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#12Booksof2024

My favorite in May was The Hunter. French is a marvelous writer and this second story featuring retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper is every bit as good as the first if not better. French knows how to write setting and character and the way she teases out secrets and the way in which the threads that bind and entangle are prized apart always satisfy. French is an automatic buy for me and this one didn‘t disappoint.

@Andrew65

So good! You must read The Searcher first. If you fall/fell in love with Trey (how couldn‘t you?), you‘ll be happy to know this book is full of Trey.

Only 100 pages into this chunkster. So glad I didn't wait for work to close for the hols to crack this one open!

end-of-quarter celebratory haul at my favorite indie

#10beforetheend
Starting with The Hunter

#bookscavengerhunt #monochrome
#bookrecommendation #dark #series #mysterious #morallydubious
#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper

Although I liked The Searcher better, I do enjoy this duo/trio of characters and would love to read more with them. Tana French is always a pick for me.

#AuthorAMonth
@Soubhiville

I love retired Chicago detective Cal and Trey, the teenager who essentially adopted him when he retired to an Irish town. This sequel reunites us with the unlikely duo as they deal with the return of Trey‘s unreliable father and the scheme he wants all of the locals involved in. Slow paced but so well written, French can hook me with a single sentence. Would love a book three if only to watch the relationships continue to develop. #authoramonth

Life in Ardnakelty, Ireland, has settled into a sort of equilibrium after the events of the first book, until Trey‘s father Johnny returns after many years away. He brings with him a harebrained scheme which eventually leads to a murder and subsequent investigation, but the real story here is how the characters interact to achieve their goal, demonstrated through the author‘s gift for dialogue. #authoramonth #tenbeforetheend

Looks like I‘ll be reading two Tana French this month. 🎉🤗🙌

#AuthorAMonth
@Soubhiville

In Wales reading a book set in Ireland. #hyggehourreadathon

My #TenBeforeTheEnd is subject to change at any moment! This captures my current thoughts on the situation. I think the tagged book is up next.

Well that was intense! I'd say 10% mystery, 90% interpersonal intrigue. I did miss the Trey and Cal spending time getting to know each other and the more frequent cheeky shit-talking amongst the Irish villagers featured in the first of the series. This second novel definitely feels more serious, higher stakes, and it bothered me a bit, even as gray morality did feature in that first book, that both Cal and Lena, but mostly Trey, 1/?

Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper is settling into his life in Ardnakelty, and Trey, whose missing brother he helped find in book 1, is a mysterious teenager. Trey‘s good-for-nothing dad comes back to town, bringing with him a rich Englishman claiming local roots and knowledge of a vein of gold running through everyone‘s land that can make everyone rich. Cal suspects a scam and Trey plots revenge. And then there‘s the murder, with a lot of ⬇️

Don't forget the veil! 😆

Today's 'scratched my brain just right' sentence.

It‘s been busy and stressful at work so I took Friday off and also took a break from social media (hence my mostly absence from Litsy) and crafted all weekend while finishing the tagged and continuing listening to David Copperfield (I switch formats regularly for it). #authoramonth #whatthedickens #serieslove24 #halloweenatoz #hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows

'Tricky summers' is the most poetically accurate description of global warming mucking with the seasons I've heard.

Dogs: a good judge of character. 😆

When the current reads are giving autumn palette. 🍁🍂♥️
Admittedly, the chances of such an occurrence are greatly increased when you have a number of books on the go. 😅

Seasonal decor! 😄

My next audiobook for #authoramonth and all the #hauntedshelf readathons! #hexesandcrows @Soubhiville @Catsandbooks

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘m in the Republic of Ireland in a rural area where many inhabitants are sheep farmers. It‘s a particularly hot summer, however, and tensions run high when the ne‘er do well Johnny Reddy returns with a get-rich-quick scheme.

A slow burn that‘s more about the characters than the situation at hand.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Hmm, probably a glass of red wine in autumn or winter and a gin and tonic if it‘s a warm summer day.

2. Tagged—French is a marvelous writer. I‘ve also loved every volume of Spy x Family I‘ve read and have consistently given them 5 stars.

@TheSpineView

This book is quite #orange #coverlove

If you liked this author‘s other books, you‘ll probably like this one. I did.

This is the 2nd in a series in which we get to hang with Cal, a prior detective & transplant to Ireland from the U.S., and Trey, a young local woman who Cal attempts to support & counsel, even as Trey is trying to avenge the murder of her brother. This book introduces her father, Johnny, who has returned to Ireland with a scheme to make money. All of the characters French brings to life are fully drawn and I miss them all when the book is done.

I really enjoy the characters in this book. It's the second book, first being The Searcher. The mystery is really drawn out, but it makes it all more natural. I read this for a book club and will continue with the series.

Tana French all day forever and always. Character development! Descriptive environments! Literary mystery! Yes.

Tana French is a very good storyteller! This story continues The Searcher from about three years ago. A former cop retires to small town Ireland, where he gets dragged into murder mysteries. He‘s a terrific character and so are the two women in his life, a local landowner and a teenager who really needs his influence. Hope there are more of these down the road.

This book has a deceptively slow start but what French is actually doing is moving the pieces around on the chessboard, making sure the connections, the secrets, the king/queen are revealed subtly but incontrovertibly all the while slowly ratcheting up the tension until the inevitably hinted at crime occurs…but perhaps not the EXACT crime you expect. From there it is a race to the finish which leaves you ready & hoping for another book. Excellent.

Up next…I love her books on audio! 🎧

#bookspinbingo

Such a satisfying sequel to The Searcher! Slow vibe beautifully focusses on Trey with her anger and trauma coming to a head when her father returns with a scam underway. Closes up threads from the first book - taking up 2 years after those events (that were clearly smoldering…) Visceral, hot-summer atmosphere & nefarious goings-on are gripping. Relationships of Cal, Trey, Lena are perfect. At this point, I will read anything Tana French writes.

Some reviews complain that nothing happens in this book. But I think that‘s the point. It goes deeper under the surface than just a whodunnit. It‘s about what people think and plan and believe and the actions they may or may not take based on those inner monologues. It‘s about community and your place in it. What is an outsider? Can you can ever fit in if you are one – even if you‘ve lived there your whole life? I couldn‘t put it down.

Unpopular opinion. Low pick. Great description of life in a small rural community and I particularly liked the challenges the farmers face because of climate change. Dialogues were too long and too many details I wasn‘t interested in. The second half was better than the first. I listened to it and liked the audio but read a really weird story about the voice actor Roger Clark. That surprised me more than the ending of the book.

Tana French has mad skills, and her latest novel is a knock-out! Set in West Ireland, in her hands the small town of Ardnakelty becomes a character in its own right. Johnny Reddy, under the control of a Brit crook, schemes to defraud. His daughter, Trey, has her own revenge agenda. Her adult friends Cal and Lena are trying to protect her from herself. The characters are marvelous and unforgettable. The ending is great. Highly recommended!

I love French's ability to create atmosphere & this one is stifling. The intense heat, the building tension, it all feels like it's about to boil over. This sequel is best if you've read the 1st book. I loved returning to Cal's tiny Irish town. Trey is now 15 & she's figuring out who she is as she grows up. It feels a lot like The Dry, which I loved. It moves very slow, but it works & I always stayed interested. Don't expect a fast-pace thriller.

Reading and loving THE HUNTER by Tana French. #FridayReads

I LOVED this book. Yes, it is slow, but that‘s kinda what I loved about it. Mysteries and thrillers have made me too anxious within the last year or so, but this one I wasn‘t. I love Tana French and I really love this world she created.

This is the 2nd book in the series. It says you can read it on its own, but there are some references to the past 2 years when the 1st book is set.

#OUABC 2024 Reading Challenge: 40 Prompts (18. A book featuring a character over the age of 40)

• 480 pages • Published March 5, 2024 • Ireland • Mystery • My rating: 4.5 Stars

The Hunter is a mystery that revolves around a retired Chicago detective named Cal Hooper who has settled in Ardnakelty, a small village in West Ireland. ⬇️

I just finished reading my first book by Tana French, and I loved it! Even though it's the second book in the "Cal Hooper" series, I had no trouble following the story. It takes place in a small, peaceful village in Ireland, and the way French writes really draws you in. The murder mystery is exciting, and the characters are all really interesting. A great read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m fairly certain that if I were lucky enough to travel to Ireland, I could stop by the fictional Ardnakelty and step right into this story with Cal, Trey, and Lena. This novel is definitely a slow burn, but in Tana French‘s expert hands, it‘s worth it. I read that she is working on a third book with these characters, and although I miss the Dublin Murder Squad series, I‘ll gladly follow her wherever she wants to take her readers! 🎧

I really enjoy the subtlety of the relationships in Tana French's novels. She's adept at portraying both the spoken dialogue and the subtext, including when characters recognize that there is subtext but can't quite be sure what it is. I'm not sure what the title has to do with the story, but aside from that, I found this to be another solid, enjoyable addition to French's oeuvre.

I presume that this little lizard in my yard agrees with me.

“She saw clearly that she would never get a chance like this again, so she took it. Cal‘s heart is a heavy relentless force in his chest, making it hard to breathe. When he worried that Trey‘s childhood had left cracks in her, he had it wrong. Those aren‘t cracks, those are fault lines.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Despite the fact that my photography skills make it look like an indistinct lump in the tree, this is one of our neighborhood great horned owls. On my evening audiowalk with the tagged book, I spotted this fellow flying from tree to tree in between calling to his sweetheart (and no doubt with another kind of hunting plan for later). On an earlier audiowalk today, I saw a hawk carrying off a snake. It's Wild Kingdom around here!

Pretty cool day today! I got a skip-the-line loan of Tana French's latest on Libby, had a beautiful walk with a friend (first time wearing a sleeveless top this year...slathered on the SPF50), and during our evening walk, my spouse and I unexpectedly saw the SpaceX Falcon 9 shortly after it launched from Vandenberg AFB. (I have very mixed feelings about ultra-rich dudes funding space stuff, but this was cool.)

The latest Tana French is an extremely satisfying read! It follows the events of The Searcher and does contain spoilers for that one, but I also think this could be read on its own and be a perfectly good read. I found this book very Irish in the best possible way. ☘️

So delighted Tana French's new Cal Hooper book The Hunter is finally out. So excited, I just started today.

Finished, couldn't put it down. As much as the Dublin Murder Squad are my favorites I hope there will be another Cal Hooper book.