Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I don’t even know what to say. I can count on one hand the number of French’s books that just didn’t hit right with me and I am sad to say, the latest Cal Hopper did not hit right. I think that the sad part of it really is for me that French didn’t go dark as she has in her previous installments of this series. It just felt like a different book. And I found myself getting bored of Lena too in this one. I wonder if it would have worked better if we just followed Cal and Trey? I don’t know. Sad to say that I am hoping we get another Dublin Murder Squad book before we get another Hooper one.
The Keeper follows ex-pat Cal Hooper still living in the village of Arknakelty. Cal feels like he is finally settling in and is happy that he has Lena and Trey in his life. There seems to be something off about the village though. Cal doesn’t know if it’s him being ex-police, but he thinks that something is off about the Moynihan family and that the heir to the throne, Eugene and his long time girlfriend Rachel may be at the center of it. When Rachel goes missing, and everyone goes looking, they eventually find Rachel dead. The village wonders what could have caused Rachel to kill herself or whether someone killed her instead. Cal is approached by various people to investigate though he is unwilling until it seems that someone plans on coming at Cal and those he loves.
Honestly, Cal didn’t do a lot in this book. Just kind of let things happen. If he’s supposed to be someone that the village turns to, I don’t see how. I also thought he and Lena’s relationship was just a mess. She’s been working my nerves slightly through two books, but this one I was really sick of her. We get some insight into her marriage and dead husband, but it just came too late for me to care one way or the other. The only characters that felt developed and sure of themselves in this one was Trey and her mother. I actually wanted more of Trey in this one as I said above, because it just feels as if she finally settled and has friends who are not going to let anything bad happen to her.
The plot such as it is was so weak though. I just didn’t like how we supposedly have a mystery, but it’s so lame when everything gets revealed and I just went, is this all there is? And yes it was. It just felt off the whole time. It didn’t help the flow was so bad too. I started getting tired of Mart and his soliloquies too.
The setting of Arknakelty is usually dark and grim and this time, the town as written didn’t feel that way. Heck not even the people. Everything felt puddle deep.
When we get to the ending and all of the questions answered, I just felt let down. Usually French has more Gothic tones than this in her works. There’s elements of horror or otherworldliness too. This one just felt very artificial the whole way through.
