Frances and Bobbi, Irish university students, perform spoken word poetry together. They are invited to a journalist’s house, and become caught up in her and her husbands life. Is about relationships in a modern world, how extraordinarily complicated and messy they can be, and how transformative. There’s a meaninglessness that I am thankful not to live with myself, but it is very clever, thought provoking, modern (I am getting so old), philosophical, and piercing.
I wasn’t sick of the murder squad, or of Dublin, but I’ll follow Tana French wherever she wants to go. Cal Hooper leaves the Chicago police, and buys a farmhouse in need of renovation in a tiny Irish village. A local kid disturbs his solitude, and sends him on a quest that digs up trouble in the village. As always, the characters are so full (with accents you can hear), the landscape alive, and the atmosphere tense. The experience of reading a Tana French novel is intense; immersive, suspenseful, and moving.
This is the third book in the series featuring Detective Cormac Reilly. It was a wonderfully paced story, and if you have read the first two you will happy with the outcome of The good turn. We are introduced to several story threads, a kidnapping, police corruption and a child who will not speak, and I couldn’t stop reading to see how they all combined. Loved it!
A year ago a teenaged boy was found dead on the grounds of a fancy girls’ school, and now, a girl turns up at the police station with a card that says someone knew who killed him. I love the main detectives in this book; young Stephen, desperate for a shot at the Murder Squad, and Conway, who was so frustrated a year ago. The many teenaged girls are well drawn, the atmosphere both real, and eerie, and the mystery satisfyingly convoluted. It took me longer to read this than others in the series, perhaps because I have enough teenaged girl drama in real life, or perhaps because the otherworldly parts of the story were a little much at times, but I still enjoyed it very much.
I do so love a Tana French novel. Each one’s main character, is a minor character from the one before, which gives the added bonus of getting to know a character you are already familiar with, and don’t necessarily love, so much better. Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy is a murder detective taking a new, young partner along to solve the mystery of who murdered a whole family. It’s a psychological mystery, full of flawed characters, complicated relationships, evocative Irish dialogue, and moving character journeys.
The third book in the Dublin Murder Squad, and the third protagonist. I love the opportunity to get to know a minor character from the last book, The Likeness. In the 80s, Frank Mackey was all set to leave his his dysfunctional family and poor community as he and his girlfriend ran away to England, only she didn’t turn up at the meeting place, and everyone assumed she went alone. Frank left anyway, and didn’t look back. More than twenty years later, her suitcase turns up, and Frank, now an undercover cop, is drawn back to Faithful Place and the dark past. The dialogue is written in such a way that you hear the Irish accents, the characters are engaging and complex, and the mystery is clever and satisfying.
Set between 2011 and 2015, this is the story of Marianne and Connell whose relationship begins in secret while they are at school, and how it and they change as they leave their small town and go to Dublin for university. It’s about class, communication, love, abuse, mental illness, friendship and the struggle to find one’s place in the world as an adult. It’s very modern, and made me feel old, but it was very compelling.
I have to admit to skipping a few chapters of this book so that I could finish. The premise of the story was great, but the characters let me down – they lacked warmth. The story did get better towards the middle and end.
An Irish police procedural story that has many layers. There are crimes to solve as well as personal life and office politics to navigate. Interesting characters and a well paced story kept me invoved to the end. I look forward to reading more of this series when it comes.
When he was twelve, Adam Ryan went into the local wood with his friends, and something most terrible happened. His friends were never seen again, and Adam couldn’t remember a thing. Years later, Adam is called Rob and he is on the Dublin Murder Squad when a girl is found murdered in the same wood. I really enjoyed this story about two crimes, of course, but also about friendship, childhood and the mess we can make of relationships. It has a delightful Irishness to it, and the ending isn’t too neat.
rrlreads 