A review by savvylit
Faithful Place by Tana French

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.
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