The Hunter

★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10

336 pages

What’s it about?

This is the second novel in a series by Tana French featuring Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago cop. Hooper has moved to a small town in Ireland, where he has begun to make a life.  He has a romantic relationship with Lena and has become a mentor to a local 15-year-old girl named Trey.  But when Trey's long-absent father comes back into town touting a get-rich-quick scheme, he suddenly feels the need to protect Trey.  Trey does not need a protector.  What she is out for is old-fashioned revenge...

What did it make me think about?

Tana French can write an Irish crime novel!

Should I read it?

I have read every Tana French novel since I picked up In The Woods years ago.  Her books always have great characters and intriguing mysteries, and they are all set in Ireland.  This book was a little on the long side but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

A passage I marked

"The main talent Cal has discovered in himself, since coming to Ardnakelty, is a broad and restful capacity for letting things be.  At first this sat uneasily alongside his ingrained instinct to fix things, but over time they've fallen into balance: he keeps the fixing instinct mainly turned towards solid objects, like his house and people's furniture, and leaves other things the room to fix themselves.  The Johnny Reddy situation isn't something that he can leave be.  It doesn't feel like something that needs fixing, though, either.  It feels both  more delicate and more volatile than that: something that needs watching, in case it catches and runs wild."