The Hunter

There’s a long, slow build to this sequel to “The Searcher”, which also took its own time getting to the meat of the plot. This one takes off a little faster, with the return of prodigal son Johnny Reddy, bringing plans for a get-rich scam that will fleece a posh Englishman and enrich most of the village.

Retired cop Cal Hooper has his doubts about this from the get-go, but what he doesn’t see immediately is the effect it will have on Trey Reddy, still simmering and looking for revenge for a murder that happened years ago.

All the townfolk from the earlier novel reappear here, and Cal’s relationship with Lena moves into deeper water. When the get-rich scheme collapses with the murder of its intended victim, old enmities show more re-emerge among the community, fed by a source only Hooper recognizes, and then only when it’s too late to stop it without destroying people he has grown to love.

This is not a novel of pulse-pounding suspense, but rather one of an inexorably tightening net of betrayal, avarice, and obsession. Patient readers will be rewarded. show less

This second book in Tana French’s Cal Hooper series, THE HUNTER, is as good as, if not better than, the first book. Ms. French doubles down on the creepiness factor of Cal’s pub friends. I say that even though one of my favorite scenes in the entire book happened with those same friends in the pub. I was literally laughing out loud as those same creepy friends kept giving him shit for his relationship status. It was a much-needed bit of levity before the suspense ratcheted up another notch.

We get to see into Trey in this book, and it simply confirms what Cal suspected. She is a traumatized girl who doesn’t know how to handle her feelings. She reaches a key milestone in her maturity in THE HUNTER that is vital for her future.

If show more the first book made me want to move to Ireland like Cal did, THE HUNTER tempered those feelings a bit. Ms. French still describes the little town with delightful clarity and charm, but the town feels just a wee bit more ominous now that we know a little more about its inhabitants.

Tana French is such an amazing author, and her stories never disappoint. With this second book, I’ve fallen for Cal Hooper and Trey and the entire cast and can’t wait to see if there are any more of their antics in the future. show less

If this isn't a well-nigh perfectly plotted mystery, I will take the orange bucket hat from the scarecrow and eat it. French creates the perfect sequel to her 2020 novel The Searcher, featuring retired and transplanted Chicago cop Cal Hooper, sometimes with and sometimes against, his neighbors in rural Ardnakelty in the west of Ireland. When Johnny, the ne'er-do-well father of his teenage protege Trey shows up after years of absence, Cal smells a rat and a rat's scheme to unearth hidden gold. The supporting cast of Cal's pubmates, his girlfriend Lena, Trey's family, a Dublin policeman, and even three beagles and two rooks, and the mountain setting, during a fierce drought, are completely absorbing. This writer knows how to unwind a show more plot, how to go light on the red herrings, and how to check off every box for those who appreciate suspense, mystery, and domestic thrillers. show less

Lately I have read several books that I was impatient to get to the end of. Not the case with this one. Instead, I wanted to live in that world with these characters for a while longer. Like a television series, I wanted more. This is not the first book featuring Cal Hooper so I have hopes there will be more.

The setting is a remote village in Ireland called Ardnakelty. French is a master at creating believable, somewhat flawed characters. In this novel we have Trey (for Teresa), a fifteen-year-old girl who has taken up woodworking with Cal Hooper, ex-cop from Chicago, who moved to the village two years before. Cal has an interest in Lena, who has lived here all her life (but doesn't quite fit in nevertheless). Cal and Lena have made it show more their unspoken mission to bring out the best in Trey, who resists.

Trey makes her own rules but has a sense of responsibility toward her family. Most of it anyway. When her father returns home after some years she is wary, however. He tends to take and run, and this time he comes with a scheme to dig up gold in the area, financed by some rich Londoner who arrives a few days later. Trey has no use for him until she sees that he might play a part in a revenge scheme.

Belonging is everything to this little village. Cal is still a newcomer, although he has won a lot of friends by his furniture making and repairing. Lena sets herself apart, doesn't join in the town gossip, leaves that to her sister. Trey is generally accepted, but when she is connected to her no-good father some people are willing to dismiss her.

All of this is a setup for a sudden death. The Garda move in. Cal tries to stay on the sidelines - "it's nothing to do with me" - but when events threaten Trey's life in the town he has to make some moves.

A thoroughly enjoyable trip for me. I'm wondering where that name comes from - Ardnakelty. There has to be a story. show less

In this sequel to The Searcher, Tana French brings us back to the rural Irish community of Ardnakelty. The Hunter shows the community slowly accepting Cal Hooper, the American in-comer who has taken on the under-parented Trey and taught her woodworking skills while providing her the stability and guidance she needed. But that all changes when Trey's father returns with a get rich scheme that the local farmers, already strained by a long heat wave, are susceptible to. Tensions mount, not helped by the weather and a little deliberate incitement, until the stakes are raised by murder.

This is a solid crime novel and a good story, filled with characters and their relationships with each other developing over time in a way that feels very show more real. The Ardnakelty countryside may be beautiful, but this insular community has more than its fair share of secrets and long-held grievances. French knows how to write dialogue, writing in the cadences of the Irish accent, making this novel a pleasure to read as well as a great page turner. She took her time developing Cal's relationship to this community and now that slow build pays off here. show less

Two years after the events of The Searcher, life in Arndakelty is settled somewhat: Trey helps Cal with his carpentry, Cal and Lena have a satisfying relationship - each in their own households - and everyone's weathering an unusual summer heatwave as best they can. But then Trey's father Jonny Reddy blows back into town with a fancy Englishman Cillian Rushborough in tow and a scheme to fleece him - or, a scheme to fleece Ardnakelty men in order to pay Jonny's debt to Rushborough, who's actually a London criminal. Cal is furious with Jonny for putting Trey in danger, but Trey sees an opportunity to get revenge on the men who killed her older brother Brendan. Tense, taut, atmospheric.

Quotes

Trey seems solid as hardwood, in her own way, show more but she's taken too many knocks in her life not to have cracks in there somewhere. (12)

Trey is good at noticing things outside herself but uninteresting at noticing things inside... (23)

"Didja ever hear the story of the three wells?" he asks.
"Well, well, well." (131)

[Trey] can identify a dangerous situation without necessarily recognizing any need to back away from it. (160)

All [Jonny's] other feelings are getting turned into anger, for ease of use. (178)

"Most of us get what we wanted," Mrs. Duggan agrees. "For better or worse." (to Lena, 195)

Cal has professional experience of shitbirds like this, whose lies take up so much space that people believe them just because disbelieving all of that would be too much work. (212)

"If you weren't fuckin' wojous at cards," Senan says, "you'd know a bluff when you hear one." (355)

It has the ominous savagery of a tornado siren: all bets are off. (356)

"All the things that disappoint me worst, I knew them all along." (Bobby, 361)

Now it feels like [Rushborough] barely existed; all that's left of him is hassle. (377)

...her mother is a mystery to her. [Sheila] could have anything folded away inside her silence. (429)

*Spoilers*

Cal and Lena both muse over how unreadable Trey is, but it's Sheila everyone underestimates, and Sheila who executes a plan that gets rid of Rushborough, lets Jonny escape, and prevents any repercussions against the Reddys who are left. show less

If you are coming to Tana French for the first time, do not make my mistake, you should read “The searcher” before this. It features many of the same characters and adds so much to your understanding of their relationships and motives for their actions
A slow burning, but nonetheless fascinating and entrancing thriller that uses its rural Irish setting to weave its magic and ensnare you. The cast of characters are all wonderfully drawn and the dialogue is superb as the book unfolds at a leisurely pace against a backdrop of small-time crook, Johnny, returns to his family after several years absence. With him comes a stringer from England and together they set about a scam to fleece the local residents of their savings. But as the plot show more unfolds, Johnny’s daughter, 15 year old Trey, sees an opportunity to gain revenge on whoever was responsible for her elder brother’s mysterious disappearance and death. The closeknit nature of the community means that falsehoods can become the accepted truth and outsiders can be shut out if necessary. There may not be gold in the hills as part of the scam, but there is certainly gold in the writing. show less