I have read all of Tana French’ s books and looked forward to this one. I had difficulty getting into it for at least the first third of the book. I was bored and found myself just reading in snippets of time. But after that, the story and pace really picked up.
I found the characters interesting especially Cal, Lena and Trey. They felt authentic, if not always likable. The story line, once powered up, kept me reading. The Hunter is about a murder, yes, but mostly about small town dynamics, dysfunctional family and social dynamics, and a
coming of age story of a very bright, damaged teenage girl.
Even though the story kept me involved I have mixed feelings about the ending- I am not the kind of person who feels that “the ends justify the means” I also decided I would not want to live in the town portrayed despite the obvious natural beauty of the area
I will look forward to Tana French’s next book despite my mixed feelings about this book. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Hunter as an ARC

This is the second installment in the Call Hooper series and it doesn't disappoint. I love the rural Western Ireland setting and the great characters. The writing is so good that I felt like I was there. Tana French is truly a great crime writer!

Thanks to Viking and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

The Searcher…The Hunter. These linked and simply titled novels by Tana French are highly recommended. While The Hunter can be read without having read The Searcher, they are best as a pair (even if, for any reason, a reader picks up The Searcher second.)

These stories feel different from the author’s earlier Dublin Murder Squad books. I loved those and miss them but these two titles tell of new directions (and welcome ones) on French’s part.

Ardnakelty, the setting, is a small, Irish, mostly farming community feels so real that a reader will believe that they could visit. It is a place with a population that includes some quirky characters.

Readers will get to know the most important characters well (although I think that some of the secondary characters sometimes were hard to keep track of). Among these are Trey. To me, she feels like a kindred spirit to Scout in Harper Lee’s book. Both have strong opinions and beliefs. Trey is a teen who has become close to Cal, initially despite herself. Cal is an incomer to Ireland. He has become a kind of mentor to Trey and their relationship has much meaning to both. Lena has become involved in a relationship with Cal though she does not want to marry. She also cares about Trey.

In this novel, Trey’s ne’er do well father, Johnny, is back from England. He has a grand scheme in mind. Readers can find out about this when the pick up the novel…and they should! How will Johnny’s arrival impact Trey who is just beginning to have some stability? Will there be a great deal of destruction?

This book, for me, was kind of a slow burn. I relished its pace however and was in no hurry to turn the last page.

It is very easy to recommend The Hunter. Its characters, setting and story are all memorable.

Many thanks to Penguin Group Viking and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

This character driven mystery is one to sink into, full of atmosphere and deep relationships. Truly, the mystery aspect is secondary to the relationships and environment, but the story overall was engrossing.

The Hunter by Tana French is the second in the Cal Hooper series. For those of you who enjoy French’s Dublin Murder Squad books, the Cal Hooper series is not at all similar.

The Hunter is a deeply atmospheric and excruciatingly slow story. The first half of the book is dedicated to background and plotting. The murder doesn’t occur until 60% in. The last 5% sees the majority of the action.

This is not an easy or quick read, but French’s writing is excellent as always. There were times I contemplated giving up, but I wanted to see where the story took Cal, Lena, and Trey.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley.

All in all, this was a solid novel. I enjoyed the story line, the characters were unique but down to earth and real, and the story was plausible. That said, I can’t say this was my favorite Tana French novel. I felt that it fell just a little flat in comparison to her previous novels in terms of the suspense. It didn’t have an overwhelming suspenseful feeling beyond having some shady interactions.
I would recommend this novel, it was well written and held my attention.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was on the fence about this - I’d heard it was kind of slow, and while I enjoyed The Searcher, I really just wanted more of Dublin Murder Squad (I guess we sort of get that here, with the inclusion of Nealon?). I think your enjoyment of this book rests pretty heavily on how interested you are in these characters, because it takes a solid 40% of the book for the actual plot to show up. Overall, there’s simply a LOT of talking - there are several long scenes where people are laying out the facts to one another (basically a version of “here’s how things are in Ardnekelty”). Weirdly, I feel like those would play better on screen than they do in print.

Ahem. Plot. So we pick back up with Cal and Trey and all the rest not terribly long after the events of The Searcher. Trey has mostly given up trying to learn the truth about what happened to Brenden - she knows he’s dead, and she knows Cal knows more than he’s letting on, but she doesn’t know where his body is or who actually killed him, just that it was accidental (I confess to not remembering much about how that all shook out the first time around, but it doesn’t end up mattering too much here). Trey and Cal have a pretty great friendship - he’d love her to hang around more because he feels paternal about her, and she’d really just love for him to adopt her, but she doesn’t want to hang around TOO much, lest he get sick of her. It’s sweet, and a little bit sad. Cal and Lena are also still together, and Cal’s feeling as much like a local as he possibly can, after two years there.

Eventually, Trey’s erstwhile father Johnny Reddy returns, much to the chagrin of both Trey and Cal. Johnny’s your typical snake oil salesman - he blows into town with some scheme, tries to sweet talk people out of money, then blows out again. Only this time he swears he’s going to stick around, because thar’s gold in them hills! He’s also brought an Englishman along with him - Cillian Rushborough. Rushborough claims to have had family in the area, and his grandmother told him stories about the hills being full of gold. There’s a lot of back and forth (and SO much talking) about who’s scamming who, but what it boils down to is a gigantic mess that definitely threatens the peaceful life Cal has built for himself.

It’s hard to say too much else without getting into spoiler territory! Suffice it to say, there is eventually a crime that involves a detective from Dublin - although I don’t *think* Nealon is someone we’ve met before? It’s been a while since I read The Trespasser, so maybe he pops up with Antoinette and Stephen there. Or maybe this is like a backdoor pilot for Dublin Murder Squad #7?

I am definitely in the minority here, but the "update a western to take place in a modern Irish village" idea just doesn't work in this novel. It worked in The Searcher, and I'm sure The Hunter will be popular with most Tana French fans (I am still one). But the whole gold mine plot is just plain stupid. Better luck next time.

In 2020, Tana French gave us The Searcher, the first in the Cal Hooper detective series. By that time I was already an established fan, but I loved that book particularly well, for reasons I’ll revisit in a moment. Now we have the second in the series, The Hunter, and if anything can reduce this crusty old English teacher to a blushing fan girl, this is it. Two books in, this is already on my short list of favorite series. My thanks go to NetGalley and the Penguin Group for the review copy. This book will be available to the public Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

The series debut introduced the characters, with the protagonist being a retired Chicago cop that found this tiny Irish village on vacation and, needing a new home far from his ex-wife, yet affordable, discovered a bargain fixer of a home and decided to stay. The story’s main problem revolved around a nearly feral tween that kept popping up at Cal’s place. The scrappy little stinker that was relieving Cal of food, occasionally, and doing other unsettling things turned out to be a girl; her name is Teresa, but she’s known as Trey. Her family was in dire straights following the departure of Trey’s father; her brother had left, intending to return, but never had. The mystery was where Trey’s brother had gone, what had become of him, and why. In the interim, she became greatly attached to Cal, who enjoyed her company and taught her some woodworking skills, but also kept a careful distance, lest rumors start and grow.

Now Trey is a bit older, and she is more civilized. She is close to both Cal and Lena, the local woman that Cal has been seeing. But as life settles into a civilized hum, one that would be comfortable had climate change not created a drought that has local farmers at the near end of their wits and their bank accounts, the unexpected happens once again: Johnny Reddy, Trey’s no-account father, has returned. Cal is prepared to step back, if need be, in case Trey wishes to bond with her actual dad rather than himself. Meanwhile, Johnny vows to visit Cal with some local moonshine, and “make a night of it.”

“Trey says nothing. If he does that, she’ll get Cal’s rifle and blow his fucking foot off, and see can he make is way down the mountain to Cal’s after that.”

Johnny never succeeds in bonding with Cal, who doesn’t like the look of him. “Johnny gives him the urge to pat him down and ask him where he’s headed. There are guys like that, who flunk the sniff test just going to the store; it’s a good cop’s job to work out whether they’re actually doing something hinky, or whether it’s just that they will be sooner or later, probably sooner.”

The village is a tiny one, and outsiders are few. Everyone in the vicinity knows that Johnny’s back; everyone wonders what he’s up to. They haven’t long to wait; he’s brought a man with him, one whose family once lived here, or so he says; and the man is interested in seeing if there’s gold on some of the local properties. “He has a rich man’s smile, easy and understated, the smile of a man who isn’t required to put in effort.” Now the question is whether this “plastic Paddy” is a shyster trying to rip off the locals, or if he is someone that Johnny is seeking to fleece. Meanwhile, Trey has a different agenda, a private one.

The thing that makes this story so much better than your standard mystery is the characterization. If you are in search of a thriller that is all page-turning action, this isn’t your book. However, if you love a layered story with complex, convincing characters, this is for you. I said in my previous review of the first in the series that Trey is what makes an otherwise solid story a golden one, and that’s even truer here. One could even argue that it’s really her series, with Cal existing as scaffolding. Time will tell.

In particular, though, anyone that works with, or has worked with at risk youth cannot, must not miss this story. French has taken hold of my heartstrings hard, and I don’t want her to let go. Highly recommended.

Review: The Hunter By Tana French

Tana French is an author I’m Very Normal about. I recommend her books to anyone who so much as hints they like mystery in my vicinity. I keep one of her books (Witch Elm) on my shelf, unread so I don’t have to face the feeling of running out of Tana French. Like I said, very logical behavior; I am Very Normal.

So, when I got The Hunter from Net Galley last week I definitely behaved Normally and didn’t, say, scream loudly on the sidewalk when the email came through on my lunch break walk, or bring my e-reader everywhere I went including the bar and my friend’s birthday party. Very. Normal.

Let me start this review with, if you haven’t read anything by Tana French, this shouldn’t be your first one. And if you haven’t read her most recent book, The Searcher, you shouldn’t read this one yet either. It’s a direct sequel, unlike Dublin Murder Squad, and it will spoil The Searcher. If you’re wondering what Dublin Murder Squad is read on, if you’re not, skip to the review.

Beginner’s guide to Tana French:

Tana French is an Irish author with two different series and one standalone novel. If you’re new here the best place to start is Dublin Murder Squad. That’s her first series and also, I would argue, her best. Start with either her first book, In the Woods or The Likeness (some people find In the Woods frustrating is the only reason I offer The Likeness as an alternative, but either will take you on a ride and you can’t really go wrong). After that, you can read around in basically any order. Each novel is about a detective on Dublin Murder Squad, so they are connected. Characters pop up in other character’s books and it’s fun to weave all the cameos together. My personal favorite is Faithful Place, but I do think that one is better if you’ve read The Likeness first.

Her most recent series, The Searcher, and now, The Hunter, is all about Cal Hooper, an American ex-cop from Chicago who goes to retire in small town in Ireland called Ardnakelty. It’s like an Irish western. A new sheriff blows in to a town that has a law all its own and a kid with a missing brother starts interrupting his peaceful battle with the land and the rooks (like a rough and tough version of Poirot and the vegetable marrows he’s always threatening to grow). You definitely could start with The Searcher if you wanted to, it has no connection to the others.

The Witch Elm is a standalone. From what people have told me, I wouldn’t start with this one, but I can’t really comment, I haven’t read it. For Normal Reasons, see above.

Whatever you choose, you’ve got some seriously great writing ahead of you and I am jealous that you get to experience it for the first time.


Yeah, yeah I know all that, tell me about The Hunter already (no spoilers for The Hunter, but since this does take place after The Searcher there might be some mild spoilers for that ahead):

The Hunter has all of the usual marks of a Tana French book. The prose is writers’-envy inducing as always. There are sentences of hers that I think I literally could not come up with in a million-trillion years (actually that’s, like, most of them). There are sentences that feel so intense it’s like they sprang out of the book and actually punched you in the gut. There are other sentences that are laugh out loud funny just when you least expect it. I won’t relay the rest of this joke so you can enjoy it for yourself, but one character calls the whole Ottoman Empire “some boyos” and I died laughing.

Her characters are, as ever, the star of the show. The events of The Hunter take place a couple years after the end of The Searcher. Cal, Trey and Lena are all in a really good place. Cal did adopt that dog! Trey has one, too! The dogs are friends and Trey is learning carpentry and getting good grades and Cal makes all three of them pizza. It’s adorable! If you’ve read even one Tana French book, you’ll know that “all the characters you like are doing really well” is a frightening and probably emotionally devastating place to start.

When I read Searcher, I think I was holding the fact that it isn’t Dublin Murder Squad against it. If I was ranking Tana French books (a challenge!) I would have put it near the bottom. I also don’t love westerns, which didn’t endear me to it. Still a really great book, not a favorite. For The Hunter, I was over that. Within five minutes of reading, I was struck by how much I like these characters. Cal is complex and way more than your cookie-cutter tough guy with a heart of gold. Trey only gets more and more fascinating as she gets older and Lena I just unapologetically like. She lives on her own terms with several dogs. I mean, what’s that if not living the dream? And the town of Ardnakelty is still at once picturesque and brutal. I forget a lot after I’m done with a book, and it took picking up the sequel for me to realize just how real these characters felt and still feel. I could jump right back in without needing to look up a summary of Searcher.

The delight in this book comes from Tana French’s particular gift for creating characters with their own goals and different lengths they’ll go to achieve them. It’s the cross purposes, the alliances and machinations that make this book fascinating and exciting to the very end. I really was not sure how it would end for most of the book. She has a particular gift for writing teenagers — as we know from Secret Place — and that’s on display here too, with Trey. You understand Trey and at the same time want to scream at her and also give her a big hug and tell her it’s okay to cry (except she’d hit you, probably).

At about 75% of the way in, I didn’t even really care about the mystery because I was so fascinated by what the characters were doing and how each person’s actions would have consequences for the others. (Don’t worry if you are here for the mystery, Tana French made me care about it again, a lot, very shortly after that).

This book earns every one of its five stars and at the end of the day I liked it more than I liked The Searcher. So even if that one wasn’t your favorite, I’d say give this one a chance.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Cal Hooper series is a newer one by Tana French. Cal is an American, originally from North Carolina, but was a cop in Chicago for 25 years. He is divorced with one adult daughter. He comes to Ireland for a quiet place to live in retirement.

I followed up The Searcher immediately with The Hunter. I have been a little surprised how much I am enjoying the series. It is definitely a study of characters and small town politics. Two years have passed since the previous story. Trey is now fifteen. Being even more careful about any hint of their relationship being improper, he has developed a closer friendship with Lena. Sometimes Trey stays with him when Lena is there or stays at Lena's house.

After four years, Trey's father has shown up. He is into another scheme and likely bringing trouble with him. Cal feels it and so does Trey. They watch her father, Johnny Reddy, to figure out his plans. He's ginning up interest in gold in the mountains. Cal ends up talking to his neighbor more than he'd like about the situation.

When Johnny associate comes to town, and Johnny gets people to invest, things get more emotional with the people in the area. Trey has decided to use the scheme to get revenge on her Dad and those responsible for Brendan.

Cal just tries to keep Trey safe and alive. He knows nothing good is going to come from Johnny Reddy. It only gets more tense when Johnny's associate is murdered and Trey finds the body.

I enjoyed the setting and all the development of the characters. The situation is suspenseful with tensions running high around gold in their lands, a murder and grifters playing high stakes games.

Tana French is truly in a class of her own, I have loved all of her books, but none more than The Hunter. It is the sequel to The Searcher and in a rare exception to the sequel rule, it is even better than the first book of the series. Every character is so distinct, and their voices so clear. No one writes dialect better than this. The interplay amongst the characters and the personality of the community as a whole is so incredibly well written; even after two books of these characters I never know what is going to pop out of their mouths and make me laugh out loud. The combination of humor and deep, deep sorrow are at the heart of what makes this story work so well. I truly hope we have not heard the last of the story of Ardnakelty.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this e-galley.

I've always been fascinated and pleased by authors whose writing styles shift depending on the series or genre. French is one of those authors, but this series is less than the Dublin Murder Squad series. How? It's far slower and there's a lot of what I think of as filler (we got it: this is set during a very hot, very dry summer). I really didn't love the shifting POV - in many ways, sadly, it felt as though Lena's was used mostly as filler and infodumping rather than essential in the ways Charlie and Trey's were.

As far as the mystery goes, it was less traditional mystery and more a community trying to make sense of this thing that has happened. By the end, we're left with a way for these characters to move forward in another book... but I'm still hoping for a new DMS entry.

French's next installment in the story of small village Ireland is a carefully crafted, unhurried study of the internal mores of the local landscape which her protagonist, a Chicago transplant former detective, has to navigate to survive. It follows hard on the heels of the previous work, The Searcher, so closely that I would recommend reading that first if you haven't. French is a master of character development. The action in the story is second to the moral and cultural issues here. I liked it, but it is definitely not the mystery series for fans of Dublin Murder Club.

I mean, it's perfect. It's slow and structurally bizarre and both of those attributes work unbelievably well. I adored the first book in this series and didn't expect a sequel, but wow, what a pleasure to be able to spend time with them again. I simply loved it.

Another can't miss thriller by Tana French, The Hunter takes us back to Ireland where retired American police officer Cal gets tangled up in another small town mystery. French builds characters that just off the page and sets a scene that makes me feel like I just got off a transatlantic flight.

This book is sure to appeal to readers of Tana French who enjoyed her earlier depiction of its characters in The Searcher. Once again, she evokes the rural Irish countryside and its inhabitants perfectly.

French returns to the world and characters of The Searcher and it's worth the read. The same sleepy village is still keeping secrets and protecting their own. Cal, Lena, and Trey all get a chance to narrate as Trey's deadbeat father returns with a scheme and Trey must decide what to risk and where her loyalties lie. Like The Searcher, The Hunter is less psychologically bleak than the Dublin Murder Squad but still twisty and compelling. A must read for French fans.

The writing feels similar to her other books and the vibes align well. Fans will be pleased–and we have a bunch of them! I did stop after chapter 1, but solid three stars, and four to five for her fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

In this second book of French’s Ardnakelty mysteries, Retired Chicago PD Cal Hooper has developed a bond with half wild tomboy Trey Reddy, whose brother was accidentally killed by the locals. When Trey’s no-good dad Johnny shows up with a new money-making scheme, the fragile willow-the-wisp peace that Cal has found in his adopted home disappears.

At times, I felt like I was reading an American Western thanks to climate change - a hot, dry Ardnakelty reminds me of a pioneer town on the edge of the frontier, where the townspeople are so in on each other’s business, where the men are the peacekeepers, and Cal is the unsuspecting newcomer whose lawman past provides an interesting pull and push. Does the town absorb him or reject him? I also felt like I was reading a fantasy. As an American reading a murder mystery set in Ireland, I appreciated how French utilized the non-native characters as foils to bring out the magic of the land. Ardnakelty is not only a place, it is an entity wherein its people are its stewards and servants. You as a reader feel this in the way the land accepts or banishes inhabitants in fae ways–with the help of the natives or on its own.

I think of all the Tana French I’ve read, this one is my favorite. The story is complex not only because French is a master at plot, she’s also a master weaver of atmosphere. I love a tale with rich layers. I usually write more about the novels that I read, but I really don’t want to overgush here. Suffice to say, this makes my number one so far for 2024.

Reader Advisory: You’ll want to begin with Searcher. I also think that my experience of the book was enhanced by reading Irish folk and fairy tales and books like True Grit by Charles Portis or News of the World by Paulette Giles.

Many thanks to Viking and Netgalley for access to the ARC. Any opinions are my own; I didn’t receive compensation for my review.