Review: The Hunter By Tana French

Tana French is an author I’m Very Normal about. I recommend her books to anyone who so much as hints they like mystery in my vicinity. I keep one of her books (Witch Elm) on my shelf, unread so I don’t have to face the feeling of running out of Tana French. Like I said, very logical behavior; I am Very Normal.

So, when I got The Hunter from Net Galley last week I definitely behaved Normally and didn’t, say, scream loudly on the sidewalk when the email came through on my lunch break walk, or bring my e-reader everywhere I went including the bar and my friend’s birthday party. Very. Normal.

Let me start this review with, if you haven’t read anything by Tana French, this shouldn’t be your first one. And if you haven’t read her most recent book, The Searcher, you shouldn’t read this one yet either. It’s a direct sequel, unlike Dublin Murder Squad, and it will spoil The Searcher. If you’re wondering what Dublin Murder Squad is read on, if you’re not, skip to the review.

Beginner’s guide to Tana French:

Tana French is an Irish author with two different series and one standalone novel. If you’re new here the best place to start is Dublin Murder Squad. That’s her first series and also, I would argue, her best. Start with either her first book, In the Woods or The Likeness (some people find In the Woods frustrating is the only reason I offer The Likeness as an alternative, but either will take you on a ride and you can’t really go wrong). After that, you can read around in basically any order. Each novel is about a detective on Dublin Murder Squad, so they are connected. Characters pop up in other character’s books and it’s fun to weave all the cameos together. My personal favorite is Faithful Place, but I do think that one is better if you’ve read The Likeness first.

Her most recent series, The Searcher, and now, The Hunter, is all about Cal Hooper, an American ex-cop from Chicago who goes to retire in small town in Ireland called Ardnakelty. It’s like an Irish western. A new sheriff blows in to a town that has a law all its own and a kid with a missing brother starts interrupting his peaceful battle with the land and the rooks (like a rough and tough version of Poirot and the vegetable marrows he’s always threatening to grow). You definitely could start with The Searcher if you wanted to, it has no connection to the others.

The Witch Elm is a standalone. From what people have told me, I wouldn’t start with this one, but I can’t really comment, I haven’t read it. For Normal Reasons, see above.

Whatever you choose, you’ve got some seriously great writing ahead of you and I am jealous that you get to experience it for the first time.


Yeah, yeah I know all that, tell me about The Hunter already (no spoilers for The Hunter, but since this does take place after The Searcher there might be some mild spoilers for that ahead):

The Hunter has all of the usual marks of a Tana French book. The prose is writers’-envy inducing as always. There are sentences of hers that I think I literally could not come up with in a million-trillion years (actually that’s, like, most of them). There are sentences that feel so intense it’s like they sprang out of the book and actually punched you in the gut. There are other sentences that are laugh out loud funny just when you least expect it. I won’t relay the rest of this joke so you can enjoy it for yourself, but one character calls the whole Ottoman Empire “some boyos” and I died laughing.

Her characters are, as ever, the star of the show. The events of The Hunter take place a couple years after the end of The Searcher. Cal, Trey and Lena are all in a really good place. Cal did adopt that dog! Trey has one, too! The dogs are friends and Trey is learning carpentry and getting good grades and Cal makes all three of them pizza. It’s adorable! If you’ve read even one Tana French book, you’ll know that “all the characters you like are doing really well” is a frightening and probably emotionally devastating place to start.

When I read Searcher, I think I was holding the fact that it isn’t Dublin Murder Squad against it. If I was ranking Tana French books (a challenge!) I would have put it near the bottom. I also don’t love westerns, which didn’t endear me to it. Still a really great book, not a favorite. For The Hunter, I was over that. Within five minutes of reading, I was struck by how much I like these characters. Cal is complex and way more than your cookie-cutter tough guy with a heart of gold. Trey only gets more and more fascinating as she gets older and Lena I just unapologetically like. She lives on her own terms with several dogs. I mean, what’s that if not living the dream? And the town of Ardnakelty is still at once picturesque and brutal. I forget a lot after I’m done with a book, and it took picking up the sequel for me to realize just how real these characters felt and still feel. I could jump right back in without needing to look up a summary of Searcher.

The delight in this book comes from Tana French’s particular gift for creating characters with their own goals and different lengths they’ll go to achieve them. It’s the cross purposes, the alliances and machinations that make this book fascinating and exciting to the very end. I really was not sure how it would end for most of the book. She has a particular gift for writing teenagers — as we know from Secret Place — and that’s on display here too, with Trey. You understand Trey and at the same time want to scream at her and also give her a big hug and tell her it’s okay to cry (except she’d hit you, probably).

At about 75% of the way in, I didn’t even really care about the mystery because I was so fascinated by what the characters were doing and how each person’s actions would have consequences for the others. (Don’t worry if you are here for the mystery, Tana French made me care about it again, a lot, very shortly after that).

This book earns every one of its five stars and at the end of the day I liked it more than I liked The Searcher. So even if that one wasn’t your favorite, I’d say give this one a chance.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Cal Hooper series is a newer one by Tana French. Cal is an American, originally from North Carolina, but was a cop in Chicago for 25 years. He is divorced with one adult daughter. He comes to Ireland for a quiet place to live in retirement.

I followed up The Searcher immediately with The Hunter. I have been a little surprised how much I am enjoying the series. It is definitely a study of characters and small town politics. Two years have passed since the previous story. Trey is now fifteen. Being even more careful about any hint of their relationship being improper, he has developed a closer friendship with Lena. Sometimes Trey stays with him when Lena is there or stays at Lena's house.

After four years, Trey's father has shown up. He is into another scheme and likely bringing trouble with him. Cal feels it and so does Trey. They watch her father, Johnny Reddy, to figure out his plans. He's ginning up interest in gold in the mountains. Cal ends up talking to his neighbor more than he'd like about the situation.

When Johnny associate comes to town, and Johnny gets people to invest, things get more emotional with the people in the area. Trey has decided to use the scheme to get revenge on her Dad and those responsible for Brendan.

Cal just tries to keep Trey safe and alive. He knows nothing good is going to come from Johnny Reddy. It only gets more tense when Johnny's associate is murdered and Trey finds the body.

I enjoyed the setting and all the development of the characters. The situation is suspenseful with tensions running high around gold in their lands, a murder and grifters playing high stakes games.

Tana French is truly in a class of her own, I have loved all of her books, but none more than The Hunter. It is the sequel to The Searcher and in a rare exception to the sequel rule, it is even better than the first book of the series. Every character is so distinct, and their voices so clear. No one writes dialect better than this. The interplay amongst the characters and the personality of the community as a whole is so incredibly well written; even after two books of these characters I never know what is going to pop out of their mouths and make me laugh out loud. The combination of humor and deep, deep sorrow are at the heart of what makes this story work so well. I truly hope we have not heard the last of the story of Ardnakelty.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this e-galley.

I've always been fascinated and pleased by authors whose writing styles shift depending on the series or genre. French is one of those authors, but this series is less than the Dublin Murder Squad series. How? It's far slower and there's a lot of what I think of as filler (we got it: this is set during a very hot, very dry summer). I really didn't love the shifting POV - in many ways, sadly, it felt as though Lena's was used mostly as filler and infodumping rather than essential in the ways Charlie and Trey's were.

As far as the mystery goes, it was less traditional mystery and more a community trying to make sense of this thing that has happened. By the end, we're left with a way for these characters to move forward in another book... but I'm still hoping for a new DMS entry.

French's next installment in the story of small village Ireland is a carefully crafted, unhurried study of the internal mores of the local landscape which her protagonist, a Chicago transplant former detective, has to navigate to survive. It follows hard on the heels of the previous work, The Searcher, so closely that I would recommend reading that first if you haven't. French is a master of character development. The action in the story is second to the moral and cultural issues here. I liked it, but it is definitely not the mystery series for fans of Dublin Murder Club.

I mean, it's perfect. It's slow and structurally bizarre and both of those attributes work unbelievably well. I adored the first book in this series and didn't expect a sequel, but wow, what a pleasure to be able to spend time with them again. I simply loved it.

Another can't miss thriller by Tana French, The Hunter takes us back to Ireland where retired American police officer Cal gets tangled up in another small town mystery. French builds characters that just off the page and sets a scene that makes me feel like I just got off a transatlantic flight.

This book is sure to appeal to readers of Tana French who enjoyed her earlier depiction of its characters in The Searcher. Once again, she evokes the rural Irish countryside and its inhabitants perfectly.

French returns to the world and characters of The Searcher and it's worth the read. The same sleepy village is still keeping secrets and protecting their own. Cal, Lena, and Trey all get a chance to narrate as Trey's deadbeat father returns with a scheme and Trey must decide what to risk and where her loyalties lie. Like The Searcher, The Hunter is less psychologically bleak than the Dublin Murder Squad but still twisty and compelling. A must read for French fans.

The writing feels similar to her other books and the vibes align well. Fans will be pleased–and we have a bunch of them! I did stop after chapter 1, but solid three stars, and four to five for her fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

In this second book of French’s Ardnakelty mysteries, Retired Chicago PD Cal Hooper has developed a bond with half wild tomboy Trey Reddy, whose brother was accidentally killed by the locals. When Trey’s no-good dad Johnny shows up with a new money-making scheme, the fragile willow-the-wisp peace that Cal has found in his adopted home disappears.

At times, I felt like I was reading an American Western thanks to climate change - a hot, dry Ardnakelty reminds me of a pioneer town on the edge of the frontier, where the townspeople are so in on each other’s business, where the men are the peacekeepers, and Cal is the unsuspecting newcomer whose lawman past provides an interesting pull and push. Does the town absorb him or reject him? I also felt like I was reading a fantasy. As an American reading a murder mystery set in Ireland, I appreciated how French utilized the non-native characters as foils to bring out the magic of the land. Ardnakelty is not only a place, it is an entity wherein its people are its stewards and servants. You as a reader feel this in the way the land accepts or banishes inhabitants in fae ways–with the help of the natives or on its own.

I think of all the Tana French I’ve read, this one is my favorite. The story is complex not only because French is a master at plot, she’s also a master weaver of atmosphere. I love a tale with rich layers. I usually write more about the novels that I read, but I really don’t want to overgush here. Suffice to say, this makes my number one so far for 2024.

Reader Advisory: You’ll want to begin with Searcher. I also think that my experience of the book was enhanced by reading Irish folk and fairy tales and books like True Grit by Charles Portis or News of the World by Paulette Giles.

Many thanks to Viking and Netgalley for access to the ARC. Any opinions are my own; I didn’t receive compensation for my review.

As this is a sequel, I advise starting with book 1 (The Searcher). Following up on The Searcher, Tana French immerses us in the lonely, quirky, tiny town community of Ardnakelty in this atmospherically dark and exquisitely drawn character-driven slow burn of a return to West Ireland. With the help of Lena and his connection with Cal, a former NYPD investigator, he has managed to carve out a space for himself in his new home. He has also taken in troubled adolescent Trey under his wing and taught her construction skills. The reader will likely be surprised to learn who killed the person because it isn't revealed until the end of the narrative. Like the previous Tana French books, I liked this one as well. She clarifies the misconceptions about rural Irish people found in other works and presents an authentic picture of modern Irish people. Four of five strong stars for me!

Tana French is one of very few authors who can hold my interest when nothing much is happening on the page. That holds true with this book, another slow burn where the mystery is far less important than what the characters do about it.

Tana French never fails. I was quickly immersed in this story since it picks up with the setting and characters from French's last book. I will never tire of her dialog and the sense of place is so strong. The tension in this story maybe didn't feel as intense as in some of French's earlier books, but I don't really read her books for the mysteries as much as I do for the characters, and here she is as good as always.

This was a good book but not great as her others were. A little slow at times but I still love these characters and did like the book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book, the second in a series, is a written in a very different style than French's Dublin Murder Squad but in the best way. It is beautifully written, a slow paced mystery that is very character driven, which is my favorite kind. I loved the setting and French's descriptions of the Irish landscape. A highly enjoyable read.

I am a firm believer that there are two types of mystery/thriller books: one that is compulsively readable and very plot heavy, and one that builds tension with atmospheric writing. Tana French is undoubtedly in the second category. There's always a murder that is underpinning the book but it's more about the journey than the destination.

Because there's not a lot of plot here, I think it's best to give this a general review. The Hunter is the second in the Cal Hooper series, though like French's Dublin Murder Squad books, I think it would be easy to pick up without having read The Searchers. There's familial dysfunction, a surprise millionaire, and some buried gold. There's lots to unpack with the characters' motivations and while you're over 200 pages in before the murder happens, you'll be following along, soaking up the gorgeous prose.

If you like your mysteries with atmosphere, this book is for you. Taking place in a rural Irish town, past and present secrets and grudges unfold. The author's style conveys details, idiosyncrasies and personalities almost entirely through conversations amongst the insulated inhabitants. Twists and turns, lies and truths are all questioned during a sweltering summer heat wave.
Reviewed courtesy of an ARC.

Dark and Brooding

The Hunter is a quiet, character-driven novel fueled by intrigue, mystery, and murder.

Two years have passed since retired Police Detective Cal Hooper moved from Chicago to the small village in West Ireland, where he has taken a local teenager, Trey Reddy, under his wing. But when Trey’s absentee father returns home with a cunning scheme, the peaceful life that Cal and Trey have built comes crashing down.

Read The Searcher before The Hunter to better understand Cal and Trey's backgrounds. Be aware that this novel is different in tone, plotting, and structure from French's Dublin Murder Squad series, so be open to something different if you plan on reading this.

The chapters alternate between Cal, Trey, and Lena’s POV, with a few others mixed in. Johnny Reddy's character brings chaos into the calm as he preys upon the vulnerable and exploits their desires to achieve wealth, forcing Trey and others to come to terms with their beliefs about loyalty and friendship.

One of the strongest elements of the novel is the beautiful landscape of Western Ireland, set against the unusual summer heat and drought conditions. The heat and lack of rain escalate the tension.

The Hunter is a beautifully written, complex, and nuanced book. The pacing is slow, especially the first 20% in which French sets up the plot. However, it is a bit drawn out and overwrought. I imagine that the pacing will turn off some readers. I got past it as I got deeper into the novel, especially as French explores the complicated dynamics of small-town life coupled with fragile familial bonds. She also explores themes of friendship, family, and love. The strong characterization is subtle and bold, and Johnny Reddy is one of the most compelling and complex characters. All comes together in a satisfying conclusion that left me wondering if we will see Trey and Cal again in future books.

I received a complimentary copy of The Hunter from Penguin Group Viking in exchange for an honest review.

This is a featuring to The Searcher with Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago PD detective who moves to rural Ireland to leave his old life behind and find some kind of peace. This story is about family, the ones that we are born into, the ones we make and how some choices can only be made with your heart. French writes another evocative, riveting novel with a compelling pace and lush imagery, where you both want to stop and absorb the beautiful language and keep going because you have to know what happens next. Love it. I miss the Dublin Murder Squad but this is excellent. Thank you #NetGalley for my ARC. #thehunterbytanafrench #calhooperandtreyareback #netgalley