by Tana French
Viking, 2020, 451 pages, Mystery
After 25 years working for the Chicago P.D., Cal Hooper thinks renovating a house settled deep in the Irish countryside and socializing at the small local pub is the ideal way to spend his retirement. But when 12-year-old Trey Reddy shows up at Cal’s door, demanding that Cal investigate his brother’s disappearance, Cal faces an interesting choice: take his new hometown at face value and turn a blind eye when problems arise, or do what he was trained to do and dig into things that are likely best left alone.
This book takes a bit to really get going, but French is great a building the atmosphere until Cal’s investigation comes to a head. Her descriptions of Ireland’s bleak, wind-swept, craggy hills and the detailed backstories she gives to each of the locals really help you feel like you’re there. I also appreciated a sub-plot that mirrored the main plot perfectly, as Cal teaches Trey how to determine where your moral compass lies, while making the same decisions himself with each stage of his investigation.
Readers who enjoy atmospheric mysteries like this one might also enjoy the work of Jane Harper, who writes atmospheric mysteries set in Australia.
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