by Tana French
“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.”—TIME
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.
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.
From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.
“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.”—TIME
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.
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.
From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.
Reviews-
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February 5, 2024
Edgar winner French’s slow-burn sequel to 2015’s The Searcher underlines her knack for setting and character development. Teenager Trey Reddy is less than pleased by her ne’er-do-well father Johnny’s unexpected return to the small Irish village of Ardnakelty to execute a get-rich-quick scheme he believes will finally enable him to provide for his family. On a recent visit to a London pub, Johnny claims to have spoken up when a stranger asked whether anyone present was from Ardnakelty; the man, Cillian Rushborough, then revealed to him that the village was home to a hidden trove of gold. Johnny’s account is met with skepticism from Cal Hooper, the ex-Chicago cop who retired to the village and became a surrogate father to Trey after the events of The Searcher. Cal’s suspicion proves warranted, and Rushborough’s subsequent arrival in Ardnakelty sets in motion a series of crimes, including a murder, that upend Cal’s and Trey’s once peaceful existence. While this isn’t quite up to French’s best—the gears of the plot take too long to start turning—it’s a pleasure to spend time with her finely drawn characters, and the murder investigation, when it finally gets underway, has impressive scope. This may be a step down from its predecessor, but it’s still a cut above similar fare. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary. -
Not every listener has felt that Tana French's stand-alone novels have lived up to the pleasures of her psychologically shrewd Dublin Murder Squad series, but THE HUNTER marks a return to form, at least in Roger Clark's thrilling audio performance. Here Cal Hooper, an American emigr like French herself, has moved to a ferociously insular Irish village. He's a retired Chicago police detective in a town that makes its own law. He's settled in, fallen in love, and become the mentor and protector of a valuable but not always valued teenager named Trey. Clark's Irish dialogue is so rich and musical it's addictive, but his American voice for Cooper is flawless as well, and his pacing, attention, and sympathy do splendid justice to this riveting story. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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June 1, 2024
French's follow-up to The Searcher returns with familiar characters, including former Chicago police detective Cal Hooper, who has retired to a small village in Ireland. He's involved with a local woman, Lena, and has taken on a bright teenage girl named Trey as his carpenter's assistant. Cal and Trey repair and restore old furniture, giving her much-needed marketable skills. Then Trey's ne'er-do-well father comes home unexpectedly with a get-rich scheme bound to go wrong. He spins a legend about gold being found in the local river and enlists the support of a posh Englishman eager to gain access to the nearby farmland so he can start digging. The whole enterprise is a scam, and when there's a reckoning, Cal and Lena must act quickly to extricate themselves and Trey from danger. Roger Clark narrates beautifully, deftly moving from American to Irish accents and providing an engaging presentation of French's well-paced dialogue and full-bodied characters. VERDICT French's slow-burn mystery about small-town insularity, loyalty, and vengeance captivates. French's many fans will have this on their lists, but it's a great fit for fans of Gillian Flynn and Jane Harper, too.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
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