The Hunter - Tana French

The Hunter

By Tana French

  • Release Date: 2024-03-05
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,049 Ratings

Description

A New York Times Bestseller • A New York Times Best Thriller of the Year (So Far) • An NPR Favorite Fiction Read of 2024 • A Parade Best Book of 2024 So Far • A New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year (So Far) • Named a Best Beach Read of 2024 by Entertainment Tonight and Harper’s Bazaar

“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.”—TIME

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.


It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.

Reviews

  • The Hunter

    4
    By Readingbythesea
    I have read all her books, I tell everyone if your looking for a look mystery interesting characters read her books. I like the story and the characters. I’m giving it only 4 stars, the reason for this, her other stories had great twist, the twist on this one was no big surprise.
  • A Gem

    4
    By Lucylww
    This is the sequel to The Searcher, and it’s a gem. The problems I had with The Searcher (see my review) are nowhere in evidence. We again meet Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago cop who has moved to a tiny village in Ireland. The girl, Trey, who he took under his wing previously is now 15; her father, a wastrel, has returned to town to run a scam. When his accomplice is murdered, Trey plans to use the murder to exact a revenge for crimes against her family. The Hunter has a taut and focused plot that proceeds at a slow burn, only to erupt into an extraordinary sequence of events that leads to a climax and denouement I didn’t see coming. Who committed the murder? We find out, but this is no run-of-the-mill murder mystery; its focus on the mysteries and secrets within Cal, Trey and the entire Irish community (village, farms, mountain people) open out the story and give it psychological and philosophical dimensions. The community itself is like a living organism, whose needs must be met. The Hunter lacks the thrills associated with the big brash doings of French’s Dublin Murder Squad, and I confess to missing that larger canvas of French’s earlier works, but The Hunter is an excellent read.
  • The Hunter

    1
    By reader100017
    Dull as ditchwater.
  • Fantastic

    4
    By Auggie's Man
    The writing was incredible, especially bringing in the Irish ways of speaking and vocabulary. The characters were exceptional and the plot held many surprises. Great book!
  • Thoroughly Enjoyable

    5
    By Mimi M. 56
    Wonderful, memorable characters and a great story to boot. Who could ask for more?!
  • Saw in the library

    5
    By Res4221
    Loved this book had no idea about it but really enjoyed the writing and the characters I felt very vested in the the story
  • The Hunter

    5
    By jmcd reader
    This book is a long delicious read. The dialect is so intriguing and it allowed me to savor the characters more fully. I hated to see it end.
  • Fast read

    4
    By carocross
    Love the characters. Unexpected story. Can’t wait for the next one to be written.
  • Great Character Development

    5
    By Hunter_97
    Really a well-written book; an excellent sequel to “The Searcher.” Enough surprises to make me not want to put it down. When it ended, I was sad. It could have gone on forever.
  • The Hunter by Tana French

    5
    By az o
    A terrific story with compelling characters in a small rural town in Ireland. The dialogue is very enjoyable.