rench bring us directly into her characters’ heads. The mystery is as much about their interior lives as it is about plot twists, how they process new information and how that alters their interactions with their loved ones and friends ... Totally immersive.
Intoxicating ... Shocking, surprising, slyly funny and also deadly serious ... French has remained one of the most consistently exciting mystery writers around ... The ending is immensely satisfying and deeply moving.
Solidifies this series' status as a contemporary classic ... The wonder of French's style is that her novels unfold almost exclusively through conversations in which she conveys the deeper messages lurking inside everyday speech ... The Cal Hooper books, like all great detective series, are about time and loss and the uphill struggle to repair the world. The detectives rarely succeed in any lasting way, but we readers love them because they try.
A satisfying conclusion ... French makes effective use of what we’ve come to know and understand about these characters and this world from the earlier novels. We know that seemingly quiet scenes of conversation may auger future fireworks, helping to build solid tension regarding both the main plot and the character relationships. But I also felt like I was traversing territory very similar to the earlier installments ... Readers of the earlier installments should be eager to read the conclusion to the trilogy in The Keeper. There are a couple of moments that made me gasp at their import. And those who have yet to start the journey should be encouraged to start the ride and be pleased that there’s plenty of reading ahead.
Tana French offers no answers herself, only us giving clues to follow. So enjoy her musical language, told in the Irish vernacular funny and profane, and wash it down with a pint of Guinness.
French’s novel emits an ethereal, atmospheric quality, capturing rural life on the cobblestone streets and pastures of a remote Irish village ... French also draws a well-defined caste system among her characters. She fills her working-class Irish villagers with wit, charm and biting humor ... Unputdownable.
Has all the quality and assuredness you might expect of a crime writer at the top of her game ... French’s style is enjoyably reverential to the written word, and even more so to the spoken word ... Brilliantly Chandleresque ... The Keeper is not a page-turner in the urgent, modern style, but an immersive read that demands to be savoured. Still, French never forgets she is revealing a mystery and she deftly pulls the rug with an exquisitely shocking late twist.
The absolute master of making place a character in crime fiction, she is considered one of today’s greatest crime writers with reason. Musha (indeed), this is a spellbinder that validates French’s being dubbed as 'incandescent' by Stephen King.
French is an expert at writing suspense and depicting the stifling tensions of small towns, and her final book in the Cal Hooper trilogy (following The Searcher and The Hunter) brings Cal’s story to a pulse-pounding conclusion. His legions of fans will mourn the end of this exceptional series.
Atmospheric but sluggish ... As dense with detail as the November drizzle that shrouds the Irish landscape, French’s plot doesn’t rev up until the halfway point. Though the serpentine final 100 pages are nail-biting, this will be best enjoyed by readers already familiar with Ardnakelty and its quirky cast of characters.
