The Hunter by Tana French
This is a sequel to Tana French’s novel The Searcher. The action centres around Cal Hooper a retired Chicago policeman who has settled in the village of Ardnakelty. He has been there two years now and is beginning to be accepted as one of the village. He works on carpentry with 15 year oldTrey (Theresa) whose father has long been ‘working’ in London. Then Jonny, Trey’s father returns, and upsets the balance of life in the village.
The village become involved in one of Jonny’s schemes involving a rich Englishman come to Ireland in search of gold which his long dead relative had told him could be dug up easily in the fields around Ardnakelty. It is a long hot summer and the days are unusually dry and hot the book is permeated by the threat to the peace which Cal and Trey have built in the mountains of Ireland. Tana French creates a remarkably vivid sense of place and there is some fantastic dialogue which I could hear as I read it to myself. The characters who appeared first in The Searcher appear again and as they do we become more and more embroiled in the drama which is being played out. We get a wonderful sense of all the things which people are talking about without actually saying anything.
I really felt as if I had spent an evening at Sean Og’s supping Guinness and poteen with this interesting group of people. The book is quite long and I got the feeling that the author was enjoying lingering in the company of her characters once again.
I would recommend this book but would also suggest that you will derive greater pleasure from the novel is you read The Searcher first. I would like to thank Tana French, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

A previous book by this author proved to be a unique experience. The Hunter, with the same characters but a stand alone book, does not disappoint, in fact to the contrary. This story excels in the development of the protagonists; their thoughts and actions giving insight towards the trajectory of an entertaining storyline.Trey, a child from a neglected background and abusive mercurial father has blossomed under the watchful eye of the now integrated if marginalised outsider Cal now a tenuously accepted member of this rural Irish village. The equilibrium of the inhabitants of this tight knit community is upended by the return of Treys father setting off a catastrophic chain of events that will result in corruption, violence and murder among this wily if naive community. Cal recognising the dangers as an ex policeman struggles to protect Trey despite the huge part she now plays in filling the emotional void in his life.. Meanwhile, the community begins to implode. Excellent three dimensional characters building up tension as the dangers to and for the community increases in particular the exposed strengths and weaknesses of Lena and Mart. Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for this hugely entertaining ARC.

This is a real slow burner but it’s worth persevering with the lengthy scene setting, as the story becomes completely addictive once it gets going. Centred on the small Irish village of Ardnakelty, this is the story of a closed community and the effect that both insiders and outsiders can have when there is trouble afoot. The characters are effectively drawn, the settings are so well described they become visible, and the story itself is mostly believable and told with both sensitivity and panache. A long book, but one you won’t regret sinking into!

Cal and Trey, from The Searcher, are back with another mystery! Treys father has reappeared in the village with a plot to get money for everyone. But what is he up to and what is he hiding? Cal and Lena are not impressed with him and are worried about Trey and her family.
Yet again this is another triumph from Tana French who knows how to tell a story. The characters of Cal, Lena and Trey are developed well but the other characters are excellent too. I especially love Mart and the dogs. It really portrays the people of a small village well. You become involved in the story with them and hope everyone stays safe.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for granting me and advance copy.

Yeah, it's perfect. Tana again just writing the living shit out of a book, with such beautiful character work and incredible writing that I don't even know where to begin.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin General UK and Tara French for my ARC of 'The Hunter' in return for an honest review.

Another cleverly plotted novel from this author who knows how to write with numerous twists and turns which always makes me continue reading. Excellent writing and a brilliant storyline.

This is the second on the Cal Hooper series. He is a retired Chicago Cop who moved to Ireland for a quiet life. No such luck.

Cal is building a business with the help of Trey, Theresa Reddy, when her father returns after a long absence with a story about gold.

Brilliant read. Highly recommended

I really enjoy all Tana French and this was another brilliant story. The second in a series featuring Cal, who is a brilliant main character. Five stars 🌟 xx

This had a slow start where mainly it was developing the characters and the scenery but it soon developed into a great story full of lots of intrigue. This was set entirely in a small Irish village where everyone knew everyone else and outsiders would always be that unless they married into someone from the village. It is a long book but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about what was going on and how the characters interelated with each other. I thought that Trey, Cal and Mart were such adorable characters and seeing them develop throughout the story was wonderful, especially Trey.
The plot about the Gold scam was so well written that you could see how this could be done now despite people being more aware of such scams, people will always be caught by the simple start and then pride takes over as no-one likes to be wrong or be seen that they did not join in with others who did not think that it was a scam.
The story has twists throughout, especially where the mind of Trey was involved as right until the end it was not possible to detect what she would do next or indeed who she would support next. It was a surprising ending which tied it up beautifully.
It has to be noteed that this is the second in the series about Cal but it is a stand alone book easily as well.

I hadn’t read Tana French for a while, but I’m so happy that I stumbled on The Hunter on Netgalley.

It’s a strong, character driven, page-turning stunner!

French pulled me right in with a tight and twisting plot and didn’t let go til the very last page.

I will go back now and read the first Cal Hooper book, The Searcher.

I sincerely hope there will another tale out of Cal, Trey and Lena.

Four years ago, John Reddy disappeared, two years ago his son, Brendan, disappeared. Johnny’s daughter, Trey, hopes he’s dead; she knows Brendan is. She was thirteen when Brendan, only a couple of years older, disappeared, and she searched for her brother’s grave all over the mountain above the village of Ardnakelty, the centre of the Townland (an Irish term for district) which covers this side of the mountain. Now, at fifteen, she continues to keep an eye out but no longer searches. What she does continue to do is harbour a hatred for the people of the Townland because some of them killed Brendan and all are complicit in concealing the fact. Their story is that he went off to find his father. Trey is very self-absorbed with only two people she feels moderately comfortable with: Cal Hooper, a retired detective from Michigan and Lena Dunne, a local widow who is Cal’s lover. Trey and Cal have a part-time business repairing, refurbishing and selling old furniture, with Cal in an (almost paternal) mentoring role as he tries to provide her with a stable environment and channel her anger. Everything is reasonably calm in the Townland . . . and then Johnny comes marching home again, bringing with him a posh Englishman with plans to make everyone rich. Despite general suspicion, after all Johnny was a noted waster before he left, people are willing to get involved in their scheme. Tensions rapidly build.
This book does not fit into an obvious mystery or thriller category, although there are murder, crime, and psychological elements. It describes itself on the cover as a novel, and that, I think, is the best category. The writing is wonderful, totally evocative of the rural environment and ethos of the part of West Ireland in which it is set (the village is fictional but somewhere between The Border and Galway City). This is particularly true of the many conversations rendered in dialect, and going on and on in a totally realistic way. Readers looking for a fast, clue ridden, puzzle, will not find it here. Readers who want to wallow in clever writing, leisurely but paced, and thickly detailed will love this book and ask for more.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

This book has a very slow start and such a slow pace that I almost gave up and stopped reading it. It didn't really get going until about halfway through (and it is a long book). The tension builds slowly until the surprising but inevitable end.
There are some lovely descriptions and the setting is just another character. Mart is my favourite character, I loved his chats with Cal.
This is a dark, atmospheric and character-driven novel, almost a western, with themes of revenge, belonging, community, family and secrets.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

The Hunter is #2 in the Cal Hooper series by bestselling author, Tana French. I enjoyed the first book, in particular the character of Trey, so was intrigued when I saw the next book would introduce us to Trey’s father. I liked the story and characters in this one but overall I found the book to be too slow-paced for me. There were large sections which just felt like small talk without any real purpose. The characters are fantastic and you feel like you really get to know them, I just felt like the book could have benefited from being a bit shorter and getting to the mystery a bit quicker.

A quite whimsical story, written in regional Irish, about a local returning to his village to run a scam that was always destined to failure. Funny in parts, well written but a little long with a few too many holes in the story for my liking.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher this ARC. This book was great I loved the setting as an Irish person I felt a connection to this book. It was a slow burner at the start but then after that it was full of pacy and suspenseful twists and turns! I liked the characters my favourite one was Cal. The publication date is the 7th March 2024.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a fantastic enthralling plot it was a real page turner and keeps you gripped till the very end and wow what a twist I wasn’t expecting that! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars!

I have never been to Ireland but I have read The Searcher and now The Hunter. I have no idea if the dialogue between the characters is authentic but it sounds terribly convincing. I really loved both novels, the characters, the location and best of all the feeling of being there with them. I saw a side of Cal (the Chicago detective) that wasn't all that agreeable and didn't sit well with him but the real standout was the character Mart (Cal's nearest neighbour). A man of incredible wisdom and cunning. His discussions with Cal are full of witty insight and not too cleverly disguised warnings. The folk of those parts have their own codes of conduct and they don't particularly welcome blow ins or the Guarda. Despite living there for two years, Cal could end up being the scapegoat just because he's a blow in and not yet fully accepted. The only down side to the story was the gold scam. It was so obvious and yet it almost absolved itself when it was explained it was more about hope than fact. I was expecting the gold scam to end up being some sort of land grab for carbon offsets to counter the Northern Ireland Cash for Ash scam, in much the same way as parts of Wales are being bought up.
I will reluctantly take one off a perfect five as the scam lacked depth.

I've been a huge fan of French and her previous books for a while, including the first installment involving Cal Hooper's character, and was looking forward to reading this one.
The way in which she writes provokes so many vivid images and her characters and descriptions of the landscape are incredible, however unfortunately I just found this a bit slow and prolonged and for me, didn't really build to anything amazing.

In saying that, I will still be invested in the characters lives and knowing how much I've loved French's previous work, I'm hopeful that I'll enjoy the books to come.

I love the Dublin Murder Squad stories, but this was very disappointing. Just like The Searcher with the same characters, it was far too slow and boring.
I don't know if the author thinks she is writing the Great Novel with all these long descriptions of places and atmosphere, but she should get back to what she does best.

4.5* The Hunter is the second outing for Tana French's Cal Hooper, retired Chicago policeman who moved to find a quiet life in Ireland and it is an absolute stunner.

Cal is still a 'blow-in' by rural Irish standards but he is building a life in the small community including a relationship with Lena and a carpentry business with the help of local teenager Trey (Theresa) Reddy. When Trey's long-time disappeared (and feckless) father returns, he does so with a fantastical tale. He has met a rich Englishman whose grandmother hails from the area and knows where there are pockets of gold ... but to get to the gold, the local farmers will need to support the scheme.

As Cal fights to keep Trey on the straight and narrow, he watches the local land owners lose their minds to the possibility of vast wealth below their feet. On the surface is excitement. Lurking below is a certain darkness and and tensions set to boil over.

Tana French is the queen of literary crime fiction. This is a slow boil and character driven book. French's dialogue is incredible. It draws characters in a way no other writer can. It is also both lyrical and entirely readable in a way that you almost have to read it at a pace dictated by the book. At times it is also laugh out loud funny. Added in is a true sense sense of place and community. It is a true masterclass in the craft of writing a story which is driven by the characters but has a very strong plot at the centre.

I absolutely loved The Hunter and couldn't recommend it more highly (although its certainly not one to recommend to those who skim books!).

Thanks to Penguin UK, Viking and Netgalley for an ARC

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it was full of atmosphere and wonderful characters. I saw the village as an amused outsider and enjoyed the crack with the locals.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for a review copy of this book. I have read most of Tana French’s books and really enjoyed them and this one would be top among them.

I’ve really loved French’s recent foray to Ardnakelty in rural Galway with the American former detective Cal Hooper that she featured in her last book and now this one. Cal is a man who just wants to live quietly among the rural community where he chose to settle. In this book, three years after the previous one, Cal has now established himself to some degree and found he’s become very attached to his young protégé Trey and also Lena, a widow who lives up the hill. Trey was a half wild young girl in the previous book, but now Cal has tamed her somewhat and given her a sense of value through his quiet manner and their carpentry work, fixing up and restoring furniture for others in the community. This quiet calm is disrupted by the return of Trey’s father Johnny, a chancer who’d long ago left Ardnakelty to find his fortune in London, leaving his wife and children. This time he’s returned with company, an Englishman with a posh accent that sounds just as fake to Cal as the grand dream of gold he and Johnny are trying to sell. Cal decides to keep a distant eye on them, for the sake of Trey, who has her own ideas of revenge that she keeps secret. In trying to keep Trey safe for the future as well as her present, Cal finds himself entangled in ways he could never have predicted.

As always, French’s prose is so evocative, so atmospheric the reader is immediately drawn in, as if they were there, directly in Ardnakelty. The compelling story, with tension hidden behind every sentence, only contributes to the necessity of reading without pause, while fighting the desire to savour each sentence and how it builds such a keenly observed picture of the unspooling scenes. Such keen observation in dialogue and ordinary action creates an authenticity of an Irish rural community that has no whiff of cliché but shows the nature and workings of a small rural community anywhere, except with the gloss and reality of the Irish one. Tana French is one of my favourite thriller writers because of all that she imbues in her writing and I look forward to the next one. Highly recommended.