The Trespasser
by Tana French
★★★★☆
No one does a slow burn mystery like Tana French. I love
her Dublin murder squad series so much and each time a new book comes out I am
beyond excited. She doesn't just write mysteries, she writes beautiful literary
fiction that happens to include a mystery. Each of the books in the series is
connected but works as a standalone.
The Trespasser gives us a glimpse into the life of
Antoinette Conway, who we met in The Secret Place (book 5). She and her
partner, Stephen Moran, are assigned to a murder case at the end of a long
shift. They find Aislinn, a lovely young woman, murdered in her home. Rory, a
boyfriend, is an obvious suspect, but they have a few other theories to follow.
Throughout the investigation Conway has to fight against the prejudice of her own
coworkers and her own doubts about herself.
I tried to go slow and savor the story, but I loved every
second of it. The atmosphere she creates is palpable and the anxious feeling
builds as we get closer to the truth. She writes the best scenes I’ve ever read
of detectives interviewing their suspects.
BOTTOM LINE: I’ve yet to be disappointed by French’s
work. I liked this one ever more than her last. She gets inside the mind of her
characters so completely that it’s easy to forget that she switches her main
character in every book!
“No one needs a relationship. What you need is the basic
cop-on to figure that out, in the face of all the media bullshit screaming that
you're nothing on your own and you're a dangerous freak if you disagree. The
truth is, if you don't exist without someone else, you don't exist at all. And
that doesn't just go for romance. I love my ma, I love my friends, I love the
bones of them. If any of them wanted me to donate a kidney or crack a few
heads, I'd do it, no questions asked. And if they all waved goodbye and walked
out of my life tomorrow, I'd still be the same person I am today."
The Secret Place
by Tana French
★★★★
The fifth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series focuses
on Stephen, who we met in Faithful Place. He's desperate to join the squad.
When Holly, the young girl in Faithful Place, now seven years older, gives him
a tip about a murder committed in a local prep school, he sees his chance to
work with the murder squad. Holly and her three best friends, Julia, Selena,
and Rebecca, all become suspects. This novel flashes back and forth between
Stephen and Antoinette Conway's investigation in the present and girls'
point-of-view during the months leading up to the murder.
BOTTOM LINE: This one felt different from the other books
because of its focus on teenage girls and their intense emotions. It wasn't my
favorite in the series, but I just love French's writing. She creates tense and
enthralling novels each time, even though the characters and plots are never
the same.
“That long sigh again, above us. This time I saw it,
moving through the branches. Like the trees were listening; like they would've
been sad about us, sad for us, only they'd heard it all so many thousand times
before.”
“It does that to you, being a detective. You look at
blank space and see gears turning, motives and cunning; nothing looks innocent
any more. Most times when you prove away the gears, the blank space looks
lovely, peaceful. But that arm: innocent, it looked just as dangerous.”
BOOKS 1-4
2 comments:
For me, The Secret Place was a bit weird because of the semi-supernatural elements. I get what she was doing with them, but it didn't feel quite like the others, especially since half the book was narrated from the POV of a non-detective. I liked it, but not as much as some. The Trespasser, on the other hand, was amazing! I loved the audio version, listened to it twice since I couldn't slow down enough the first time, haha.
Amanda - I completely agree about The Secret Place. It felt different from her normal style. I still love her writing so much that it worked for me, but it's probably my least favorite. Now I want to try The Trespasser on audio!
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