Book review: Faithful Place by Tana French

Faithful Place by Tana French
Series: Dublin Murder Squad #3
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: July 13, 2010
Source: Borrowed

That which was buried is brought to light and wreaks hell — on no one more so than Frank Mackey, beloved undercover guru and burly hero first mentioned in French’s second book about the Undercover Squad, The Likeness.

Faithful Place is Frank’s old neighborhood, the town he fled twenty-two years ago, abandoning an abusive alcoholic father, harpy mother, and two brothers and sisters who never made it out. They say going home is never easy, but for Frank, investigating the cold case of the just-discovered body of his teenage girlfriend, it is a tangled, dangerous journey, fraught with mean motivations, black secrets, and tenuous alliances. Because he is too close to the case, and because the Place (including his family) harbors a deep-rooted distrust of cops, Frank must undergo his investigation furtively, using all the skills picked up from years of undercover work to trace the killer and the events of the night that changed his life.

No matter how good you are, this world is always going to be better at this game. It’s more cunning than you are, it’s faster and it’s a whole lot more ruthless. All you can do is try to keep up, know your weak spots and never stop expecting the sucker punch.

Alright, so this was my first book by Tana French and I am not disappointed. I had expected your standard murder mystery, but what I actually got was a story about a dysfunctional family and young love that ends too soon. I’m not even really sure what I can say about this book because my mind is kind of all over the place right now.

So, sure, there’s a murder mystery here. More than one, actually, but I’m not even going to get into that. The mystery is secondary to Frank’s relationship with his family and all of the backstory about his relationship with Rosie. Tana French has a way with words and even though she broke my heart with this book, I guess I’ll keep coming back for more. I don’t know if I can really say any more about this book without blurting out all of my feelings (and the associated spoilers), so I’ll stop here.

Thanks to Daniel for the recommendation!

#mm18: crack the case