Tana French is one of my favorite authors. Every book is a joy to read with new and different mysteries, new characters that are interesting and complicated and great writing that just draws you in and doesn’t let go until you are finished. There is often a “glow” that occurs for me after I read a great book. It is hard to explain, but once I finish it I am still basking in the descriptions in the book that are still vivid and bright, favorite phrases or pieces of dialogue come back to me and my thoughts swirl with the personalities of the various characters.  The Searcher is another one of her books that gave me that “glow,” and I am still thinking about it!

Cal Hooper, a cop from Chicago, decided he needed a change of scenery. He had just gone through a difficult divorce, his daughter is living her own life and he has just retired from the Chicago police force, which after after twenty-five years just wasn’t the same as when he first started. So he moves to a picturesque village in Ireland, buys a hundred year old fixer upper, and makes friends with his neighbors and drinks at the local pub.

But Hooper’s assumption that village life is idyllic is sorely tested, when a local kid whose brother has gone missing begins pestering him into investigating the disappearance. Reluctantly Hooper begins to ask questions and slowly realizes that dangerous secrets can lurk in even the most benign and bucolic places.

French, tells this story so simply, but in the telling creates such a foreboding and chilling atmosphere, you can almost feel the cool damp of Ireland creeping in even though it is over 100 degrees outside.  Soon you are questioning everything and wondering if anyone is who they say they are, or what ulterior motives they might have. Hooper’s encounter with the kid and their developing relationship is one of the drivers of this plot as well as Hopper’s various encounters with the villagers and friends of the missing young man.  Suspenseful, creative, with wonderful descriptions of the countryside in Ireland, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think you will too!

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Ken, Marian, and Sharon

Book Study worth? Yes!

Read this book in e-library foramt.

PS: Did you notice I dropped the “Books to Read During a Pandemic” header?  After sixty-six weeks, the Governor of my state has lifted all pandemic related restrictions. Of course we all still need to be careful, get vaccinated and take basic precautions, but it seems like we can now see some signs of a new normal at the end of a long and arduous seventeen months!