slant. Set in the beautiful, but sometimes disconcerting and unsettling, Irish countryside - the characters are farmers and shop keepers; lone women striking out on their own; children running wild and teenagers desperate to leave. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that these characters are simple. Far from that, French uses her inestimable skill to craft characters that feel so real that you could visit them in their rural Irish idyll.

Into this strides Cal, a retired cop from Chicago, unhappily divorced and keen to leave behind a life of racial tension and gun crime for something more simple. Getting back to his roots, huntin’ and fishin’ for his dinner, and taking the time to work on the run down cottage by the mountains he bought from pictures online. He speaks to his adult daughter on the phone, bemused by his choices and occasionally exchanges a terse few words with his ex wife - but mostly he immerses himself in his new life, enjoying, to some extent, his role as outsider and forming new bonds and relationships with those around him.

Things are not to stay so simple though. Into his life sneaks Trey, a scruffy kid from a ‘bad family’ who wants answers and wants them now. Somewhere between a wild animal and a tortured soul, Trey sidles into Cal’s world and he finds himself unable to walk away. Of course, this lands him in a whole heap of trouble and he finds himself embroiled in a mystery that he has no right to be investigating.

I loved the book, and was only disappointed in myself that I showed little restraint and wolfed it down in only a few sittings! Now it’s finished and I’m left wishing I could spend a few more hours shooting the breeze with Cal and seeing how things turn out for the characters. But that’s Tana French - they characters become so real, it really feels like the cliché ‘they could just walk off the page’ is completely true.

Enjoy!