The Searcher by Tana French

Thanks to my local Maryland book discussion group I’ve now been introduced to the Dublin based writer Tana French. https://www.tanafrench.com/ I had tried to listen to “The Witch Elm” and found that I couldn’t concentrate. For this I blame the early days of Corona. But when my neighbor said she would be discussing “The Searcher” I decided to give her another try and was very pleasantly surprised. Some in the group felt that this novel was over long but I found it compelling from the beginning and throughout.

It is billed as a mystery, in fact it’s on Library Journal’s ten best list in that genre, and though there is a mysterious disappearance that must be solved, this book is so much more. To me the mystery posed in “The Searcher” is the inexplicable nature of human beings.

An insular village in Ireland is the setting, a place where retired Chicago police officer Cal, has moved to in a bid to escape the stress of his job and the detrimental effect it had on both his marriage and his relationship with his adult daughter. But, as is typical of small towns, the locals begin to test Cal. Is he just a “come here” who will leave at the first sign of difficulty or will he become a loyal local? What appears at first to be good-natured malarkey and jovial backslapping at the pub takes on a sinister feel.

French’s ability to create atmosphere is well honed and Ireland itself becomes a major player. She is a glorious writer when describing the natural world, the wildness of the area during a storm, the narrow hiking paths where one false step might land a person in a life sucking bog from which escape is futile. The village is a wasteland for the young. With no industry but farming, those with prospects will leave for the cities and those without will likely fall into small time criminal activity, something Cal has traveled halfway around the world to avoid.

When a lonely thirteen-year-old begins hanging around Cal’s cottage, Cal puts the kid to work scraping and painting. They often work in total silence, which seems to suit them both just fine, until Trey eventually trusts Cal enough to unload his burden. An older brother, Brendon, has gone missing. It has been months now and the child is desolate. The police are uninterested in the family’s plight, poverty and lack of education place the Reddeys on the low end of the social totem pole. But Trey has heard that Cal was a cop in the states and maybe he could help. Of course, against his better judgment, Cal complies, and the true colors of the townsfolk emerge.

For me this was a very melancholy novel. Moral dilemmas are posed and too many of the characters come up short. Normally I am very comfortable with gray areas but in this case the violence and subterfuge called out for retribution which did not come to my satisfaction. Perhaps that’s why this is a great choice for a discussion.