Take a photo of a barcode or cover
charles__ 's review for:
The Trespasser
by Tana French
Irish, literary, noir-ish, police procedural, in which a fanciable, twenty-something, woman was found dead at home from a face punch. Dublin Murder Squad Detective Antoinette Conway and her partner Steve Moran investigate. Prime suspect, the new boyfriend wasn’t a ‘good fit’. Also, why was the investigation being steered by detectives within their own murder squad?
My audiobook version was 20-hours long. It had a US 2016 copyright. A dead tree copy would be 464-pages.
Tana French is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She has written nine novels standalone and in her Dublin Murder Squad series. This was the sixth book in the Murder Squad series. I have read several of the books in this series. The last being The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) (my review).
Narrator was Hilda Fay. She did a remarkably good job. This was abetted by being Irish, and the story being mostly the inner-monolog and dialog of the protagonist Detective Antoinette Conway. In addition, Fay had enough ‘voices’ for the other female characters and the men most frequently providing dialog. A few extra male voices would have helped. However, her performance enhanced the ear-reading experience.
It’s recommended to have read the previous book in the Dublin Murder Squad series [b:The Secret Place|52263433|The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)|Tana French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566422252l/52263433._SX50_SY75_.jpg|21598636] (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) before attempting this book. That would provide additional context on the investigating detectives and the Murder Squad.
French’s Dublin Murder Squad series has grown on me over time. I’ve liked each subsequent book in the series more than the last. I liked the previous book in the series better than this one, but that was more due to an excellent audio narration, and the taste of the paranormal not found in this story.
This story had a simpler, single plot structure than French’s previous Murder squad stories. Conway heads up the murder investigation of 26-year-old, Aislinn Murray. Her's is the sole POV. She and Moran were the newest members of the Murder squad. Conway, the only woman on the squad, was having a rough time with its The Boy’s Club atmosphere.
The beautiful, blonde was found dead in her home from a knockout punch to the face, which bounced her head off a stone fireplace. In domestic violence against women, its almost always by the hands of an intimate partner. However, Aislinn’s alibi-less, bookish, new boyfriend, doesn’t work with Conway and Moran as her murderer. (They had never been intimate either.) This was despite heavy pressure, from senior colleagues on the Murder Squad and a preponderance of circumstantial evidence that could put him away. Expanding the investigation beyond The Usual Suspect, resulted in roadblocks and warnings toward continuing in a different direction.
French’s writing was smart and literate. In places it was funny. The descriptions were good, although a tad literarily flowery. There was a small amount of repetition. The very noir, “Bunny boiler” being most notable. Action sequences were good, although this was not an action thriller. The largest, best part, of the story was the well-executed dialog, particularly in the interrogations and inner dialog of Conway. The tearing down of the suspect’s in the interrogations was brutal. The author’s red herrings mostly decoyed me.
This story contained sex, no serious drugs, and no rock'n roll music. Note my criteria for noirish mystery success require that trifecta. Consensual sex was discussed as having happened using peculiar Irish euphemisms. All sex was heterosexual. Conway’s sexuality, didn’t ring true to me, despite other aspects of her personality being well developed. Alcohol was consumed, but not to excess. There were no music references of any type.
There was almost no violence. Violence was physical. Body count was one (1).
Whether French’s novels contain a paranormal aspect is debatable. I felt the series’ first novel In the Woods (my review) to be strongly that way. Later books in the series less so. The Secret Place had a smattering of it. This book had none.
French writes novels about The Feels masquerading as police procedurals. Murder was secondary in purpose to the story. This story included: friendship, loyalty, misogyny and betrayal within the Garda Síochána of the murder squad. It was mostly a journey of self-discovery for Conway. I wondered how much of Conway was the author? This book gave me a good dose of the police procedural that slowly revealed itself as noir mystery. I liked this book, but it was not the best within the series. I thought the The Secret Place was a better Conway and Moran story.
My audiobook version was 20-hours long. It had a US 2016 copyright. A dead tree copy would be 464-pages.
Tana French is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She has written nine novels standalone and in her Dublin Murder Squad series. This was the sixth book in the Murder Squad series. I have read several of the books in this series. The last being The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) (my review).
Narrator was Hilda Fay. She did a remarkably good job. This was abetted by being Irish, and the story being mostly the inner-monolog and dialog of the protagonist Detective Antoinette Conway. In addition, Fay had enough ‘voices’ for the other female characters and the men most frequently providing dialog. A few extra male voices would have helped. However, her performance enhanced the ear-reading experience.
It’s recommended to have read the previous book in the Dublin Murder Squad series [b:The Secret Place|52263433|The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)|Tana French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566422252l/52263433._SX50_SY75_.jpg|21598636] (Dublin Murder Squad, #5) before attempting this book. That would provide additional context on the investigating detectives and the Murder Squad.
French’s Dublin Murder Squad series has grown on me over time. I’ve liked each subsequent book in the series more than the last. I liked the previous book in the series better than this one, but that was more due to an excellent audio narration, and the taste of the paranormal not found in this story.
This story had a simpler, single plot structure than French’s previous Murder squad stories. Conway heads up the murder investigation of 26-year-old, Aislinn Murray. Her's is the sole POV. She and Moran were the newest members of the Murder squad. Conway, the only woman on the squad, was having a rough time with its The Boy’s Club atmosphere.
The beautiful, blonde was found dead in her home from a knockout punch to the face, which bounced her head off a stone fireplace. In domestic violence against women, its almost always by the hands of an intimate partner. However, Aislinn’s alibi-less, bookish, new boyfriend, doesn’t work with Conway and Moran as her murderer. (They had never been intimate either.) This was despite heavy pressure, from senior colleagues on the Murder Squad and a preponderance of circumstantial evidence that could put him away. Expanding the investigation beyond The Usual Suspect, resulted in roadblocks and warnings toward continuing in a different direction.
French’s writing was smart and literate. In places it was funny. The descriptions were good, although a tad literarily flowery. There was a small amount of repetition. The very noir, “Bunny boiler” being most notable. Action sequences were good, although this was not an action thriller. The largest, best part, of the story was the well-executed dialog, particularly in the interrogations and inner dialog of Conway. The tearing down of the suspect’s in the interrogations was brutal. The author’s red herrings mostly decoyed me.
Spoiler
I thought the murderer was part of the investigation, and was truly surprised the victim was a femme fatale.This story contained sex, no serious drugs, and no rock'n roll music. Note my criteria for noirish mystery success require that trifecta. Consensual sex was discussed as having happened using peculiar Irish euphemisms. All sex was heterosexual. Conway’s sexuality, didn’t ring true to me, despite other aspects of her personality being well developed. Alcohol was consumed, but not to excess. There were no music references of any type.
There was almost no violence. Violence was physical. Body count was one (1).
Whether French’s novels contain a paranormal aspect is debatable. I felt the series’ first novel In the Woods (my review) to be strongly that way. Later books in the series less so. The Secret Place had a smattering of it. This book had none.
French writes novels about The Feels masquerading as police procedurals. Murder was secondary in purpose to the story. This story included: friendship, loyalty, misogyny and betrayal within the Garda Síochána of the murder squad. It was mostly a journey of self-discovery for Conway. I wondered how much of Conway was the author? This book gave me a good dose of the police procedural that slowly revealed itself as noir mystery. I liked this book, but it was not the best within the series. I thought the The Secret Place was a better Conway and Moran story.