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bootsmom3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Homophobia, Car accident, Child abuse, Body shaming, Gore, Medical content, Suicide, Blood, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
savvylit's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
In 2020, I read five of Tana French's books back to back. This is the first of her novels that I have read since and reminded me exactly why I enjoyed her thrillers so much back then. French excels at creating psychological tension and three-dimensional characters. In addition to being an author, French is an actress and it shows. The cinematic quality of her mysteries makes me feel immersed in a detective show. It makes total sense that her novels have been adapted for television!
About Faithful Place in particular - while I liked it, I had a few issues with it. First, I just didn't particularly like the main character, Frank. He was an asshole throughout and didn't really have much of a redemption. Everyone in his life gave him a lot of grace but he just kept acting bullishly. Second, there were two mysterious deaths in this novel and I don't think that the second one was properly solved. At the novel's conclusion, it's implied to have been solved but there's never a true explanation. Generally, I don't mind ambiguity in books. However, when the first murder was so neatly solved and explained in detail, I would hope for the same insight into the second murder.
About Faithful Place in particular - while I liked it, I had a few issues with it. First, I just didn't particularly like the main character, Frank. He was an asshole throughout and didn't really have much of a redemption. Everyone in his life gave him a lot of grace but he just kept acting bullishly. Second, there were two mysterious deaths in this novel and I don't think that the second one was properly solved. At the novel's conclusion, it's implied to have been solved but there's never a true explanation. Generally, I don't mind ambiguity in books. However, when the first murder was so neatly solved and explained in detail, I would hope for the same insight into the second murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Violence and Classism
mykenzi's review
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gaslighting and Death
raekit's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
This is very much in the "flawed and rough detective who is smart but doesn't follow the rules" trope. And sometimes I just love that trope. It was not as sexist as some of the ones I've read in the past but it also wasn't wildly progressive or genre-breaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse
kylietokar's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Another solid crime novel from the queen of modern Irish mystery! Unlike some of her other works, I was able to determine the culprit before the ultimate reveal at the end, but that didn't make the story any less gripping. The flawed characters were loveable, and it helped piece together a backstory for a character we've met in another of French's books. It does fall back on some tropes (i.e., jaded divorced dad/ tough cop with an estranged family, longing after a stubborn-yet-gorgeous female love interest from his youth) and it doesn't pass the Bechdel test, but I'm not reading a crime novel for any kind of deep experience; it was a great read, all in all.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence
katrinasherise's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Suicide
meganelise's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
morgan_elizabeth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Death, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship
whatellisreadnext's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ. ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ*๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด.
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Frank Mackey's life has forever been defined by one single night. He was nineteen, waiting to meet Rosie Daly, so they could run away to England and start a new life together. She never turned up, so he left for Dublin, alone. Now an undercover cop, he gets a call from his sister... they've found a suitcase full of Rosie's things๐ฑ
It's official. I love Tana French. Her books have become such a comfort for me. Some people read romance and cosy historical fiction when they're feeling down and I'm just like gimme a Dublin Murder Squad book and a good cup of tea๐
Faithful Place is my favourite installment yet, it's so gritty and full of twists. I love Frank Mackey. I didn't really like him when he featured in The Likeness, but I grew so fond of him in this. French writes human characters like nobody else. Her books feel so real and I end up absolutely consumed by them.
If you're looking to add some gritty and dark crime novels to your Autumn TBR, I can 100% vouch for the first three books in the Dublin Murder Series. I am super excited to read her latest novel The Searcher later in the month so keep your eyes pealed for my review of that!
.
Frank Mackey's life has forever been defined by one single night. He was nineteen, waiting to meet Rosie Daly, so they could run away to England and start a new life together. She never turned up, so he left for Dublin, alone. Now an undercover cop, he gets a call from his sister... they've found a suitcase full of Rosie's things๐ฑ
It's official. I love Tana French. Her books have become such a comfort for me. Some people read romance and cosy historical fiction when they're feeling down and I'm just like gimme a Dublin Murder Squad book and a good cup of tea๐
Faithful Place is my favourite installment yet, it's so gritty and full of twists. I love Frank Mackey. I didn't really like him when he featured in The Likeness, but I grew so fond of him in this. French writes human characters like nobody else. Her books feel so real and I end up absolutely consumed by them.
If you're looking to add some gritty and dark crime novels to your Autumn TBR, I can 100% vouch for the first three books in the Dublin Murder Series. I am super excited to read her latest novel The Searcher later in the month so keep your eyes pealed for my review of that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Violence
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