I really enjoyed this! I'm a big Tana French fan and this didn't disappoint - it was not the book I thought it would be (in a good way) and I found the main character quite engaging.

I am a coward who doesn't often read crime fiction for reasons of being easily spooked and disturbed, but I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend and must admit that the powerful unease was worth it. It's incredibly character-focused, such that it ended up feeling more like a story about two people which happened to contain crime rather than a crime book; the single moment which made me gasp out loud was a conversation between Cal and Trey, and not any revelation about Brandon's disappearance. Tana French paints the quiet Irish countryside beautifully, complete with all its ugly parts: nasty undertones and quiet threats, the suffocating potential of a small population. Her grip on social dynamics and character motivations is also delightfully sharp, with a bag of cookies or a text about a puppy able to mean far more than they do on the surface.

Ultimately I came away from this book with mixed feelings. There's a lot to like about it, and the more I think about those things the better the story seems, but I also found it slow and occasionally hard to get through. I was caught up in the characters, but not so interested in the actual crime investigation, which despite the second sentence of this review made up a significant part of the plot. I'm not sure my feelings for the character of Cal Hooper ever rose above the noncommittal, which is a little bad when he's the whole protagonist and POV character. Still, as I said: there's a lot to like about this book, and I'm glad I listened to my friend and read it. Thank you to Penguin UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’m finding this book really hard to get through. I picked it up mainly because my mum loves the author but it’s way too slow moving for me

Well this book was a really slow starter. I felt I had been reading it for a while before the first hundred pages gave way to more grit and grind, as expected from Tana’s writing. The book takes place in Rural Ireland, and a lot of emphasis is placed on the atmosphere of this wilderness. The setting becomes a player in this theatre, and one which sucks at your soul.

Into this bleak wilderness comes an American ex-cop who is looking for a slower pace of life. But does he find it? Not in a Tana French novel he doesn’t. He gets caught up in the disappearance of a local boy. He begins to find out that the locals are all hiding more than friendliness in their back stories.

It was great to see an American cop stripped of his guns and toys and back up teams. The book at first seemed old fashioned until I realised that the current themes of police shootings, the morality or otherwise of social media and trying to appear on trend with new thinking all take their place within the storyline.

I was waiting to find out exactly why Cal decided to move to Western Ireland and was disappointed when it wasn’t explained. To me, it seemed an odd choice and I would have appreciated some clarity around this.

I loved the character of thirteen year old Trey. When one of his older brothers disappears, Trey (sort of) reaches out to Cal and he can’t help himself become involved. Much to Cal’s regret, the situation gets him into trouble, the kind of which he was trying to avoid. What Cal finds is a whole heap of trouble for his new community, he is opening more cans of worms than he has any right to as a new immigrant and the locals are not happy.

The story unfolds at a maddeningly slow pace, however not unexpected from Tana’s usual writing. There aren’t enough good characters to enjoy unfortunately, but the creative storytelling is wonderful as usual. It’s a dark tale, but told brilliantly.

What can I say.except for five stars for this beautifully written literary novel with a mystery at its heart but a historical sense of justice. Tana French is hailed as the best in her genre. The Searcher raises the bar even higher and it’s going to be difficult bot to keep reflecting back on those characters who feel more human than most.

I really enjoyed this book, however, I found the beginning to be a bit too slowly unfolding which made it hard to immerse myself in the book.

This was my first Tana French book! I enjoyed her contemplative writing and witty dialogue between the characters. It really felt as if I was hanging around with real people and watching them banter with each other. The setting in a remote countryside in Ireland is atmospheric and stark.

However, I wish I had liked the storyline better. The pacing is slow but I didn't mind it because it allowed me to get to know the main character, Cal, and the child who sought his help, Trey. I liked their relationship and the book lets it breathe and grow. Yet the plot doesn't really move beyond Cal asking questions to other villagers, and there's no hints of tension until the very end. I was also not happy that there's no payoff to the wait, for there was no reckoning to what had happened. It felt close to real life, sure, but I don't read books to get a glimpse of real life. If I wanted that I would have read a non-fiction. So, while I enjoyed the writing I felt disappointed that I didn't get something more out of the story.

Maybe it's the quasi-lockdown or the overly rainy weather but I found this casual, laid back, gentle burn of a novel quite satisfying. There's a bit of tension at times but the overall sense is one of appreciation - of a quiet life, of neighborly ways, of just simple things. In The Searcher, Cal, a retired Chicago cop takes up residence renovating a dilapidated house in rural Ireland. Trying to keep himself to himself and get to know the locals and their strange ways, he finds himself in the middle of a potential mystery when a delinquent neighbour child asks for Cal's help looking for a lost relation.

I far prefer this story to Wych Elm as this story wasn't excessively long and seemed less menacing. Cal is a pragmatic character and has such a pleasing dispossession I could not help but love him as he navigates the characters and ways of a land far removed from the one he was used to as a cop on Chicago's tough and bitter streets. A real joy. I look forward to the next novel from this excellent writer.

I really enjoyed this book especially as I had no preconceived ideas about it. I liked the fact that many of the characters had layers and weren't just clear-cut. Descriptions of scenery also worked for me being neither too long nor too short. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Viking and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I went to start reading this and realised I had already read it. Not the greatest sign in the world.

It's a passable enough mystery about the disappearance of a teenager in a small Irish hamlet. A recent American immigrant and ex-police officer, Cal, is sucked into the mystery when he forms a friendship with Trey, the sibling of the missing boy.

I really liked the relationship between Cal and Trey and it's not one that often features in modern fiction. The setting was portrayed well and never descended into tough-city-man-goes-to-slum-it-with-the-yokels which it so easily could have done. My main issue was with the story itself, I just didn't find it that compelling and the conclusion felt like a bit of a damp squib.

I know French is touted as the be all and end all of thriller/mystery writing and I'm beginning to think the issue is me not her. I'm sure it will appeal greatly to her fans but it didn't set my world alright.

I have been a fan of Tanya French‘s books so maybe I am biased. This novel starts slowly but gradually sucks you into the world of the characters involved, particularly the main character. Very evocative and I recommend it.

I really wanted to love this, but found the first part so slow that it was really difficult to get into. That always takes away from the experience for me!

This book wasn't for me, I'm afraid. As someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers I'd heard a lot of good things about Tana French, but perhaps this wasn't the best one for me to start with. I found it extremely slow-paced and ponderous. Many of the scenes felt like filler to me. So again, just not for me in terms of personal taste. Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

A superb treat from a master storyteller. Tana French has been called “the First Lady of Irish Crime" and she once again showcases her formidable talents in THE SEARCHER. An absorbing tale in best books of the year contention.

Tana French specialises in outsiders – her addictive Dublin Murder Squad novels and standalone The Wych Elm (told from the POV of a suspect) all hinge on significant characters being outcast – exiled, willingly or not, from all that is familiar, all that was close – and so able to cast a light of uncanny truth over the events of the books.
The Searcher goes one step further in this approach. Protagonist Cal Hooper has left his demons behind in Chicago (he hopes) to enjoy his retirement in the peace and quiet of a rural village in Ireland. He’s not just an outsider – he’s an incomer. Much of the tension hinges on how his actions affect his acceptance into the – occasionally Slaughtered Lamb-ish – community. Hooper, trying to shake off his cop feelings; his entire cop demeanour, for he’d rather no one knows that what he was, is anxious not to become embroiled in the various nefarious goings-on in town. But he does, of course, dragged in unwillingly by the tenacious pleas and demands for help from a local child, Trey – the true outsider in the story, whose family is snubbed and ignored by the village.
This book has all the French hallmarks – a twist of the uncanny; hidden and not-so-hidden depths and histories swirling around every exchange; and that incredible way of making the reader really really care about the outcome. Always, in French’s books, forgiveness, truth and justice twist and twine according to the context: the truth is not simple, not complete; closure is not guaranteed.
But The Searcher is not like French’s other works. It feels more wide open; more pensive; more thoughtful (though she’s certainly never lacked in that). Leon crossed with True Grit crossed with The Wickerman, set in Ireland. It is a Western – in setting, in tropes. In the way the landscape, with its beautiful threats of mountains and bogs, is a character in itself. And it considers justice, law and the distortion of working for the community v. the brotherhood of cops extensively.
The reason for four rather than five stars comes from it being, perhaps, a little too on-the-nose in its Western tropes. It all felt a little too familiar to really hold me – beautifully written, beautifully crafted – but somehow both too generically a thriller while not being thriller enough? Perhaps it was that the village tropes – the characters, the set ups - felt a little like I’d come across this story, and so I wasn’t on edge to discover who had done what. I knew who to trust and who not, even if Cal struggled to decide, and I was disappointed to have guessed correctly from the go (perhaps anyone who grew up in a small village feels they’d be able to read the room in the same way).
Not that French ever really misdirects in her plots – there are few red herrings – but this felt so inevitable that I really read on for Trey’s story arc, rather than Cal’s. The Searcher is meditative, and in the same way Cal has chosen to move to a slower pace of life, so too must the reader, and explore with him the balances of power and the loss of it.

Chicago cop Cal Hooper moves to Ireland to settle after his retirement and spends his time renovating a cottage to live in. When a local kid starts hanging around Cal.learns that the kids brother has disappeared without trace and is asked.to help.find out what happened. There is no dynamic plot here, no real.surprises and definitely no.cliff hangers. I found myself skip.reading many chunks of some chapters as the pace at times was so slow although I did persevere to the end. Not a book for me as I prefer a bit more oomph to a plot.

Cal Hooper is a former cop who moves out to a far-flung village in rural Ireland in search of peace and quiet. Cal gets his wishes when he finds an old, secluded farm near the woods. He spends his days fishing, engaging in DIY projects and just slowing down on life. However, the peace and quiet is shattered when Cal discovers that someone is watching him.

This is a quiet, atmospheric read. It is not the usual fast-paced, nail-biting, dizzying kind of mystery that I am accustomed to. The twists are subtle, the pace slow and the narrative engaging. I loved the imagery used in the story. I could picture the quiet mountains and thick forests full of secrets. The setting was a big part of the story. It is the kind of place that I love to hate in fiction. I hated how the locals were set in their old ways. I didn’t like how they ganged up on families that didn’t fit in. I absolutely loathed that evil secrets that remained buried in this sleepy, little town.

I enjoyed the character development and was especially drawn to Cal, Trey and Leah. I have never read a book by Tana French before but I can see why she has quite a following. I loved her writing and especially the descriptiveness.

The slow pace and lack of much action was however not exactly my cup of tea. I wish there was more going on. I am also not a fan of how things ended. I guess this still builds into the character of the setting. It’s the kind of place where things may not work out like they would in other places. Nevertheless, I’d recommend this title to fans of slow burn, character driven stories.

I was given a copy of The Searcher by Tana French by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. This is the first book I have read by this author. The book is set in Ireland, Calis an ex cop and moves to Ireland from America. Cal does up and old farmhouse. He meets Trey whose brother has gone missing and asks Cal for help to find him.
This book is a slow burner, it's very descriptive. Although well written, I struggled to get into the story. A good book but it just wasn't for me.

This, my first novel by Tana French, was compelling and immersive.

Very much a character-driven story, I soon found myself embroiled in this slow-burn tale. In this standalone story, set in a fictional West Ireland small town, Ardnakelty, the main character, Detective Cal Hooper has recently retired. He has bought a decaying cottage that he plans to spend a considerable amount of time renovating, whilst he tries to find some peace within himself having become disillusioned and burned out from his years with Chicago Police Department. But when a local boy, thirteen-year-old Trey asks him to help with a problem - his missing brother, Brendan - Cal's old instincts return...

I really enjoyed this mystery from Tana French. Her fluid, smooth prose made it an easy book to lose myself in. The intelligent, multilayered storyline was gripping and held my interest from first page to last. I loved the strong bond between Cal and Trey as they worked together and the author's narrative brought out the nature of small town living, providing a general claustrophobic feel. Tana French's attention to detail was impressive and the striking, atmospheric location was superbly portrayed, adding to the sinister foreboding that shrouded the village.

The Searcher is a disquieting, complex tale of mystery, secrets, ethics, friendships and justice that I'm very happy to have read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Penguin Viking via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

I had read one of Tana French's books previously and found it to be very middle of the road so i went into The Searcher with low expectations.
I needn't have worried however as this was great. Its slow burn but with massive pay off and makes for a very atmospheric and entertaining read.