4.06k reviews for:

The Searcher: The mesmerising new mystery from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Tana French

3.72 AVERAGE

admccourt's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ratiociner's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Well written - the tension builds slowly and sneaks up on you. Amazing world building and descriptions. Even though part of the intrigue’s predictable, I didn’t find it took away from the book as it seems to go beyond just that.

ashleyjoheerema's review against another edition

2.75

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

relatta's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ladylovelybooks's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

machc's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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: No

annodee's review against another edition

3.0

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What I liked most, the setting. You are in rural Ireland, admiring the scenery and hanging out at the pub with the locals. The story’s pretty good. The narrator has a legit Irish American accent, because he is. The teen character is sad and broken and believable. And Tana French turns a beautiful and poetic phrase.

hypergraphiac's review against another edition

4.0

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A small Irish town might seem like the perfect haven to an ex-cop to escape from a big American city. But the smaller the town ,the more intricate, complicated and tight the relationships between people living there. Every town has its secrets- will a stranger solve them or will they swallow him like the Irish bog he has found himself in?

This is not the first Tana French book I've read, so I am familiar with her slow build-up writing style as well as her knack to thrill and flesh out interesting and complex characters.

As someone who lives in Ireland, she did due justice to show the truth of weather and complexities of smaller towns. The slowness of the story fits with the slowness of a life in a smaller community, retirement and house renovations. The crawling towards culmination did not do it for me though, unfortunately. It fell flat and made me go: "Huh?! Well... wait, really? I mean, oookay,I guess...". Thrilling reaction, init?

I also could not really get a good feel or understanding of some of the characters, they felt sort of distant and a tinge too empty for my taste, I did enjoy most of the internal monologues of the main protagonist, especially the one about his not so successful dinners with his daughter and her boyfriend as I could relate with his train of thought on the topic.

I did enjoy the style, the story, the plot, but the ending...
4/5 stars

dvo19's review against another edition

2.5

dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

jollyette's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No