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#12Booksof2024

I read 3 good mystery novels in May. A Taste for Death by PD James and Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz were both great. But I am highlighting this because I‘d been sitting on reading this for years and it kick started my appreciation for French‘s slow as molasses style and encouraged me to become a completist of her novels. This is part 1 of 2 featuring ex-Chicago detective Cal Hooper who‘s retired to a rural Irish village.

My first read book of October works for a lot of prompts:

#wickedwhispers #mystery @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#bookscavengerhunt #cold and #bookrecommendations #mysterious

#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper

I do quite enjoy this author. A former cop from Chicago moves to a small town in Ireland and gets himself involved in a local disappearance.

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Chicago cop Cal Hooper retires far from family in a small village in Ireland, renovating an old house. When a kid from a notorious poor family in town, that townspeople shun, asks for his help to find the kid‘s missing brother, Cal reluctantly helps. But he is retired, so he handles things very differently than he would have as a cop. As a result, he learns a lot more about the town than he really wanted to know. Much better than anticipated ⬇️

In hopes of filling my #halloweenatozbingo card here‘s my #hauntedshelftbr for #hexesandcrowes

I‘ve more in my Halloween and Supernatural ebook TBRs but these are some good choices

@Librarybelle @TheSpineView @Yuki_Onna @Light_of_Aether @catsandbooks @charityann @redxohearts @julieclair @triplem80 @deblovestoread @Addison_Reads @ElizaMarie @TheBookDream @julsmarshall @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
 @puddlejumper

My new audiobook for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Well I just found my successor for the Virgil Flowers series! In some ways Cal Hooper is less straightforwardly part of a good guy detective narrative - aside from technically being retired - his doubts about what is the right thing are palpable, but you never doubt that he wants to do the right thing, that he wouldn't hesitate if he knew for sure what the right thing was. 1/?

A slow burner this one. I enjoyed the atmosphere more than the plot, which wasn‘t that exciting or surprising. The community though, of this small Irish town, came alive throughout the book. Good characters, a light pick.

#WeeklyForecast 35/24

I am reading a short story collection by Roddy Doyle, whom I have a weak spot for ever since the 80s.
I also started The Searcher, which is slow burning but interesting.
For the #Bookerprize my next read will be My Friends. I have read The Return by this author, which was just a so-so for me, but this new one gets good reviews so I am eager to find out what I‘ll think of it.

Read for Library book group: we all loved it!
I did a print/audio combo, which worked really well.
To begin with I had misgivings over the portrayal of Mart: a tad heavy-handed? Dare I say it, Oirishness-for-export? Well, in future I will trust TF to know what she's doing!
And, yes please, I would very much like a slice of that "air rich as fruitcake." ?

Beautifully written story set in an Irish farming town. The reader is outstanding. Highly recommend. Don't be intimidated by the 15 hour run time. It doesn't feel long.

#ReadAway2024 I wavered between a Pick and a So-So. But I finished the book because it held my interest. Tana French doesn‘t shy away from writing about morally gray areas.

I‘m glad I waited a bit before going into this after her 1st series. While both have the deep character studies French is so good at writing, where her 1st is psychologically thrilling, The Searcher feels more like a literary fiction/contemporary novel with a side of a mystery. The pace itself is slow, but I never felt bored nor did it feel like the story wasn‘t moving forward. I found myself invested in Cal, Trey, & the small town Cal settles in.

In this new series featuring ex-cop Cal Hooper, French takes us to the Irish countryside where the atmosphere of the place is vividly described. It‘s a quieter book, and as always, the characters are complex and richly drawn. I felt let down to discover the mystery is not much of a mystery, but here French tells a heartfelt story of people trying to do right in difficult situations, and that difference between right and wrong is complex..⬇️

I found this to be different from French‘s Dublin Murder Squad books. The story didn‘t have the quick-paced, suspenseful twists and turns that are common in a lot of thrillers. I found the pace of the story smooth and engaging. The overall outcome wasn‘t surprising, but the details and people involved were unexpected. The Searcher contained more emotion than fast-paced crime-solving tactics. 

Full review at https://abookandadog.com

Which of these series is the best?

Asking for a friend 😂

I really enjoyed this slow burn mystery. As usual with Tana French, it‘s all about the characters.

Cal is a retired Chicago detective who‘s moved to rural Ireland for what he thinks will be a simple, quiet life. But his burgeoning friendship with a local kid who has a missing brother complicates things and Cal runs afoul of some of the locals.

I brought two physical books and my kindle with me for my one hour oil change wait. What if I run out of something to read? 😱😂

Waiting on the kiddos

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊

#WondrousWednesday

1. Probably because of the #NancyDrewBR but I am having flashbacks to excitedly scanning the library shelves for a Nancy Drew mystery I‘d not yet read.

2. It‘s pretty evenly split between library borrows and thrifted/used/new books.

3. I just started the tagged book yesterday.

I really loved Tana French‘s Dublin Murder Squad series, but I also knew going into this one that it was not as fast-paced as those books, based on reviews. Indeed, this is much more of a slow burn novel. It was not bad, but it was almost too slow in my opinion. I never was really pulled in, even when things started to be revealed.

This is my second book by Tana French that I‘ve read. I‘m still on the fence. Don‘t get me wrong, it was a good read. But I‘m absorbed into the story line as I normally am. I don‘t feel the characters emotions, I‘m not envisioning the scenery in my head, I don‘t feel like I am a part of the story.

Definitely read this book before you read The Hunter otherwise you will already know the answer to this story's central mystery and a revelation about a particular character will be spoiled.
In other words, don't do what I did!
Despite that, this story, in the words of Trey Reddy, was simply "Grand".

Now I want to read The Hunter. So glad Trey will be in it!

I‘d never read a Tana French book & @DavidDiamond suggested reading this one before reading her new book. Two great things about it: 1. French was born in Burlington, Vermont (love that fact) & 2. This was set in Ireland and the language and descriptions of Ireland were so good! A retired cop moves to Ireland and ends up, of course, having to find a missing person. I grew to really care for all of the characters and look forward to reading more.

Considering I had 18 inches of snow yesterday and an earthquake rocked my house today enough to make me feel as if I were on a boat, this quote hit home.

This is a great mystery. It is slow paced in parts but I think that adds to the suspense. Is Trey's brother alive and can retired police officer Cal find out what happened? This book really left me guessing until the big reveal.

The great February book haul: I found these two books for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

For #CanadaDay 🇨🇦I wish there would be news about a new Louise Penny book, but so far I haven‘t seen anything yet. #summerspecial

There is news, however, of a new book by Tana French. The Hunter is a follow up to the tagged book. It‘s scheduled to be released in March of next year.

First book read by this author and it was perfect for me. A slow pace character driven kind of mystery. Cal hooper an American retired cop decided to move to a small place Ireland. There, he will be involved almost by accident in a search of a missing person. This novel will be perfect for a sequel. I really enjoyed it but it is pretty slow in case you like more action 4⭐️

Audiobook. I liked the writing but didn't love the story, it seemed to drag a bit and was not quite as mysterious as her other books. This was not a “page turner“ of a story.

I enjoyed this despite it being a slow read. I enjoyed the conversations between the characters. The twists were easy to figure out but done well. Cal, a retired cop, moves to Ireland for a slower life. His cop instincts for sniffing out trouble failed to retire with him, and he finds himself neck deep in local trouble. 4 🌟

Not for everyone. Very slow. Beautiful writing.

At times I'm frustrated with how achingly slow French moves the plot along but her winding way of story telling somehows makes the reveal ache in a way that is hard to forget. The Searcher is the same.

Slow going. Beautiful writing, however nothing is happening

Almond hazelnut butter on brown bread and reading.

Excited for this. Always beautiful writing.

Esther prefers reading eBooks on her iPad via the kindle app (than reading on her clunky Kindle) #EstherFest

This might be a 4star read but I think I will keep it with a 3star rating on gr — even if it did have apple pie — but it just failed to excite me after the startling “reveal”/twist. It was OK, it did get me over a bit of a slump, sure; but it felt flat like low-carbonated sodapop. Or something.

#AugBookClub

This one was just ok. Good character development, great narrator, but middle of the road storyline. Nothing particularly new or different from other similar small town/village, retired cop helping an underdog solve a possible crime stories. Not bad just didn‘t really care about what happened. But it was my May #bookspin for #bookspinbingo so yay! 🌟🌟🌟

Currently reading!

This was a lovely slow mystery. My only complaint was that it was sunny outside when I was reading this. This is a perfect rainy day book.

I really did enjoy this one even though it was slow paced and that's not usually what I go for. I liked the main character and how the story never felt like it was dragging.

This book was disappointing. To say the pace was slow is putting it mildly. When I was almost three quarters through I was still waiting for something significant to happen and it never did. Some of the descriptions were beautiful but ultimately, there was no big reveal, and it ended up not even being very suspensful. It was very underwhelming and predictable. Very disappointing as I have read French's other books and enjoyed them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1. I like both, but I think I prefer a slow burn.
2. Tana French is the queen of the slow burn.
#two4tuesday

This book came highly recommended.

I don't normally pick up mysteries or thrillers, but I soon found myself invested in the story of Cal and Trey as they tried to figure out what happened to Trey's missing brother.

The narrator of the audiobook was excellent.

While I understand why it was too slow moving for some, I loved this standalone novel. A retired Chicago cop who moves to a small Irish town for some peace and quiet finds himself helping a child solve solve a missing person‘s case although he is still learning to find his footing in his new home. Layered and detailed with complex characters, this book illustrates why French is a must read author for me.

Going from work to the gym and this book got me pretty hooked. The accents the narrator puts on are a bit funny. Lol

So got my copy of this book today and found an amazing surprise that I was not expecting