Faithful Place

From the unpromising foundation of a twenty-plus year old murder, French weaves a tapestry of personal and familial interaction that is riddled with tension, envy, resentment, fear and hatred that is horrifying and at the same time compelling and gripping. The standard set in her first two novels is met and perhaps exceeded. I look forward to more of her work. Very impressive

I really enjoyed this book. It's about a detective, Frank Mackey, whose girlfriend disappears on the night they were suppose to runaway together. He is called back to his hometown and his estranged family when Rosie's remains are found 22 years later. It really kept me guessing till the end. Tana French can really write a good mystery.

This is my favorite of the Dublin Murder Squad books so far, mostly because of how much I loved Frank. He is one of those guys with that tough but sensitive personality type plus a touch of good humor. I was pulling for him, not just to solve the mystery but to get his shit together too, emotionally speaking.

The mystery was good, not too hard to figure out but satisfying and it connected so well to everything Frank went through. Of course it helped that he had such a personal stake in it.

The heart of the story is Frank returning to his home neighborhood and dealing with his troubled family, something that he had been avoiding for decades. The conflicting character theme that you can never go home but also that you can never really leave your home behind either resonated with me.