Cal Hopper, a former Chicago police officer, has settled into his new life in a rural Irish village. He's been accepted by most of his neighbors (though a few are suspicious of his past occupation). He and Trey, the teenage girl he semi-adopted, have built up a thriving business fixing and selling furniture.

This novel is the long-awaited sequel to The Searcher, in which Cal first met Trey who asked his help in finding out what happened to her missing brother, Brendan, who had disappeared without a trace. The results of that search brought the two closer and led to the role of Cal and his love Lena as surrogate parents to Trey, though her mother Sheila remains an active figure in the girl's life.

Then, unexpectedly, Trey's father Johnny Reddy returns to Ardnakelty and turns the lives of all upside down.

Johnny is a ne'er-do-well who abandoned his wife and children years before and is only back now because he has a scam in the works. He's accompanied by a man who claims to have roots in the village and an ancestral tale of gold to be found in local streams, fields and hills. Though both he and Trey are certain it's a setup, a score of Cal's neighbors are taken in by Johnny's glib tongue and the tales of his accomplice. Even Cal's hard-nosed and skeptical neighbor Mart is drawn in and ready to invest for a share in the alleged treasure.

Cal, Lena and even Trey (who has no illusions about her father's scheming) are forced out of the boundaries each has set for themselves and see trouble ahead.

A murder fulfills their fears and tension mounts for the reader. Tana French is a master of psychological insights and twists that catch the most discerning of readers by surprise, all leavened by Irish wit and humor. If you haven't read The Searcher you may want to check it out before reading this one since it sets the stage for much of what occurs here.

French has hinted there may be a third novel in this series. I, for one, am eager to spend more time with these characters.

[ visit Tana French online ]