I am a huge fan of Tana French stories and her prose. For me, all of her books were stand-alones. You could read the any book about the Dublin Murder Squat without knowing the other ones and they would work for you. So when she started to write real stand-alones, ones without any connection between them, it was not such a huge difference for me. She is not a master of suspense. Her books are no page turners. But they were always interesting, well developed and complex because of their protagonists and, of course, her exceptional writing skills. But obviously Tana French is working on her writing. Her last few books appeared to be different in style. “The Secret Place” had an abundance of metaphors and was way too slow and self-absorbed; “The Witch Elm” was similar slow and very detailed. Both books were remarkable in their own way but a bit hard to read because of their slow pace and their immense amount of details. “The Searcher” is again a different book. I would never have guessed that it was a book by Tana French. The details and the gradualness are still here but gone are the colourful metaphors.

Cal Hooper is a retired cop from Chicago. He got tired of his job, had a divorce and so he took the change to retire at the early age of 48. For some reasons he choose to spent his retirement in Ireland. He bought an old cottage and started working on it. He chose a small village to live in and he already got acquainted to the locals. He became friend with his neighbor and joins them all in the local pub. Then one day a boy shows up on his door and demands that he starts looking for his missing brother. Once a cop, always a cop, Cal gets hooked against his will about the case. He also gets attached to the child. So he starts poking around.

French’s prose is still on point and you can read the book easily. But there is not much going on. To be honest, I did not find the mystery about the disappearance of the boy that much intriguing. There is mostly not much action in French’s books. The main things are always happening in the heads of her characters. This is a character study as well and a story about the dynamics within a small town in a rural countryside.

I am not sure I like this new writing style. I was a bit underwhelmed with this thin story and all the description about working on old furniture. There are a still some parts where the old Tana French blinks through. When Cal is in the pub and people are talking you get a lot of the undercurrents there. Dialogues were always French’s strength. But unfortunately Cal spends a lot of time alone so there is not so much need for dialogues. Cal is also the most uninteresting character French created so far. As I said before, the story itself is also not so impressive and surprising.

Unfortunately, for me this was the weakest of her books so far. It is still a nice book to read but you have to enjoy a slow storytelling. It is just, when you know her other work, this one fells flat. I am still glad I read it, because I am a fan. And I keep wondering what Tana French is up to next because she seems to enjoy reinventing her writing.

I’d like to thank the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cal Hooper has left Chicago PD and his old life, to retire to the more temperate climes and slower pace of life in rural Ireland, renovate an old farmhouse, maybe kill his own dinner, let time pass peacefully and possibly work some things out for himself. He is befriended by Trey, a kid who wants him to find sibling, and from his initial detached, surface observation of local life, is drawn further into the complexities and secrets of rural life. Uncovering those secrets is more dangerous than he imagined for him and for Trey.
I found this utterly compelling, from quite early on. The slow pace of the start lulls the reader into a sense of peace, and I. like Cal, was utterly unprepared for the shifts in pace, the creeping menace and the sense of inevitability of the denouement.
I loved the Dublin murder squad series as much for the rhythm of language and sense of place as the breathtaking plotting, and this book shares those characteristics.

'The Searcher,' by Tana French tells the story of Cal Hooper, a retired American cop, who relocates to Ireland in search of a quiet life. Initially he feels welcomed into the small town, and relaxed in the idyllic landscape. However, over time both the landscape and the people reveal their dark secrets and Cal's sense of morality is called into question.

If you haven't read a Tana French book before, I would highly recommend you read this one. She is brilliant at developing detailed, believable, and likeable characters, that get you on their side, but also make you question their decisions and motivations. She writes in a very detailed way, but at the same time she is sparing enough to give the reader room to breathe life into the characters. I got swept up in the novel and found it hard to put down. The ending will stay with me.

I started this book and thought at first it wasn’t for me, I kept going with it and after 3 chapters I was hooked ! Couldn’t put it down. It was such a great read, exciting and unpredictable.
Loved it 🙂

Oh, my! This is a fabulous read! Highly, highly recommend. 5*. It's one of those reads that I adored from first to last page and which has left me feeling like I've lost a close friend, not that I've finished.

Cal is an ex Chicago detective who moves to a small town in Ireland to escape the life of a police officer and his, still emotional feelings towards his ex-wife.
Then, a young person. Trey, arrives requesting his help as their brother has disappeared under possibly strange circumstances. What follows is a fabulously written story with sinister undertones.

The characters are brilliantly drawn, typical Irish farmers, with a harsh sense of humour and an underlying violence to their lives. Mart is Cal's closest neighbour and the one who takes him under his wing. But, are his motives genuine?
What starts as a seemingly innocent story of an American buying a rundown old farmhouse to do up as a hobby, soon turns into something else entirely.

This is such an amazing read. I loved every minute! The Irish humour and sayings made me giggle and laugh out loud and I also cried.

Congratulations to Tana French and thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for the opportunity to preview, in exchange for this honest review. I'll be widely publicising closer to publication, but, for those of you who enjoy an excellent read - this is it! Put it on your preorder list! I read it in a 30+ degree heatwave in the Canaries, but, bet it's even better (if this were possible) in Autumn and bonfire night is the perfect time.

A slow burn of a thriller, French has written a stand-alone novel that focuses on a retired Chicago cop who moves to an Irish village for a quiet life and gets embroiled in an unsolved disappearance that could be murder.
Cal, the cop, forms an unlikely friendship with the young sibling of the missing man, and we see their relationship develop in ways that benefit both of them.
French takes her time to build up a picture of the claustrophobic small town and to get into the murder.
But the characters are compelling and well-drawn and the plot slowly develops in unexpected ways.
Recommended for those who enjoy a slow burn of a good thriller.

As a writer of mystery and suspense, Dublin-based author Tana French is in a league of her own. I like the fact that unlike many other writers of the same genre, French publishes stand-alone novels that do not require you to have read previous tomes to get a better insight into her protagonists. The Searchers, her latest novel, is a stand-alone, too. It is very different from her previous works because rather than in Dublin, the majority of the plot this time is set in Western Ireland. Also, in addition to a cast of Irish characters, The Searcher features a protagonist who is US-American.

Cal is 48 years old and has just retired from the Chicago police force. He has retired to an idyllic West Ireland village and had thought his investigative days were behind him, but he is drawn into a fresh enquiry he did not anticipate when a local boy asks for his help in investigating his brother’s disappearance. A newcomer settling into an enclosed, secretive village community is a literary trope that has been explored by many other authors, but French does a particularly good job in presenting Cal as a conflicted but believable character, and in showing the simmering tensions and secrets below the surface of the small Irish village that Cal tries to make home. From this point of view, The Searcher is not just a thriller but also a critical portrait of twenty-first century society, so should appeal to many more readers. I loved reading every page of this novel and wholly recommend it. My thanks go to the author, the publishers and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest and unbiased review.

The first book I’ve read by this author and my honest opinion is that it was utterly fantastic. It gripped me like a vice from the very start. Brilliant story which kept me engrossed the whole way through.

An interesting concept, to transplant an American ex-cop to a wild, Irish landscape and at first I wasn’t sure it would work. However, Cal Hooper shares a lot of the characteristics that the inhabitants of the village have and he fits in, after a fashion. As long as he keeps his interest to refurbishing the remote cottage he has bought and fending off the matchmaking efforts of the village shop owner he faces a cosy escape from whatever demons chased him so far away from his family, Things don’t work out quite like that.
It takes a while for the mystery to reveal itself and at times I did wonder where the author was taking the plot, but the descriptions of the area and life within it are rich and engage the reader.
I’m not too sure about a couple of plot points. One in particular threw me right out of the story, as I just can’t see someone like Cal Hooper being so unobservant as to miss the glaringly obvious! The animal killings and mutilations also seem a little out of place.
Plus points are the scenes where Cal stands as an outsider while the villagers talk, work and fight around him and the development he goes through to fit in, albeit unwillingly and with unease.
It’s a slow-burning thriller and well,worth investing the time to get to know the characters. Some of the penultimate scenes where the mystery Is revealed are tense and dark and almost folk-horror in their impact.

I absolutely loved this book! Very different and empathetically written. Cal, the Chicago Cop, sticking out like a sore thumb in a little Irish village complete with its wonderful old characters and a waif and stray teenager in need of help! I was there experiencing the countryside, the rooks, the early morning dew and the sense of isolation. All is not as it seems and I was impatient to discover the outcome though loathe to leave the people behind! More please!

If I'd read The Searcher without knowing the author's identity, I'd never have guessed that it was a novel by Tana French.
Because the narrative in The Searcher is told in the third-person, it felt far less intimate and intricate than the Dublin Murder Squad series (which, with the exception of The Secret Place, have a first-person pov) so it took me awhile to warm up to French's prose. While I understand that 'sticking' to the same writing style book after book must get tiring, I can't say that I particularly liked French's 'new' style (in fact, while reading I found myself longing for her 'usual' prose). And even if The Searcher was by no means incompetently written, the language French uses wasn't quite as literary or complex as the one in her previous novels.

Onto the actual story: after becoming increasingly disillusioned with the police force Cal, our main character, retires from Chicago's police force and decides to re-locate to the fictional Ardnakelty, a remote small village in the West of Ireland. Here he spends his time fixing up his decrepit new house and bantering with his neighbour.
The narrative moves at an incredibly slow pace...which would have been fine by me if pace had been sacrificed in favour of characterisation. But Cal isn't an incredibly compelling or complex protagonist. What we get instead are long and detailed descriptions about Cal painting his desk or doing up something in his new house. While he goes on about his day he starts to feel as if someone is watching him. After some more time passes he meets Trey, a kid from a poor and disreputable family. Trey's brother is missing so he enlists Cal to find out what happened to him. Cal, who wants to keep his head down, is initially reluctant to get involved, however, as he spends more time with Cal (fixing up his furniture, hunting) he decides to help Trey.

French brings to life the slightly claustrophobic atmosphere of a small village. In a community where everyone seems to know everybody's business, Cal quickly realises how difficult it is to escape the shadow of your family. Although Trey is only thirteen, Ardnakelty residents believe that because he comes from a 'rotten' family he's bad egg.
Cal makes slow progress in his 'investigation'. He has little authority in the village, so he has to play up his 'Yankee' persona in order to get some answers. Still, the people he questions are reticent to talk and soon enough Cal realises that he has ruffled some of the locals feathers.
French vividly renders Cal's environment, on the very first page we get this stunning description:
"The sky, dappled in subtle gradations of grey, goes on forever; so do the fields, coded in shades of green by their different uses, divided up by sprawling hedges, dry stone walls and the odd narrow back road."
The Irish countryside is by turns idyllic and menacing, just as the people who inhabit the land. Much of the banter Cal has with his neighbour or with other men at the local pub carries a not-so-friendly edge. Seemingly harmless exchanges carry the possibility of danger. Yet, even if Cal is aware of this, and of the possibility of upsetting or antagonising the entire village, he's unwilling to give up his search.

The mystery often took the backseat in favour of scenes detailing Cal's daily routing (fixing up the house, fishing, going to the local store, phoning his daughter). There were also quite a lot of conversations about topics I didn't particularly care for (look, I like dogs as much as the next person but my mind will start going blank if I have to read a few pages describing 'pups'). The dynamic between Cal and Trey was the most compelling aspect of this book. I did wish that some scenes of Trey interacting with his family could have been included as they would have given a fuller picture of his life.
Even if I wasn't as interested in Mart or Lena, their words always rang true and they could provide some amusing moments. Cal, on the other hand, sometimes said things that didn't entirely convince me. While he did question himself and his own behaviour, and I did appreciate that he struggled with the meaning of 'doing the right thing', his character was a bit of a blank at times. Although we are given his view on his job, on his feelings about police brutality, racial profiling, and corruption, as well as an impression of the kind of relationship that he has with his daughter and ex-wife, Cal's main characteristic is that he is 'American'. And sometimes what he said sounded a bit too American, even in those instances when he wasn't playing up this role. His motivations for picking Ireland as his new home were also left unexplored. And what did his daughter think of this relocation? We simply know that she's busy working but we don't learn of her reaction upon discovering that her father had chooses to retire and move across the ocean.
The mystery storyline takes a rather predictable direction and I never felt any real sense of suspense. There were quite a few scenes that were just boring and added little to the overall story.
At the end of the day, The Searcher doesn't offer a new spin on the Town with a Dark Secret™. The more I think about it the less I like this novel. It has a kind of Hot Fuzz sort of story (minus the laughs): we have a protagonist who 'can't switch off' who goes to a small village and learns the meaning of friendship and finds out that there is a reason why locals don't want him to investigate certain things.
An okay read but nothing like French's usual.
4 likes

A powerful story.

It is difficult to know who the searcher is in this story. Is it the retired American cop or the child trying to find the truth about her missing brother? The story gently draws the reader into the world of a sleepy Irish village, but goes deeper than the usual superficial treatment, and into deep waters and currents.

Cal Hooper has left the Chicago Police force to try to find peace in a rural setting, as his emotional moorings have come adrift. He is recruited to help a young teenager who needs his help. Initially reluctant to get involved, Cal finds himself compelled to do what he can.

Full of twists and turns, the book contains some deep insights and thoughtful interludes.

Anyone interested in human nature, procedural police dramas, measured thrillers and whodunnits will love this book. It will also appeal to those who are interested in the darker sides of human nature.

I just loved this book. The descriptive writing is superbly done.
It revolves around Cal, a retired cop from Chicago and how he deals with his crisis of not trusting himself to do his job anymore, the fallout of his divorce and his move to a remote Irish community.
The atmospheric descriptions of Cals new life in rural Ireland and his old cottage that he has to work on, really draw you in. Cal is a great character. He's trying hard to get a grip on his flaws, always wants to do the right thing but sometimes it doesn't work out that way and he doesn't know why. His flaws are beautifully portrayed and I loved this character, this mis-fit in the village.
Then along comes Trey, a very troubled young person who wants answers to the disappearance of older brother Brendan. Another great and believable character. Trey convinces Cal to help and Cal just can't help himself untangle the mystery.
The pace of this novel is slow but it needs to be to draw the reader into this backwater of a village where the pace is also slow. However, because it is written in the third person, present tense it has an immediacy that works, the author does a great job of transporting you to this village, with these characters, where you experience the life they live, you feel their raw emotions and the building tension, the threat of menace.
I can't express just how much I loved it. I didn't want it to end, I wanted to continue to shoot rabbits for supper, to mend a broken desk with a broken teenager, to fish along the deserted banks of the river and walk in the strange and haunting mountains.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I have read a few Tana French books before but this is not typical of those. Featuring Cal, a retired Chicago cop who moves to Ireland to search for peace and who gets caught up in a search for a missing youth instead, it drips atmosphere and a sort of rural disquieting menace. If you have visited Ireland and travelled to the non-touristy spots, you will know that Tana French has captured perfectly the underlying currents and shared knowledge of small village life. There were a couple of unanswered questions for me, but overall a good read.

Tana French is one of the most underrated writers in my opinion.
Her books reel me in and mesmerise me. When you look back and reflect, you often think "not that much happened", yet her books are totally engaging, and never feel slow or like they are dragging. And this one I put very much in the same vein.
We have a retired Chicago cop, who has moved to rural Ireland. He's bought a fixer-upper house on land. A local teenager encourages him to look for a missing family member, An unusual friendship between the two develops, and Cal decides to undertake the search for Brendan Reddy. He ruffles a few feathers within the small community, and the warnings he receives only make him more determined to resolve his quest.

The Searcher’ by Tana French is a story of imperfect people searching for what really matters to them. Recently retired from the Chicago PD, Cal Hooper must be going through a mid-life crisis according to his former wife and daughter and the puzzled locals in the Irish farming community where he’s building a new life. He’s allowing himself the luxury of not thinking, just taking life one day at a time as he makes good the ramshackle house he’s bought and passes the time with nearest neighbour Mart.
And then along comes Trey, a troubled teenager convinced that older brother Brendan has been kidnapped. Nothing else can explain his disappearance. Gradually, Cal is drawn into the mystery and begins to realise that there is much more to this sleepy place than he first figured.
Whilst this story can be described as a thriller or a mystery, the slow pace and the sensitive characterisation make it much more than just literary entertainment. French’s use of both literal and figurative imagery to depict the natural world, Cal’s feelings and Trey’s despair is really effective. Journeys up the mountain take on the feel of a trek into another, more sinister, world, reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm: the bogs encroach; the paths are myriad; the mist falls fast. And, on a more domestic level, the old desk that Cal and Trey begin to renovate together is symbolic of their fragile relationship – can it be transformed into something worthwhile?
Tana French has taken a risk in her latest novel. Her cast is small, her focus is tight and her narrative explores violence, greed, selfishness and prejudice. This is not an easy read. Nevertheless, by the final pages, even unpalatable truths have the power to heal, alongside love. Cal’s journey to Ireland teaches him that redemption comes in many guises.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

This is only the second Tana French I have read, I was disappointed by Witch Elm, which given all the love I see for this author, I found underwelming. After having read The Searcher I now get what all the fuss is about. I loved this book and romped through it in a couple of sittings. Tana perfectly captures the eerie, claustrophobic feel of rural, small village life where everyone knows everyone else’s secrets. The plot built up perfectly, with tension gradually building as Cal hunts for the missing teenager. Characters were well drawn and the conclusion was satisfying. I have no hesitation in giving this five stars.

When it comes to mystery and suspense, you can’t beat Tana French.
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Let’s start at the beginning. My initial reaction after the first few pages was “this is going to be a very atmospheric book”. I said this out loud - to no one 😂 It’s one of those books that develops the plot and characters very slowly, as in you need to read a good 50 pages to get into it. I don’t mind that but just saying. 💁🏼‍♀️The setting is what grabbed me. This isolated rural Irish landscape had raw, dark...kind of gothic vibes about it. Perfect for a mystery! As well as the characters who were all quite rough round the edges, complex and flawed. What secrets are they all hiding?! 🤔 The writing is VERY descriptive so you can picture walking around the fields and woodland. I love it when you feel fully immersed in a story. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow it may be; you just feel present. THEN I hit the halfway point and BAM 💥 ...it’s like French knows when to start cranking up the suspense and it’s at this point that I couldn’t put down the book. Seriously! And it’s not a short book at 400 pages. That’s big for me folks. 😆 I really wanted to find out what had happened to Brendan. I was with Cal on this and wanted to find out the truth. Ahhh...I get so invested in this sort of thriller you know?! 🧐 They are so unpredictable! It’s such a slow burner but that’s what makes this such an intense book. Every look, every conversation between characters means something. I’m not going to say anymore because of spoilers. Ahhh and I’m terrible at giving stuff away. Lol! 🤣

If you have read her books before and loved them, you will enjoy THE SEARCHER I’m sure. If you haven’t read her books before, maybe give this a go, particularly if you like books full of mystery and suspense. I found it enthralling. ✨

American Cal, divorced, retired from the police and disenchanted with his former life, has retreated to rural Ireland to a run-down farm, where he keeps himself busy repairing the house and coming to terms with his failed marriage. His cop’s instincts remain however, and his conviction that he is being watched is justified when Trey arrives, demanding help to find a missing person. Locals insist that Brendan has taken off for reasons of his own, like so many youngsters, but thirteen year old Trey is convinced that he has been kidnapped, and Cal’s empathy for the taciturn and seemingly neglected child draws him to investigate.
Told from Cal’s perspective, the stark physical beauty of the landscape and the potentially claustrophobic reality of small-town life are vividly depicted, creating a powerful setting for a compelling mystery. Cal is a sympathetic protagonist, his strong moral code and sense of duty towards Trey driving his actions and propelling the plot as his own background and experiences are revealed.
I was totally absorbed by this superbly written novel and will recommend it wholeheartedly to fellow bookworms.
The only reason I cannot buy it for our library is that our oldest readers are only 11, but I will be promoting it strongly at my book club and cannot wait to read more of Tana French's work.

Tana French is an author I have read and enjoyed before.
This is a stand alone novel featuring Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago cop who has, somewhat arbitrarily, moved to a small Irish farming community. He becomes involved in the search for a missing teenager - drawn into it by their 13 year old sibling.
The book was well written and descriptions of the landscape were evocative. However, I found most of the characters quite one dimensional and stereotypical. There were a few twists and turns but for me it was a slow read and somewhat drawn out.
I would read other books by the author but this one just didn’t do it for me.