Review | The Searcher by Tana French

After retiring from his job as a detective in Chicago, Cal Hooper moves to rural Ireland. He plans to fix his cottage and find some peace and quiet. When a local boy asks Cal to track his missing brother, he feels compelled to help. But what starts as a missing person case soon hints at something bigger. An outsider asking questions is not welcomed in the close-knit community, and Cal’s quest could bring danger not just to himself but the innocent boy.

Cal wouldn’t have known how to explain that it wasn’t that he couldn’t handle the job any more. It was that one or the other of them, him or the job, couldn’t be trusted.

The Searcher was my first Tana French book! I liked her contemplative writing and witty dialogue between the characters. It really felt as if I was hanging around with real people and watching them banter with each other. The setting in a remote countryside in Ireland is atmospheric and stark. The pacing is slow but I didn’t mind it because it allowed me to get to know the main character, Cal, and the child who sought his help, Trey. Their friendship is interesting and the book lets it breathe and grow.

However, the plot doesn’t really move beyond Cal asking questions to other villagers, and there’s no hints of tension until the very end. I didn’t warm up to Cal because I felt he’s just throwing himself a pity party. He’s sorry for lying about a Black teenager being shot at by his partner but made no moves to fix his actions. He quit his job so he wouldn’t lose his marriage but not due to his self-proclaimed moral code. It was hard for me to care for him and thus, to care for his quest.

I was also not happy that there’s no payoff to the wait, for there was no reckoning to what had happened. It felt close to real life, and perhaps it’s the state of the world now but I just didn’t find it enjoyable. The ending is not even bleak in a way that might be emotionally devastating, but just tapers off to nothing. So, while I enjoyed the writing I felt disappointed that I didn’t get something more out of the story.

The Searcher is a slow-burn mystery that will appeal to readers who love character-driven stories without a perfect resolution.

CW: suicide, child abuse, animal deaths

I received a digital copy from the publisher and Netgalley for review purposes.

About the author: Tana French

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