Tana French, Faithful Place
Frank Mackey, last seen as Cassie’s irascible handler in The Likeness, is an experienced undercover cop. He’s tough as nails and an expert in detachment: getting emotionally involved in an operation is the surest way to screw it up. But Frank’s detachment is really rooted in his childhood, growing up in a poor neighborhood in 1980s Dublin. When he was 19 years old, he was madly in love with Rosie Daly, the girl next door. Despite their families’ disapproval, they were planning to run away to England together. But Rosie never showed up, and Frank always assumed that she changed her mind and left the neighborhood on her own. Now, however, one of Frank’s sisters reaches out to him with disturbing news: no one has heard from Rosie since she supposedly left town, and her suitcase has just been found. To find out what really happened all those years ago, Frank must return to his estranged family and face the ghosts of his past; but the truth may be even more horrible than living with the uncertainty.
The word I keep using to describe this book is intense, but that doesn’t seem to encompass the emotional wringer I went through while reading this book. Something about Tana French’s writing pulls me in and grabs me, and I think this novel might be my favorite of hers so far. Frank is not a particularly likable character—he’s manipulative, callous, and occasionally violent—but I never doubted the truth of his thoughts, feelings, and actions. His interactions with his family also felt real to me; French excels in her depiction of dysfunctional families, and the Mackeys are a quintessential example. The plot isn’t particularly complex as far as mysteries go; Rosie’s fate is never really in doubt, and the villain of the piece isn’t that hard to spot either. But the point of this type of mystery isn’t solving the puzzle of whodunnit or why; the point is what happens, or what ought to happen, once the puzzle is solved. And the consequences of Frank’s discovering the truth provide the gut punch of this novel. Bottom line, I can’t wait to continue with the Dublin Murder Squad series!
N.B. This is technically book 3 of the Dublin Murder Squad series, but you absolutely won’t be missing anything if you haven’t read books 1 and 2.
