Tana French has doubled down on the Searcher’s languid pace to really immerse us in the detail of rural life in Ardnakelty, with - even when the pace increases - tension built and delivered through the subtle and at times opaque interactions within the village, where what is said on the surface is rarely what is meant.

I hugely enjoyed getting back into Cal and Frey’s lives. The slow first half gives an opportunity to soak up the small village tensions, and enjoy the multilayered scam that’s been formed. When events escalate it’s still subtly handled and - in the world that’s been created - believable. Brilliant thriller based on relationship not necessarily just plot.

I really enjoy the mood of the Cal Hooper series, the rural setting is great and the characters are interesting with a touch of mountain mythology and less psychologically intense than the Dublin Murders series.

The ending of this book is very strong, so I'm not sure if there will be a third book in the series, but I hope there will be, because I sure would like to read it.

Tana French is one of my "must buy" authors and I was so excited to hear that she was publishing a sequel to 2020s, "The Searcher". And though "The Hunter" can be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading both novels, in order to understand the relationships between Cal, Trey, Lena and the local community.
Cal is a retired Chicago policeman, who moved to this rural, West of Ireland community a few years ago, and although very much an "outsider", he has settled in well into life in the village. His acceptance, has certainly been helped by his relationship with local woman Lena, herself a loner and the support that he provides to teenager Trey and her family.
French's depiction of life and the colloquialisms used in rural life is absolutely spot on and brings a sense of realism to the storyline.
The story is a slow-burn and there is little action, with dialogue proving to be important and not acting as a filler but rather essential to the plot. I enjoyed the time spent with the characters and their interactions, as the tension was slowly ramped up. And the number of twists in the plot increases dramatically. One of my favourite reads of the year (I read in 2023) and I would heartily recommend. 5 stars and if I could give more, then I would!!

Slow burn, more than even usual for Tana French but when it starts to come together, boy does it really get going. Perhaps worth a re-read or refresher on The Searcher, this is more than just the same characters in the same setting, it directly follows up on a large amount of the plot.

The Hunter by Tana French
This is a sequel to Tana French’s novel The Searcher. The action centres around Cal Hooper a retired Chicago policeman who has settled in the village of Ardnakelty. He has been there two years now and is beginning to be accepted as one of the village. He works on carpentry with 15 year oldTrey (Theresa) whose father has long been ‘working’ in London. Then Jonny, Trey’s father returns, and upsets the balance of life in the village.
The village become involved in one of Jonny’s schemes involving a rich Englishman come to Ireland in search of gold which his long dead relative had told him could be dug up easily in the fields around Ardnakelty. It is a long hot summer and the days are unusually dry and hot the book is permeated by the threat to the peace which Cal and Trey have built in the mountains of Ireland. Tana French creates a remarkably vivid sense of place and there is some fantastic dialogue which I could hear as I read it to myself. The characters who appeared first in The Searcher appear again and as they do we become more and more embroiled in the drama which is being played out. We get a wonderful sense of all the things which people are talking about without actually saying anything.
I really felt as if I had spent an evening at Sean Og’s supping Guinness and poteen with this interesting group of people. The book is quite long and I got the feeling that the author was enjoying lingering in the company of her characters once again.
I would recommend this book but would also suggest that you will derive greater pleasure from the novel is you read The Searcher first. I would like to thank Tana French, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

A previous book by this author proved to be a unique experience. The Hunter, with the same characters but a stand alone book, does not disappoint, in fact to the contrary. This story excels in the development of the protagonists; their thoughts and actions giving insight towards the trajectory of an entertaining storyline.Trey, a child from a neglected background and abusive mercurial father has blossomed under the watchful eye of the now integrated if marginalised outsider Cal now a tenuously accepted member of this rural Irish village. The equilibrium of the inhabitants of this tight knit community is upended by the return of Treys father setting off a catastrophic chain of events that will result in corruption, violence and murder among this wily if naive community. Cal recognising the dangers as an ex policeman struggles to protect Trey despite the huge part she now plays in filling the emotional void in his life.. Meanwhile, the community begins to implode. Excellent three dimensional characters building up tension as the dangers to and for the community increases in particular the exposed strengths and weaknesses of Lena and Mart. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for this hugely entertaining ARC.

This is a real slow burner but it’s worth persevering with the lengthy scene setting, as the story becomes completely addictive once it gets going. Centred on the small Irish village of Ardnakelty, this is the story of a closed community and the effect that both insiders and outsiders can have when there is trouble afoot. The characters are effectively drawn, the settings are so well described they become visible, and the story itself is mostly believable and told with both sensitivity and panache. A long book, but one you won’t regret sinking into!

Cal and Trey, from The Searcher, are back with another mystery! Treys father has reappeared in the village with a plot to get money for everyone. But what is he up to and what is he hiding? Cal and Lena are not impressed with him and are worried about Trey and her family.
Yet again this is another triumph from Tana French who knows how to tell a story. The characters of Cal, Lena and Trey are developed well but the other characters are excellent too. I especially love Mart and the dogs. It really portrays the people of a small village well. You become involved in the story with them and hope everyone stays safe.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for granting me and advance copy.

Yeah, it's perfect. Tana again just writing the living shit out of a book, with such beautiful character work and incredible writing that I don't even know where to begin.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin General UK and Tara French for my ARC of 'The Hunter' in return for an honest review.

Another cleverly plotted novel from this author who knows how to write with numerous twists and turns which always makes me continue reading. Excellent writing and a brilliant storyline.

This is the second on the Cal Hooper series. He is a retired Chicago Cop who moved to Ireland for a quiet life. No such luck.

Cal is building a business with the help of Trey, Theresa Reddy, when her father returns after a long absence with a story about gold.

Brilliant read. Highly recommended

I really enjoy all Tana French and this was another brilliant story. The second in a series featuring Cal, who is a brilliant main character. Five stars 🌟 xx

This had a slow start where mainly it was developing the characters and the scenery but it soon developed into a great story full of lots of intrigue. This was set entirely in a small Irish village where everyone knew everyone else and outsiders would always be that unless they married into someone from the village. It is a long book but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about what was going on and how the characters interelated with each other. I thought that Trey, Cal and Mart were such adorable characters and seeing them develop throughout the story was wonderful, especially Trey.
The plot about the Gold scam was so well written that you could see how this could be done now despite people being more aware of such scams, people will always be caught by the simple start and then pride takes over as no-one likes to be wrong or be seen that they did not join in with others who did not think that it was a scam.
The story has twists throughout, especially where the mind of Trey was involved as right until the end it was not possible to detect what she would do next or indeed who she would support next. It was a surprising ending which tied it up beautifully.
It has to be noteed that this is the second in the series about Cal but it is a stand alone book easily as well.

I hadn’t read Tana French for a while, but I’m so happy that I stumbled on The Hunter on Netgalley.

It’s a strong, character driven, page-turning stunner!

French pulled me right in with a tight and twisting plot and didn’t let go til the very last page.

I will go back now and read the first Cal Hooper book, The Searcher.

I sincerely hope there will another tale out of Cal, Trey and Lena.

Four years ago, John Reddy disappeared, two years ago his son, Brendan, disappeared. Johnny’s daughter, Trey, hopes he’s dead; she knows Brendan is. She was thirteen when Brendan, only a couple of years older, disappeared, and she searched for her brother’s grave all over the mountain above the village of Ardnakelty, the centre of the Townland (an Irish term for district) which covers this side of the mountain. Now, at fifteen, she continues to keep an eye out but no longer searches. What she does continue to do is harbour a hatred for the people of the Townland because some of them killed Brendan and all are complicit in concealing the fact. Their story is that he went off to find his father. Trey is very self-absorbed with only two people she feels moderately comfortable with: Cal Hooper, a retired detective from Michigan and Lena Dunne, a local widow who is Cal’s lover. Trey and Cal have a part-time business repairing, refurbishing and selling old furniture, with Cal in an (almost paternal) mentoring role as he tries to provide her with a stable environment and channel her anger. Everything is reasonably calm in the Townland . . . and then Johnny comes marching home again, bringing with him a posh Englishman with plans to make everyone rich. Despite general suspicion, after all Johnny was a noted waster before he left, people are willing to get involved in their scheme. Tensions rapidly build.
This book does not fit into an obvious mystery or thriller category, although there are murder, crime, and psychological elements. It describes itself on the cover as a novel, and that, I think, is the best category. The writing is wonderful, totally evocative of the rural environment and ethos of the part of West Ireland in which it is set (the village is fictional but somewhere between The Border and Galway City). This is particularly true of the many conversations rendered in dialect, and going on and on in a totally realistic way. Readers looking for a fast, clue ridden, puzzle, will not find it here. Readers who want to wallow in clever writing, leisurely but paced, and thickly detailed will love this book and ask for more.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

This book has a very slow start and such a slow pace that I almost gave up and stopped reading it. It didn't really get going until about halfway through (and it is a long book). The tension builds slowly until the surprising but inevitable end.
There are some lovely descriptions and the setting is just another character. Mart is my favourite character, I loved his chats with Cal.
This is a dark, atmospheric and character-driven novel, almost a western, with themes of revenge, belonging, community, family and secrets.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

The Hunter is #2 in the Cal Hooper series by bestselling author, Tana French. I enjoyed the first book, in particular the character of Trey, so was intrigued when I saw the next book would introduce us to Trey’s father. I liked the story and characters in this one but overall I found the book to be too slow-paced for me. There were large sections which just felt like small talk without any real purpose. The characters are fantastic and you feel like you really get to know them, I just felt like the book could have benefited from being a bit shorter and getting to the mystery a bit quicker.

A quite whimsical story, written in regional Irish, about a local returning to his village to run a scam that was always destined to failure. Funny in parts, well written but a little long with a few too many holes in the story for my liking.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher this ARC. This book was great I loved the setting as an Irish person I felt a connection to this book. It was a slow burner at the start but then after that it was full of pacy and suspenseful twists and turns! I liked the characters my favourite one was Cal. The publication date is the 7th March 2024.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a fantastic enthralling plot it was a real page turner and keeps you gripped till the very end and wow what a twist I wasn’t expecting that! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars!

I have never been to Ireland but I have read The Searcher and now The Hunter. I have no idea if the dialogue between the characters is authentic but it sounds terribly convincing. I really loved both novels, the characters, the location and best of all the feeling of being there with them. I saw a side of Cal (the Chicago detective) that wasn't all that agreeable and didn't sit well with him but the real standout was the character Mart (Cal's nearest neighbour). A man of incredible wisdom and cunning. His discussions with Cal are full of witty insight and not too cleverly disguised warnings. The folk of those parts have their own codes of conduct and they don't particularly welcome blow ins or the Guarda. Despite living there for two years, Cal could end up being the scapegoat just because he's a blow in and not yet fully accepted. The only down side to the story was the gold scam. It was so obvious and yet it almost absolved itself when it was explained it was more about hope than fact. I was expecting the gold scam to end up being some sort of land grab for carbon offsets to counter the Northern Ireland Cash for Ash scam, in much the same way as parts of Wales are being bought up.
I will reluctantly take one off a perfect five as the scam lacked depth.

I've been a huge fan of French and her previous books for a while, including the first installment involving Cal Hooper's character, and was looking forward to reading this one.
The way in which she writes provokes so many vivid images and her characters and descriptions of the landscape are incredible, however unfortunately I just found this a bit slow and prolonged and for me, didn't really build to anything amazing.

In saying that, I will still be invested in the characters lives and knowing how much I've loved French's previous work, I'm hopeful that I'll enjoy the books to come.