Barbara M. reviewed on 1/24/2019 + 147 more book reviews

Tana French is a good writer--she is NOT, however, a good story teller. This is the third book that I've read in this series. I picked up Book 1 (In the Woods) for $.25 or $.50 6/2017 at a garage sale. The central character was a Det. Ryan who ended up returning to his childhood neighborhood to investigate a child murder. We learn that when Ryan was a lad, he and a couple mates went to the nearby woods. I don't recall how long they were gone--it might have been a day or two--but Ryan was the only one found. He had no memory of what happened and in the intervening years, his friends never turned up and Ryan's memory didn't return. So, this back story of Ryan's created a certain amount of suspense, making the reader wonder if the back story would be resolved at the end. SPOILER ALERT FOR BOOK 1: The murder was solved but the back story was not. Knowing that this book was the first in a series, I assumed that Ryan would be the central character in the ensuing books and that at some point the mystery in the woods would be resolved.

So, although I found the end of book 1 rather unsatisfying, I got Book 2 (The Likeness). I was surprised to find that Ryan was not the central character in this story--in fact, he barely made an appearance. Instead, the central figure is Cassie, a police officer who was a secondary character in Book 1. The plot line in Book 2 was entirely unbelievable. And, even though the murderer is caught in the end, there's a suggestion that perhaps it's really someone else. Furthermore, I found that I intensely disliked Cassie and didn't care what happened to her. Luckily, I got Book 2 off of paperbackswap.com so didn't pay anything except a small swap fee.

In spite of two disappointing books in a row from Tana French, I decided to give her another chance so I put Book 3 (Faithful Place) on my paperbackswap.com wish list and recently received that book. The central character in this book is Frank Mackey, who--surprise, surprise--was a secondary character in Book 2 (I bet one of the secondary characters in Book 3--i.e., "Scorcher"--will be the central character in Book 4). I had barely gotten into Chapter 1 when I started to dislike Frank. That didn't change--Frank is a thoroughly disagreeable character. Granted, he comes from an extremely dysfunctional family (alcoholism, domestic violence, poverty) but I suspect that even if he came from a more "normal" family, he'd be the same jerk.

Frank has had nothing to do with his family (other than occasional contact with sister Jackie) for 20+ years. Then he gets pulled back to the old neighborhood because a suitcase that belonged to his girlfriend (Rosie) of long ago is found in an old derelict building. We learn through recollections of Frank and other members of his family that he and Rosie planned to meet and run off to London 20+ years ago. Frank waited for her but she never appeared so he assumed he had been dumped.

Unlike many of the Amazon reviewers who figured out early who the suspect was, I had no clue until the end. I thought it was an OK ending but the rationale the killer gave seemed flimsy and unreal.

Considering three consecutive books from Tana French have been disappointing, I'm not sure I will read any more of her books.

P.S. I just looked up on Amazon Book 4 (Broken Harbor) of the series, and according to the brief description, Scorcher is the central character.

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