The Searcher

This latest mystery from Tana French is a departure from her usual, and as usual, the writing is just beautiful. This story is more about the characters and relationships than it is about a mystery. It's about healing and closure, life changes, and finding one's way in a new landscape.

I did not need to suspend my belief with this story at all, but just read on, in awe of a narrative that makes everything fall into a peaceful place.

Of course, I recommend this.

A lovely, leisurely read for a cold, rainy day. Lots of nuanced character development and local landscape detail, which sets up some satisfying twists.

It was interesting to have read this directly after Recursion, as both feature the point of view of ex cops with ex wives and distant daughters. But very different in tone.

You can never finish a Tana French book without missing her characters, that feeling where you're not ready to say goodbye on the last page. I'll be thinking of Cal, the retired detective newly moved to Ireland and Trey his young friend for some time.

As always with French, the writing and thematic construction are 5/5. But I just didn't like this particular story she chose to tell all that much, even if I do appreciate the way she told it.

I loved this. It was dark, in its own way, but subtly - not in the sort of creeping, ominous way that In the Woods was dark. The writing was also less poetically beautiful. Still, the story was well told, and it pulled me in in a way that The Witch Elm did not. I might even buy this one, as I did In the Woods, and I don’t generally buy novels. French is a very good author.