Nobody writes crime like Tana French, and The Hunter is another brilliant slow-burn, character driven book featuring characters who are quickly becoming my favourites; Cal and Trey.

Proof that crime books don't need to be action packed with car chases ago-go, this is a book that takes a simple premise, loyalty and examines it from every angle. French has created a believable world, filled with interesting and realistic characters, multi-layered storytelling and clever observations of humanity.

I've been a fan of Tana French ever since the Dublin Dectective squad novels, and highly hope she will return to them

The Hunter is once again well written with great characters and a bursting plot!

A slow burning and well written novel that kept hooked.
I think that Tana French is a master storyteller and I loved the setting and the great characters.
The plot is tightly knitted and found it highly entertaining.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I'm not normally keen on books written in America but this author makes it feel like you know the place.

Can't wait for more.

Thoughtful and detailed follow up to The Searcher, which benefits from having read the first book. The Hunter is strong on atmosphere and characterisation, but as a thriller is quite slow. Knowledge of the characters from the previous book certainly helps and if you like your crime slightly enigmatic, then this is a book for you.

I loved this book, I loved the irish words and expressions. The characters were great, Cal and Trey were brilliant and supported each other so very well. Their friendship and companionship was wonderful The character of her father was not so wonderful, you really did not feel any sympathy for him.
I liked the slow build of the story, although as other reviews have mentioned it was a slow slow build. A little too much conversation perhaps.
A very enjoyable read that I would recommend.

Tara French has elevated the crime novel to a complex observation of people, their connections and the power of dialogue over action.
The Hunter, her sequel to 2020’s The Searcher, picks up two years later with the continuation of the story of retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper, who moved to a tiny and insular farming village called Ardnakelty in Ireland. He’s taken troubled teenager Trey Reddy from the first book fully under his wing, and the pair gain a reputation for their carpentry.
When Trey’s good-for-nothing father Johnny comes home, he upends his family’s settled life. Johnny, with an Englishman in tow, has a dangerous get-rich scheme involving forgotten gold and promises of wealth for the farmers hit hard by drought.
You need not have read The Searcher to enjoy the sequel, but the second book is far more enjoyable if you know the characters and events that brought Cal and Trey together. Like the first book, this also reads like a Western set in Ireland, and once again Cal is the retired lawman pulled into the town’s drama, as he’s now (sort of) one of them, and fiercely protective of Trey.
It’s a wonderful slow-burn of a read - emphasis on slow - filled with rich characters and dialogue in an increasingly sinister atmosphere. It’s a definite favourite of 2024 (but do read The Searcher first if you have not).
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved The Searcher, the book that first introduced Cal Hooper, a retired detective from Chicago who relocated to rural Ireland to find peace and quiet. He’d been a serving officer for twenty five years, had been through an emotional divorce and just wanted to build a new life in a spot where nothing much happened. He has developed a deepening relationship with local lady, Lena and thought he was doing a reasonable job providing motivation and support for Trey Reddy, the wild youngster he met soon after he moved to his cottage.

Trey found she had a knack for carpentry and she and Cal work well together, repairing and making furniture. That is until Trey’s good-for-nothing father reappears after a long absence. He wasn’t alone. Accompanied by a friend from London, the two of them are set on a course that will cause trouble in the small community of Ardnakelty and when the underlying and escalating tensions eventually erupt, not helped by the unseasonably hot and humid weather, death, danger and a detective from Dublin will follow.

Like The Searcher, The Hunter is a compelling multi layered, slow burn, character driven mystery, full of atmosphere, intrigue and well devised, developing characters who are brought to life sympathetically, with subtlety, depth and authentic dialogue. The area is easily visualised by the descriptions of the farmland, the village and the mountain with its trails, pathways and dangers for the unwary.

I’m really enjoying the setting and characters in this series. Trey, now fifteen and smart, she more or less has the measure of her father. But she is blinkered when it comes to her brother’s death and despite the promise she made to Cal, she has her own agenda and believes she can manipulate her father’s scam to her own advantage, and bring about the retribution she feels is deserved. In doing so she avoids Cal and that worries him, given everything that’s going on. Cal is a strong character, anything but stereotypical, he doesn’t take things or people at face value and forms his own opinions. The characters, their developing relationships, the dialogue and scene setting make this book. The plot is almost, but not quite, secondary and I enjoyed the banter between the locals. I love Roger Clark’s narration. It’s spot on and I can just picture him as Cal. I really hope there’ll be another one…or even several more.

This a slow paced mystery (not really a thriller) set in a small town in the west of Ireland. The main character Cal Hooper is a retired Chicago policeman who moved to Ireland a couple of years ago. (This is the second Cal Hooper book, I haven’t read the first The Searcher. There are references to earlier events which I presume were covered in the previous book.) The slow pacing makes it a detailed and character driven read and I found myself drawn into the story. It’s a hot summer and the rural setting adds to the atmosphere.

When Cal Hooper retired from the Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland, he was looking for a peaceful life. And in the two years he’s been here, he’s mostly found it. But when a local blows back into town with trouble close behind, Cal’s peace might not last much longer…

First and foremost, Tana French is an absolute master of suspense. Her ability to gradually build and build in such a way that you almost don’t even notice it until she tips you over the edge, heart racing, nerves screaming. The last 100 or so pages of a Tana French novel are guaranteed to be a wild ride.

I really enjoyed the expansion into Trey and Lena’s POVs in this instalment. Although it was frustrating at times as it seemed to hold you in the POV that would keep you in the dark while action was happening elsewhere. It was presumably intentional, but felt a little overdone as the narrative progressed. That said, having spend the first novel entirely in Cal’s head, it was really interesting to see him from Trey and Lena’s perspectives, and to see his relationship with Trey from Lena’s perspective, and how it had grown since the last time we saw them.

The push and pull of her relationship with Cal as her father inserted himself back into her life was the perfect way to really heighten the tension of the overall narrative, as it put Cal and Trey uncharacteristically on edge with one another, neither wanting to hurt the other, and trying to protect each other in their own roundabout ways.

I enjoy this series as Cal as a character makes for the perfect vehicle to explore the dynamics of rural Ireland. As an outsider (and a retired police officer, at that), it feels natural for him to make observations of the people, the landscape, the weather, in ways that might feel forced if he was a local. But as someone making a home there, it also doesn’t feel like spectacle, or judgement.

This book sees Cal embedded deeper into the community, and through him and Trey and Lena’s perspectives we get a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the town, which add layers to the mystery.

A slow and brooding mystery that builds beautifully into a crescendo.

Thank you NetGalley and Viking for my e-arc of this title, received in exchange for an honest review.

I hate when books don't live up to expectations, and this one really didn't. The story was boring to me and very, very slow. Like other people are saying, it took a long time before something interesting happened and what happened was involving someone I didn't care about. I noticed myself skipping through the conversations, because most didn't have anything to do with the suspense part of the book. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into it and was happy I finished it.

Another cracking read by Tana French that will keep you hooked from the very first page. I found it very hard to put it down once I started.

I was sent a copy of The Hunter by Tana French to read and review by NetGalley. I love Tana French’s writing so I was really looking forward to this novel, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint! So beautifully written with a whole host of very believable characters, and as for the descriptions of the locations – you can really imagine yourself there. I didn’t realize until after I had finished reading the book that it was a follow on from one of the author’s previous novels, The Searcher. It was a few years ago that I read, and loved, it that I hadn’t connected the two. This isn’t a book full of action and thrills, more it is a study of people and their interactions, loyalties and enmities in a small Irish town. I for one can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Man, I loved this book! It was so nice to revisit Cal, Trey, Lena and the rest of the town characters. The mystery in this book wasn't as good as the first book in this series, but it was still a good read, and if there's ever a third book in the series, I'm going to rush to read it! Four stars.

My rating is between 2.5 and 3 stars.

This novel is a return to Cal Hooper, the retired Chicago cop who moved to the Irish countryside. This is an atmospheric portrayal of rural Ireland which contrasts the beauty of the landscape with the dark secrets and long-held grudges of its inhabitants.

Considering the novel is set in the midst of a heatwave, the pace is a suitably languorous exploration of the lengths people will go to for the people who matter to them and the collision between love and revenge. The relationships between characters, particularly those between Cal, Lena, and Trey, were the most compelling aspect for me and without these I might have stopped reading before the end.

I am such a huge fan of Tana French’s books and she genuinely never disappoints – The Hunter is no exception. It is a sequel to the fantastic The Searcher and I was so excited to once more immerse myself in the world of these characters in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty. The Hunter is not an action packed thrill ride, it is a masterful slow burn which ratchets up an undercurrent of simmering tension until it reaches fever pitch. There is a terrific sense of atmosphere present from the first page to the last, with both the beauty and the harshness of the rural Irish landscape making themselves known. As with all her books, French writes sensationally well, breathing life into these characters and the relationships between them with unsentimental sensitivity and depth. The Hunter is layered, gripping, elegant and expertly crafted. Highly recommended.

I’ve loved several books by Tana French, especially The Searcher, the first Cal Hooper mystery, so I was really looking forward to reading the second, The Hunter. I wasn’t disappointed and enjoyed this one almost as much. Like The Searcher this is a slow-burner, a book to savour, not one to rush through.

Two years have gone by since the events told in The Searcher. Ex-Chicago detective Cal Hooper is now settled in Ardnakelty, a remote Irish village and Trey Reddy is now fifteen. Trey’s father, Johnny who has been absent from the village for four years suddenly returns. But Trey is suspicious of her father’s true motives and doesn’t trust him, or the rich Londoner, Cillian Rushborough, Johnny met in London. The two of them are out to fleece the villagers, claiming there is gold on their land. But just who is scamming who?

I liked the slow build up to the mystery – there is a murder, but the body is only discovered later on in in the book. And it is the characters not the murder that are the focal point. I loved Tana French’s beautiful descriptions of the Irish rural landscape. It’s the sort of book I find so easy to read and lose myself in, able to visualise the landscape and feel as if I’m actually there with the characters, watching what is happening.

"The Hunter" is a captivating mystery that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The story unfolds with a series of intriguing events that will leave you guessing until the very end. The characters are well-developed and their relationships add depth to the plot.

I highly recommend "The Hunter" to readers who enjoy thrillers. It is a book that will keep you interested from start to finish. The author skillfully weaves a web of mystery that will keep you guessing with every turn of the page.

I particularly enjoyed the relationships between Cal and Trey. Each character brings something unique to the story, adding layers of complexity and depth. The interactions between them are interesting and sometimes surprising, making the book even more engaging. It follows on beautifully and develops the relationships from "The Searcher".

Overall, "The Hunter" deserves a solid four-star rating. It is a compelling read that will entertain and intrigue readers. I encourage you to pick up a copy and embark on this thrilling mystery adventure!

This book was everything I hoped it would it be.
I was hooked quickly and completely unwilling to put this down. I devoured this book in just one sitting. I have no regrets and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Tana French is a masterful storyteller and The Hunter, a gently building drama set in Ireland, is proof of her skill. I have been looking forward to this, the follow-on of The Searcher, and feel vindicated in my devotion, though saddened it has now finished.

If you are after omnipotent killers with crazy plotlines, this isn't for you. It's a thoughtful novel spending much of its time in multilevel dialog. An insult doled out by the characters peopling this book does pack a punch but in a tongue in cheek kind of way. I appreciate the poetic turns of phrase and the deeper meaning often seeded into unspoken words. The Hunter revels in the beauty of a simpler life for Cal, retired Chicago cop, his dog and young woodworking protege, Trey. The connections Cal has formed after two years in residence have strengthened as has his desire to keep trouble from his door. His gentle guidance and tenderness toward teenager Trey leads him to step into the path of potential hazards fuelling unrest and conflict. As tension builds their relationship is challenged as is Cal's standing within the community.

A thoughtful novel, The Hunter delivers much to enjoy. Witty repartee and an analysis on the value of loyalty, honesty and the high price for revenge.