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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
After playing a small part in the last book, Antoinette Conway takes centre stage in The Trespasser. She has made the murder squad, and brought a new, young partner with her, but all is not well. It's a murder mystery, and how the murder was committed keeps you guessing throughout, but it is also Conway's journey, through dizzying twists and turns, longing to find her place, and her people. I love Tana French's use of language, the dialogue I can 'hear' with an Irish accent, and her flawed, raw, messy, and loveable characters.
Interesting plot with a compelling mystery surrounding the death of Aislinn Murray. Detective Antoinette Conway is wrapped up in her own head, and as readers, it’s easy to get wrapped up in her stuff with her.
I love and hate that The Trespasser reminded me of the Margaret Atwood quote, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” But I loved that Aislinn got that last true laugh, despite its terrible cost.
I love and hate that The Trespasser reminded me of the Margaret Atwood quote, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” But I loved that Aislinn got that last true laugh, despite its terrible cost.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am just convinced that the Dublin Mystery Squad would not be possible without unprofessional and rather bad detectives.
Tana French brings police procedurals up about a million notches. I'm extremely stupid when it comes to these kinds of mysteries; I never figure out whodunit til I'm told. I'm thick that way. But I enjoy the ride, and with French's books, I also enjoy the characters, the language (both written and spoken), the relationships (she describes platonic partnerships in the most heartbreakingly poignant way) and the bleakness of modern-day Dublin.
Many layers. All rain-soaked and sad. But this one ends on a feeling of hope. Hurrah!
Many layers. All rain-soaked and sad. But this one ends on a feeling of hope. Hurrah!
The problem with writing a review for a book just after I devour it (when it’s this good, that is) is that I still have that reading high that makes it impossible for me to write something substantive, to be evaluative. All I want to do is flail my hands about like a goon and gush praise and sparkles. I feel like one of those cartoon characters with hearts for eyes. The awe is cumulative at this point; each successive book impresses me more, and unlike some books, the sparkle doesn’t wear off, either.
So I’d tell you take everything I say about The Trespasser with a grain of salt, because I loved it, of course, but that would be a crazy thing for me to say, because I LOVED IT OF COURSE AND YOU SHOULD TOO.
“The stuff people think I should try to hide--being tall, being a woman, being half whatever--is the stuff I keep up front and in their faces. If they can’t handle it, I can use that.”
Meet Antoinette Conway, the only female Murder D on the squad for the last two years. Conway is judgemental and prickly and guarded (although her typical idea of defense is to attack first), and she’s under a lot of stress. Murder Squad hasn’t been the synergistic experience she’d wanted: aside from her amiable partner, Stephen Moran, she doesn’t have any allies on the force. Whether it’s because she’s female or non-white, she can’t so much as leave her drink unattended on her desk without returning to find it seasoned with spit. If it was merely personal, she’d deal, but her cases are being sabotaged, too.
Conway is not a sentimentalist, not a wishful thinker. She spends a lot of time in this book calling out others for their fanciful daydreams, their “what ifs”, their “if onlys”, and disparaging them for not accepting reality. Really, she’s angry at people for not taking ownership of their own stories, for letting other people dictate it or influence it, and that includes herself.
The difficulty of believing or not believing in someone’s “story” is a huge part of this novel. Really, it’s a huge part of every mystery and every Tana French novel, but it’s more overt in Conway’s narrative. People lie to each other, but also to themselves, and when you’re in so close and tight with one person--like we are in reading Conway’s story--you can’t always tell the difference. She distrusts all of the other characters and, as her paranoia increases due to her toxic work environment, she distrusts herself as well, but she still behaves outwardly as if she’s certain. Her interactions with others--whether she’s attacking or barricading herself in--are all based on the story she’s telling herself, putting herself at the center of a vast conspiracy in the Murder Squad.
Still, it’s not certain that she’s NOT the center of a vast conspiracy, and that’s why this novel is so intense and suspenseful. You’re not sure what’s going on with her and her co-workers, and as Conway’s dread builds, everything starts to feel significant and ominous. Conway and Moran work their new case, the murder of a young woman that looks like a clear-cut domestic, with increasing suspicion of the obvious, easy suspect (the boyfriend) because of how weirdly invested everyone else on the squad seems to be in closing the case fast. I spent a lot of this book cringing in anticipation of humiliation or violence or a career-ruining moment for Conway and/or Moran, and it was both terrible and wonderful. If it was a TV show, I would have been hiding behind the couch.
The difficulty of sifting fact out of fiction also makes for some riveting interrogation scenes, especially in the last 100 pages or so, when the momentum speeds up like a drop from a rollercoaster. I’m so impressed that these interrogation scenes, which feature pages after pages of nothing but people sitting in a room and talking, are so tense and yet so subtle and intricate. It could be boring; it could be endless exposition. Instead, French gives all her characters such psychological depth that these scenes play out like master chess games. I love how French always makes her detective-narrators seem like supernatural mind readers. In the past, Conway and Moran both idolized Murder Squad detectives for their superhuman ability to outmaneuver the “cunning psychos”, and they’re often presented in a similar light to the reader .
French’s novels are always thematically rich, with a lot to unpack, but it’s about the characters for me, and their relationships with each other. Conway and Moran are the Detective OTP of my dreams.
Read it and sparkle on.
So I’d tell you take everything I say about The Trespasser with a grain of salt, because I loved it, of course, but that would be a crazy thing for me to say, because I LOVED IT OF COURSE AND YOU SHOULD TOO.
“The stuff people think I should try to hide--being tall, being a woman, being half whatever--is the stuff I keep up front and in their faces. If they can’t handle it, I can use that.”
Meet Antoinette Conway, the only female Murder D on the squad for the last two years. Conway is judgemental and prickly and guarded (although her typical idea of defense is to attack first), and she’s under a lot of stress. Murder Squad hasn’t been the synergistic experience she’d wanted: aside from her amiable partner, Stephen Moran, she doesn’t have any allies on the force. Whether it’s because she’s female or non-white, she can’t so much as leave her drink unattended on her desk without returning to find it seasoned with spit. If it was merely personal, she’d deal, but her cases are being sabotaged, too.
Conway is not a sentimentalist, not a wishful thinker. She spends a lot of time in this book calling out others for their fanciful daydreams, their “what ifs”, their “if onlys”, and disparaging them for not accepting reality. Really, she’s angry at people for not taking ownership of their own stories, for letting other people dictate it or influence it, and that includes herself.
[The people walking past] make me edgy. Dozens and dozens of people, they just keep coming, and every single one of their heads is crammed with stories they believe and stories they want to believe and stories someone else has made them believe, and every story is battering against the thin walls of the person’s skull, drilling and gnawing for its chance to escape and attack someone else, bore its way in and feed off that mind too.
The difficulty of believing or not believing in someone’s “story” is a huge part of this novel. Really, it’s a huge part of every mystery and every Tana French novel, but it’s more overt in Conway’s narrative. People lie to each other, but also to themselves, and when you’re in so close and tight with one person--like we are in reading Conway’s story--you can’t always tell the difference. She distrusts all of the other characters and, as her paranoia increases due to her toxic work environment, she distrusts herself as well, but she still behaves outwardly as if she’s certain. Her interactions with others--whether she’s attacking or barricading herself in--are all based on the story she’s telling herself, putting herself at the center of a vast conspiracy in the Murder Squad.
Still, it’s not certain that she’s NOT the center of a vast conspiracy, and that’s why this novel is so intense and suspenseful. You’re not sure what’s going on with her and her co-workers, and as Conway’s dread builds, everything starts to feel significant and ominous. Conway and Moran work their new case, the murder of a young woman that looks like a clear-cut domestic, with increasing suspicion of the obvious, easy suspect (the boyfriend) because of how weirdly invested everyone else on the squad seems to be in closing the case fast. I spent a lot of this book cringing in anticipation of humiliation or violence or a career-ruining moment for Conway and/or Moran, and it was both terrible and wonderful. If it was a TV show, I would have been hiding behind the couch.
The difficulty of sifting fact out of fiction also makes for some riveting interrogation scenes, especially in the last 100 pages or so, when the momentum speeds up like a drop from a rollercoaster. I’m so impressed that these interrogation scenes, which feature pages after pages of nothing but people sitting in a room and talking, are so tense and yet so subtle and intricate. It could be boring; it could be endless exposition. Instead, French gives all her characters such psychological depth that these scenes play out like master chess games. I love how French always makes her detective-narrators seem like supernatural mind readers
Spoiler
until it turns out that they’ve misunderstood everything, of course - again, the benefit of such a tight perspectiveSpoiler
again, until they slip upFrench’s novels are always thematically rich, with a lot to unpack, but it’s about the characters for me, and their relationships with each other. Conway and Moran are the Detective OTP of my dreams.
Spoiler
While French's novels always leave with something irrevocable and sad or bittersweet, at least this time she’s preserved the union at the heart of the story: Conway and Moran, who made me fall in love with The Secret Place, who work so well together and have such unacknowledged faith in each other that even when fighting, they have each other’s backs.Read it and sparkle on.
Expertly crafted murder mystery with believable characters, great setting, and taut plot. I was immediately drawn into the mood and attitude of the main character and she is unforgettable. She is not always likeable, and frequently annoying, but I never doubted her commitment to the victim and the right solution. That alone made her a pariah on her squad. This is a long book but worth every page-turning moment. -Suzanne R.