Best Book of 2020 New York Times |NPR | New York Post "This hushed suspense tale about thwarted dreams of escape may be her best one yet . . . Its own kind of masterpiece." --Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post "A new Tana French is always cause for celebration . . . Read it once for the plot; read it again for the beauty and subtlety of French's writing." --Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets. "One of the greatest crime novelists writing today" (Vox) weaves a masterful, atmospheric tale of suspense, asking how to tell right from wrong in a world where neither is simple, and what we stake on that decision.

A lot of NUBClub had read other novels by French, and were expecting an intricatedly plotted mystery rollercoaster. In case you have that expectation as well, be warned that is not what The Searcher is. French retains her power as an author to create a compelling character out of the setting. Ireland is a deep and well detailed place, and French's command of atmosphere remains strong. There is a palpable feel of the small town and its secrets that permeate the novel. The main issue though is that it's not really a mystery story -- it's a story of how a small town works. The small town is well-rendered, and French's choice to make the main character an outsider is compelling. The protagonist is the best character, and in a departure for French, much of this story about a retired cop moving to small town Ireland is a condemnation of the police mythology. Cal's informal search for Trey's missing brother is not rewarded or praised, and Cal's work as a police officer in Chicago is almost directly denigrated by the characters, who argue almost with one voice that taking care of the hurt living (in this case, Trey, whose relationship with Cal is deftly and lovingly sketched) is more important than finding justice. All of these elements are strong, but the novel is just so slow. We spend so much time with Cal as he fixes his house and learn far more about desk repair and dry wall than we need to. We recognized that this was a way of showing the pace of the town, but it just dragged in places and really added nothing to the story. Other details seem extraneous as well -- there's a long subplot about Trey's gender being hidden that adds basically nothing to the story. We had to wonder why French included it at all. Also, many of the secondary characters in the small town pretty much exist exclusively for the purpose of making you feel like you were in a town, and we felt almost all of that could have been cut. Ultimately, The Searcher isn't a bad novel -- it's well-written and does a wonderful job of depicting an American as an outsider in a small, secretive rural part of Ireland. We just wished there was a more compelling plot to keep us interested in all of this.