Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Searcher

Reread review (February 2024):

Rating: 5/5 stars

Cal Hooper is a retired cop seeking a quiet life in Ireland when he gets drawn into a search for a missing teenager.

Tana French is one of my all-time favorite authors and the author I credit with both getting me back into reading as an adult and getting me into mysteries and thrillers. I first read THE SEARCHER when it was released in 2020 and I really enjoyed it then, but I reread it in February in preparation for the sequel (THE HUNTER) and I absolutely LOVED IT this time around. I am obsessed with these characters and the slow burn creepiness and tension of the plot.

 French has such talent as a writer, and this shines through with incredible memorable lines and small moments of heart and humor throughout the book. This is both a taut and compelling mystery and an intricate character study of a man reevaluating his purpose and a community grappling with societal change and the tension between modernity and tradition. I highly recommend this one, especially on audio, and cannot wait to dive into THE HUNTER!

CW: Violence/injury/blood/death; physical abuse; mentions of animal cruelty/death.

Original review (October 2020):

Probably closer to 3.5 stars for the actual plot, but the characters were delightful and the book was thoroughly enjoyable all the way through!

Content Warnings

mstall_'s review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The Searcher by Tana French was a book that I had picked up and put down at the bookstore about three times before I decided to finally buy it. I had heard great reviews of her other series Dublin Murder Squad and I figured since The Searcher was book one of a new series, I'd start here. Ultimately I was left wanting a bit more from the story, feeling a little bummed and a little duped.

Cal Hooper is a retired cop who, after a failed marriage and strained relationship with his daughter, decides to leave Chicago and move to remote Ireland to get some peace. Unfortunately for him peace has no interest in being got by Cal. As he acclimates to his new village, he befriends a young kid who seeks out Cal's help in finding his brother who has disappeared. Cal, the kid and the village itself set down a path that Cal isn't sure he can see the right ending to.

I can see why Tana French has authored so many books, her writing is top notch. The prose in The Searcher was the best part of this book - there was enough local language thrown in to remind me that I was in Ireland without it being unreadable. Tana was also able to write this book as if you were reading it from the lens of exhausted, tired cop without needing to write it in first person. Pretty genius if you ask me.

The story, however, was lacking the big BANG moment I know and love from mystery/crime books. The book meanders through the first half, building the setting, the relationships, and the narrative. While I was a little bored I figured it would pick up during the second half and unfortunately I was wrong. The climax of the story was more like an exhausted fart -- unimpressive in all ways. At the very start of the book I thought I knew what was going to happen/who did it but talked myself out of it because it couldn't be THAT obvious, right? Wrong. It was that obvious and a pretty substantial let down.

Now, to be fair, this is book one in a new series so maybe Tana was just really laying the backstory/foundation on thick in this book and future books will have better pacing/shock value. I am unlikely to finish out this series unless I read really stellar reviews of the next book first. I will also mention that I might have had a different experience if I read this book a few years down the line when I could have immediately jumped into book two. I will be giving her Dublin Murder Squad series a try since that series has phenomenal reviews.

Content Warnings

whirl's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was very good as an audiobook! Nice slow pace and brilliantly read

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kyrajg's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I've read almost all of Tana French's books, and although this one is still a great novel, it was missing something for me. The first 100 or so pages are really slow, but after that the plot picks up. Compared to French's other books, I found the prose to be lacking. Maybe it's because the main character is American, but something was missing for me.

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jodar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A well-written crime story. If it hadn’t bogged down in the middle part, I’d give it a higher rating. In a way the crime isn’t central to the novel, and there’s not much suspense. Instead, the mystery is the means by which the characters are compelled to face dilemmas and hard truths.

The MC is a bit stereotypical: a retired policeman looking to rehabilitate himself after an unhappy marriage in a new, apparently peaceful and remote part of the world. That said, the MC is a likeable man who’s aware of his personal strengths and weaknesses. The relationship he develops, almost accidentally, with a young, distressed girl – central to the plot – is developed with care and insight. So too the MC’s internal struggles in reconciling his own code of conduct with his past family and work experiences, the new attitudes of his children’s generation and the repercussions of the crime he works to uncover.

The description of the environment is attractively portrayed and sets up a sharp discordance with the brutality of what the MC eventually uncovers. Some of the seemingly cheerful, friendly inhabitants likewise are at variance with the reality the MC comes to understand.

Well worth reading provided you’re not looking for an action-packed, fast-moving crime thriller.

Content Warnings