Author: Tana French
Performed by Roger Clark
Published on Audible by Penguin Audio in March 2024
Category: Audiobook Review, Mystery, Irish Fiction, Crime Fiction
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It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.
Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.
I loved The Searcher, the book that first introduced Cal Hooper, a retired detective from Chicago who relocated to rural Ireland to find peace and quiet. He’d been a serving officer for twenty five years, had been through an emotional divorce and just wanted to build a new life in a spot where nothing much happened. He has developed a deepening relationship with local lady, Lena and thought he was doing a reasonable job providing motivation and support for Trey Reddy, the wild youngster he met soon after he moved to his cottage.
Trey found she had a knack for carpentry and she and Cal work well together, repairing and making furniture. That is until Trey’s good-for-nothing father reappears after a long absence. He wasn’t alone. Accompanied by a friend from London, the two of them are set on a course that will cause trouble in the small community of Ardnakelty and when the underlying and escalating tensions eventually erupt, not helped by the unseasonably hot and humid weather, death, danger and a detective from Dublin will follow.
Cal knows he needs to make nice with Johnny, but his plan is undermined somewhat by his urge to kick the guy’s ass. He’s not going to do it, obviously, but just allowing himself to picture it gives him some satisfaction. Cal is six foot four and built to match, and after spending the last two years fixing up his place and helping out on various neighbours’ farms, he’s in better shape than he’s been since he was twenty, even if he still has a certain amount of belly going on. Johnny, meanwhile, is a weedy little runt who looks like his main fighting skill is convincing other people to do it for him. Cal reckons if he got a running start and angled his toe just right, he could punt this little shit straight over the tomato patch.
Dammit, Cathy! Now I have to buy the first one 🤦🏼♀️.
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Gotcha! 😄 You would get a much better sense of the characters though.
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Uh huh, sure, yes. That’s not how this thing is supposed to work though. I add to your TBR. Not the other way around 😜
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The underdog has come out on top every so often 😉
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I love the setting and the characters in this series too, Cathy. Wonderful atmospheric review. 💕📚
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Thank you, Sandy 💕 Really hoping for more!
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So am I. 💕📚
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Sounds good! One day I’ll get round to reading more Tana French!
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These are the only two I’ve read but if that’s a sample of her other work I’ll be looking out for those too.
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yes, it was interesting, huh. yes, a slow burn (i really liked The Searcher also)–i was listening to the audiobook–and often got a chuckle out of the ole boys yakking it up. Ms French always surprises me tho–she loves those little zingers.
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