Jackieinpdx's Blog

I have finished the third book by Tana French. I don’t remember when I was last so taken in by an author and the characters. Oh, yes I guess I was as taken by the Millennium Trilogy. But these stories are of a very different kind.

Here’s my recommendation if you think you might be interested in reading her books.

Read them in the order they were written They all are certainly stand alone stories but if you read them in order you meet the character who will be the first person narrator in the next book.

In the Woods – Murder Detective Rob Ryan tells the story about a young girl murdered in the woods. Coincidently it is the same woods where 20+ years earlier 12 year old Ryan was found in a catatonic state gripping a tree with blood filled tennis shoes and his two friends never were found. Rob is the main character but his partner Cassie Maddox plays a big role in the story. Cassie used to be an undercover agent before transferring to the murder squad. Detective Sam O’Neil works a side angle of the case.

The Likeness – Story told by Detective Cassie Maddox who is brought into a murder case by her ex undercover boss Frank Mackey. Murder detective Sam O’Neil has the case but because the dead girl was flagged to Frank in the Dublin police database  Frank is jointly working it. The dead girl is a ringer for Cassie and is using an alias that Cassie used when undercover. BTW Sam and Cassie are now a couple.

Faithful Place – Told by Frank Mackey. When Frank was 19 he and his girlfriend were planning on secretly leaving Ireland to go to England. The night they were supposed to meet up to sneak out of the country the GF never showed up. For 22 years Frank thought that she had dumped him. The GF’s suitcase shows up and Frank is pulled back to his family and the place he grew up where he hadn’t been back to since that night 22 years ago. Frank unofficially works on solving the mystery from 22 years ago as well as the current murder of his younger brother.

All of the books were really good. I hope Tana has another one in the works.



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