My Tana French Dublin Murder Series reread continues! I can’t believe I read this 4 years ago! Time flies when you are sitting in your house staring into the abyss. But I digress. Original review below in italics with more goodness at the bottom.
I received this book as one of my CBR Exchange gifts from The Chancellor (thank you!!) and was delighted to receive it. It has become a nice tradition as I received the first in the series as part of my exchange gift last year. Whereas it took me about a year to open the first one, this was not the case the second time around, and it was my first book of the new year because I knew what I was in for: compelling and excellent writing with a solid mystery and no “storybook” ending, and this installment did not deliver.
This isn’t a sequel in the typical sense: there is character continuity, but the protagonist from the first novel is only mentioned in this one, and instead the other main character is the focus of this tale. When a women who bears a striking resemblance to a detective turns up dead, the investigation into the murder is able to take a turn into a bizarro undercover operation which puts the investigation, and the detective in danger.
This novel didn’t have quite the same hold on me as the first, as I knew better what to expect from French, but it was still a well-told mystery that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next. If you, hypothetically used to watch a LOT of Law and Order, but now you are trying to be better than that, but you really aren’t, then this novel is for you. Hypothetically. I look forward to seeing where the next installment takes me.
It’s funny to rearead your reviews “this didn’t have the same hold on me.” What even does that mean?? I think just that I settled into French’s style a bit, so obviously it wasn’t unfamiliar. I don’t know why I keep obsessing about Law and Order, because I think French is darker/deeper than that, and much much better at character development, but if you are looking for a twisty thriller, this is it. On to book three!!
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