Another classic from French! I loved the first in this series and the tone, mood, and atmosphere has all remained the same , if even more heightened. French is of a class all her own and I loved this one.

I am a huge Tana French fan, so I was very excited about this book. I was a little surprised to see that this was a follow up, since I assumed The Searcher to be another stand alone, however I liked how it grappled with the consequences of the events from the first book, and the theme of revenge. This one starts out kind of a slow burn similar to The Searcher. I actually was beginning to wonder if this would be the first Tana French book without a murder, but it does eventually pop up about half way through. The town intrigue, where much goes unsaid, kept me invested even through the slower start, and I didn’t end up guessing the twist at the end.

A Captivating Novel Full of Mystery and Intrigue

SUMMARY
Cal Hooper, a retired police officer from Chicago, moved to a small village in west Ireland to build furniture and enjoy a peaceful life. Cal unexpectedly developed a romantic relationship with a local woman named Lena and became a mentor to a troubled and angry teenager named Trey. Trey's family has been struggling since her brother's death and her father’s abandonment.

However, things take a turn when Trey's father, Johnny, suddenly returns to the village with an English millionaire friend seeking his family's roots in Ireland. Johnny and his friend believe there is gold in the village hills and everyone can profit from it. This news shakes up the entire town, and many are caught up in the excitement of the possibility of riches. But not Cal; he can spot a fraud mile away.

REVIEW
THE HUNTER is a captivating novel that is full of mystery and intrigue. Tana French’s writing and plotting are seamless. The story is creative, poignant, and masterful.

The characters, especially Trey and Cal, are unique and interesting. The actions of village residents, along with its beautiful verdant landscape, come to life on the pages. Despite the abundance of characters, it is easy to keep track of everyone.

The book's theme revolves around revenge and the lengths we go to for our loved ones. The message of the book is profound and thought-provoking. You should read it!

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Penguin Viking Group
Published March 5, 2024
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

It is always a treat to see which minor character from prior books will be the lead in French's next book, so it was interesting to see that in The Hunter she has returned to feature Cal and Trey in another story in the wilds of Ireland. Unfortunately for me, I felt that there just wasn't much there to work with and it took forever for anything to happen. I liked the interaction with Trey and her mother in this book so I suppose having her father return did at least one thing for me. French can be an inspired writer who draws you in, but I never felt drawn into this one. Thank you to Viking and NetGalley for the early access in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read anything Tana French writes. She can write so many different stories, from any voice.

This is a sequel, and in this case I suggest reading book 1 (The Searcher) first. If it's been awhile since you read The Searcher, you may also want to take a glance at it just to remind yourself of major plot points.

The dialogue is very Irish, in a way that had me wanting to shout Feck for days afterward.

Calling this a slow burn thriller is really incorrect. To me it's literary fiction, a character study with some suspense and a little mystery thrown in.

Cal and Lena are just lovely. Somehow all the characters are relatable and the setting is impeccable.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I will purchase for my library.

The sequel to The Searcher sees the continuation of the relationships building between Cal, Lena and Trey, as well as the surrounding townspeople. When Trey's absent father Johnny comes back with a new money making scheme, all three find their lives upended. Trey has her sights set on revenge for what happened to her brother and Cal is just trying to keep Trey out of trouble and will protect her no matter what and Lena is determined to cover for both of them. Meanwhile the town gets sucked into Johnny's scheme and trouble ensues when someone ends up dead. Overall, a gripping mystery that's focused on the complex web of town relations and character motivations, as Cal, Lena and Trey try and make it out intact. This one is far more introspective than the previous book and is very character-driven, though the setting plays an important role.

TANA FRENCH DOES IT AGAIN.
The Searcher is the previous installment in this series, and I absolutely recommend reading that one before diving into this newest.
Tana writes with a prose that is not often well-represented in the mystery genre. It is literary, lyrical, and devastating. This one is going to soar up the best-seller charts and it should. This might be one of her best, yet.

As a Tana French superfan, I was thrilled but not surprised to be getting a book that I would say is unlike any of her previous works, even while being a sequel. If you liked Cal Hooper and the rich, intricate setting of The Searcher, this dives even deeper in a way that was a delight. (I was also really excited to also get slices of POV from Trey and Lena as well in this second outing.) But I am also continually delighted to see the ways French challenges herself--the murder doesn't even happen until about 60% of the way through this one, so for the first bit, I felt like I was navigating this story without a map. However, I was in extremely safe hands, and think I might even prefer this installment to The Searcher due to her exquisite character work here. I would recommend this book to readers looking for character-driven mysteries set in insular communities.

I really enjoyed The Searcher by Tana French so I was excited to read the sequel, The Hunter. It did not disappoint. We encounter Cal, Trey, and Lean - just to name a few but some new characters as well. Everything is moving along nicely in this little Irish village for Cal and Trey until Trey's father, Johnny returns home after being gone for several years. When con man Johnny returns to charm the local farmers he has known all his life into joining in his latest scheme, Cal and Trey are both drawn into the Fiasco for very different reasons. French does an excellent job with character development in the story and the plot lines draw you in from the very beginning. Moral codes, mob mentality, and revenge all come together to deliver an entertaining and intriguing tale. A must read!

I love the way that Tana French creates a real sense of location and space in her stories. With the Cal Hooper series, she paints a picture of a town that is simultaneously vast, rural and wild, but also claustrophobically small when it comes to its community. For Cal Hooper, retired Chicago cop, Ardnakelty has given him the space and quiet that he desires for his retirement, while also dropping him into an area where vigilante justice goes unquestioned and gossip and facts are interchangeable based on what suits the needs of the locals. This book is a tense, slow burn and its all the better for that. French doesn't rush her pacing, allowing a powder-keg situation to build, the outcome of which I didn't see coming (or at least not in the way it unfolded). I enjoyed seeing Hooper's relationships with his neighbors, girlfriend and surrogate child develop in various ways that tested his own personal ethical code of conduct, which keeps being pushed towards a darker grey zone. The conclusion was satisfying, and also left me eager for a third book so that I can see what happens when our protagonist becomes more of a local, and less of a 'blow-in' in terms of how he is treated, and how he views the situations unfolding around him.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book, which I was happy to read and review.

Bad boy, Johnny Reddy, returns to the small Irish village where he was born and raised and now has a family. He's been gone for a few years but he returns with a grift for the local landowners who can help him swindle an English Sassenach and "Plastic Paddy" tracing his roots in the old sod. Some of the townspeople do not look kindly towards Johnny, including Cal Hooper a retired American cop who is mentoring Johnny's 15 year old daughter, Trey. Cal knows he's an outsider, and is only tolerated by the villagers because he is FWB with a local widow woman who has lived there all of her life. Things get tense when Trey discovers the murdered body of the man who is to be hoodwinked, and sees this as an opportunity to avenge her own brother's death. When a detective is called in from Dublin, the villagers band together against the city slicker law enforcement agent-someone is going to take the fall for this crime, but will it be the real perp or an outsider who probably will get thrown to the wolves?
If you've read any novels by Tana French, you know that her murder mystery always takes second place to the character study. In The Hunter, the author gives us a peek into a small community of people who inherited their lands back multiple generations. They are insular and each villager is familiar with the other's strengths and foibles. The town's equalibrium depends on a delicate balance of known quantity and gradual change. When a theoretical grenade is thrown into this mix, anything can happen and does. Hold onto your shamrock!

While retired cop Cal Hooper hasn't been fully accepted by the insular community of his new home in a small Irish village, he's earned a grudging respect, mostly because he's taken the rudderless teenaged Trey under his wing.. The uneasy peace is sorely tested when Trey's errant dad returns to the village, bringing a stranger with him.. Building on the revelations of "The Searcher," French explores grief, anger, and the bonds of community in the face of adversity. How far would you go to protect the people, places, and things that matter most to you? For fans of microscopic character development and slow-burning literary mysteries.

While it doesn't fit in my school library, I personally love any book by Tana French. Her mysteries are always first class and her writing is fantastic.

I love Tana French however for whatever reason i found this a difficult read. It took me a lot of “time outs” if you will for me to finish it. I anticipated the ending, wrong, and was glad that I decided to finish this. I got to about 60% done when I came to a complete stop. Unimaginable, but I was frustrated with the anticipated ending I am so glad unfinished. Perhaps this was more about me than the title but redemption, the power of those who are “outside” the norm, the power of the norm,
The power of people who have no idea of redemption -perhaps it is the conflicts present in today’s society made me pause so many times. Again glad I finished. I’d give it a 4.5 but will rate it a 4

The Hunter
Tana French
Pub Date: March 5, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
French has done it again! Quality writing in an enjoyable read!
It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.
Loved this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

The Hunter brings us back to Cal Hooper's land in Ireland, and to his mentor/mentee/father/daughter relationship with local girl Trey. When Trey's father returns and brings with him a lot of trouble, the town reacts and plots.

I had a lot of trouble finishing this novel. It doesn't have the suspense/mystery/police detective angle that many of French's other books have. It's very slow-moving; I didn't feel interested until about 60% of the way in. The scenes with the local men talking were a struggle. I never felt particularly invested about what they were concerned about or how they wanted to solve it. As always, the best scenes are between Cal, Trey, and Lena.

I have been an avid Tana French fan ever since I read In The Woods years ago. These last few books have been a big departure from some of the hallmarks of her earlier work. It reminds me a little of when the movie The Village by M Knight Shyamalan came out and everyone expected a thriller like The Sixth Sense and instead got a slower examination of grief and how we try to shelter younger generations from it. This book is the sequel to The Searcher, which I will admit I had forgotten a lot of details about. It is similarly paced slowly, mimicking the main character's decision to retire from detective work and move to the Irish countryside. There are very interesting commentaries about group dynamics in insular communities. It makes you interrogate your own thoughts about truth, justice, loyalty, and the greater good. There is still a murder (and I'll admit that I never would have guessed who did it) but it is not the main driver of the plot. If you're interested in the lengths people might go to, to protect their own, and how people determine who their own people are, you should check this out.

Another amazing title from Tana French. THE HUNTER is definitely a departure from the Dublin Murder Squad series, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. After a bit of a slow, scenic start, the story really picked up with some really engrossing characters. The dynamics between Cal and Trey were absolutely my favorite thing about this. I can’t wait to see if French expands this universe. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc.

Tana French does not disappoint. The Searcher and The Hunter are less dark than her earlier work, but not to any detriment. The relationship between Cal and Trey is wonderful. Trey is (grudgingly) a joy, and I love echoes of True Grit and Manon of the Spring.

Another fantastic mystery from French. Her characterization of Trey is so excellent, I find I am committed to everything Trey feels she needs to do.