The Searcher by Tana French


published 2020







Any Tana French is an automatic read, no hesitation. When I realized how much I loved her books (long after everyone else) I tried rationing them, so I didn’t use them up too quickly, and have to wait a long time for the next one. Hopeless. I got through them very quickly. The Wych Elm came out last year (I imported a copy from the US because the publication date there was earlier) and now this is another standalone ie not connected to her Dublin Murder Squad series.





It’s very different in some ways: still the Irish setting, but very much not Dublin or the nearby towns. Cal, a retired cop from Chicago, has bought a broken-down house and some land in a small village, Ardnakelty, a remote spot somewhere in the centre of Ireland. He is slowly doing up his house and getting to know the locals. He gets a feel for something going on locally, but is keeping clear. Then a teenage boy starts turning up at the edge of his property. Eventually Trey starts helping with the renovations, and asks Cal to help find his brother Brendan, who disappeared a while back. Trey’s family is seen as very rough locally, nobody is taking the lost boy seriously. Cal starts asking questions, knowing this is likely to cause trouble. There is already something going on: dead sheep.




It's a mesmerising book about rural life: the ups and downs, the sense of community and the lack of privacy, the casual attitude towards law and order, the poverty and hard lives of those at the bottom of the pile. The problems for young people, running out of possibilities in this area. But also the fun, the evenings in the pub, the music and the chat. French always has the best ear for conversations: ones that may mean something and ones that don’t. She describes a hard evening’s drinking almost in real time and you feel you lived through it with them. She creates wonderful characters – so vivid and rounded – and the whole world of the village is totally convincing, down to the gossip passed on by the local shopkeeper.




I very slightly missed the life of Dublin from the other groups, I like a city story, and also the gangs of young people she does so well, the chitchat and social media (to my mind her young-people’s-lives are at least the equal of Sally Rooney and Normal People), the class consciousness and the attempts at romance. This was a smaller setting in terms of the number of characters – although the landscape was not small-scale. But I have no arguments: I will still read whatever she writes.




I really wanted more of Caroline, a young woman who only appears in one short scene. I loved her suggestions for a present for a 6 year old girl:

‘No problem,’ Caroline says cheerfully. She heads behind the counter, picking things off racks and shelves on her way: a gauzy green fairy doll, a shamrock T-shirt, a silver necklace in a little green box, a fuzzy black-faced toy sheep. ‘If she likes fairies she’d love this. Or if she’s more sporty maybe a top and baseball cap?... Or you can’t go wrong with a claddagh necklace. It’s the traditional Irish symbol for love, friendship and loyalty.’

The 6 yo is imaginary, it’s an excuse to talk: the shop is tourist gift tat, and the job is part-time for a student. French doesn’t need to make the list of possible presents, but she does it to perfection and also tells us a little bit about Caroline – that she is conscientious and imaginative, doesn’t stereotype the non-existent little girl too much, and is good at her job. And as it happens the whole book is about love, friendship and loyalty… To me, this throwaway paragraph illustrates what makes French such a great writer.



The pictures of rural Ireland are from Denise Perry, always my favourite photographer, and were taken in Co Donegal in Ireland, some way north of the setting of this book. You can find her website here.

There is an absolutely wonderful piece on The Searcher  on the Vox website – illuminating and perceptive. It’s by Constance Grady, who is always illuminating and perceptive.

And of all unexpected places to end up – Pope Francis recently produced an encyclical Fratelli Tutti: here he is talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan. You could say this is what The Searcher is about.

72. The parable begins with the robbers. Jesus chose to start when the robbery has already taken place, lest we dwell on the crime itself or the thieves who committed it. Yet we know them well. We have seen, descending on our world, the dark shadows of neglect and violence in the service of petty interests of power, gain and division. The real question is this: will we abandon the injured man and run to take refuge from the violence, or will we pursue the thieves? Will the wounded man end up being the justification for our irreconcilable divisions, our cruel indifference, our intestine conflicts?

Words that I think would very much resonate with Tana French.



This picture and the one above it:
'In Ireland, many Neolithic stone monuments with flat roofs bear the local name "Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed" (Leaba Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne), being viewed as one of the fugitive couple's campsites for the night. They elope and hide together, travelling around the countryside.'

Comments

  1. Oh dear, more books I want to read! I recently picked up In the Woods, not realising it was the basis for the TV series I'd watched the year before. I loved it but was disappointed that the original mystery wasn't solved. Are all French's books like that?

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    1. No, that one is very unusual, and I wasn't enthralled I must say - I like a bit of closure. But I let her off, because I love her style, and the other books are much clearer.

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  2. I do love her writing style, Moira! I know just what you mean about her carrying the reader along. And the rural Irish setting is so appealing, as is the 'small town where something's going on' context. I'd probably read this anyway, as I really like French's work, too, but your post has put it up higher on my 'I WANT to read this' list...

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    1. Thanks Margot - she is to me one of the real must-reads of today. And I've been thinking about the book ever since I read it, always a good sign.

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  3. This is the only Tana French book that I don't have. But I have three I haven't read yet so it can wait.

    You have illustrated this with exceptionally striking images. Those alone would make me want to read it.

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    1. Thanks Tracy, I loved these photos! In one of the newspapers last week they had a review of this book, accompanied by an Irish landscape photo, and I was thinking in a self-satisfied way 'Mine are better than that!'

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  4. An author that I'd very much like to try, probably early next. I get the sense that she's strong on characterisation and sense of place, two of my favourite things in a crime novel.

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    1. I think you'd love her Jacqui: I very much resist divisions between 'crime' and 'literary' fiction, but I don't think anyone could deny her a place in the upper echelons of modern writers.

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  5. She is such a good writer. I'm envious! I think Broken Harbour especially is superb.

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    1. She is, but so are you! My favourite is The Likeness, even though it has an extremely unlikely plot...

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  6. I'm 2/3 of the way through The Searcher, and think it's terrifically written. It is different from French's Dublin Murder Squad series, as it's a leisurely stroll through western Ireland and not a fast-paced homicide investigation. I found myself savoring her words about the terrain, sky, and all of the descriptions of the land. I was googling photos of Galway and villages in the county. I was looking for the town which is portrayed in the book. The protagonist is so well-written, as are all of the characters. The dialogue between Cal and Trey is so good, as is the banter among the guys in the pub. I have laughed a lot at French's humor, which is so Irish. I wish my father, whose grandparents were from various western Irish counties, could have read this book.
    There is nothing for me to say negatively about this great read. Tana French should be known as a great writer, not only a great mystery writer. She knows how to use words and she knows Ireland, its people, language, wit and geography. I know that I will get post-good-book slump after I finish this book, and I will be looking for other very well-written books.

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    1. You put it so well, Kathy, and I agree with everything you say. She has a supertalent, and I hope she is going to write many more books for us...

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  7. Those are lovely photos on your page. I finished The Searcher and loved it, insisted two friends borrow it. They liked it much, too. I was asked my favorite book of the year and I replied this one. The rural poverty got to me. I hadn't thought about it. I read The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, set in 1918 during the pandemic in a Dublin maternity ward. it is different, but good. The urban poverty in large families was well-described, but upsetting, especially about the ill health of women who kept having children and were malnourished themselves. I also read A Shameful Murder, by Cora Harrison, which was 1923 in Cork, set in a convent school. That book was fun, but it, too, told of the urban poverty in families. I'm drawn to read about Ireland now. Will read more books by Harrison and Donoghue. And, Tana French, too. Anything she writes.
    I did get post good-book slump after I turned the last page, and I missed Cal and Trey. And I spent a long time looking at photos of Galway.

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    1. Thanks Kathy - I'm not familiar with the other two books you mention, but will look for them. I did read another book by Donohue, The Wonder, also set in Ireland, which I absolutely loved, so that bodes well for the one you mention. My mother's family comes from a very rural part of Galway, so I know the county quite well.

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  8. I might have to bite the bullet and read one of hers, despite the length! I'll keep an eye out for this.

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    1. No you definitely should read French! Great crime books AND an Irish setting - you need to try them.

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  9. The Searcher is very easy reading. Nice that a relative came from rural Galway. All I know is that my father's grandmother, Sabina Agnes Ryan, came from Sligo. No idea where the Durkin side came from, but I did 23 and Me and Cork came up as first and Mayo second in my genetic pool. Galway was there, too, in fact, the entire West Coast of Ireland was on the list. I also read that Emma Donoghue has a book of short stories. And she is working on a new book.

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    1. So many people emigrated from Ireland, no realistic alternative, that the DNA has travelled a long way. Always fascinating to think about where we came from. I will look out for more Emma Donoghue.

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