The Hunter
The gripping and atmospheric new crime drama from the bestselling author of THE SEARCHER
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4.4 • 37 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
'A richly told tale of tangled loyalties. French ratchets up the tension in increments . . . By the end, these characters have taken on such solidity that, long after finishing it, I often catch myself wondering how they’re doing – a testament to the author’s mastery of her craft' GUARDIAN
Return to the dark underbelly of Ardnakelty in the thrilling new sequel to The Searcher.
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It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in the village. They’re coming for gold. What they bring is trouble.
Two years have passed since retired Police Detective Cal Hooper moved from Chicago to the West of Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less – in his relationship with local woman Lena, and the bond he’s formed with half-wild teenager Trey. So when two men turn up with a money-making scheme to find gold in the townland, Cal gets ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey. Because one of the men is no stranger: he’s Trey’s father.
But Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.
Crackling with tension and slow-burn suspense, The Hunter explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide, from the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller Tana French.
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Nobody writes tension like Tana French:
'Terrific - terrifying, amazing' STEPHEN KING
'One of the greats of contemporary crime fiction' IAN RANKIN
‘A truly great writer’ GILLIAN FLYNN
'Crime fiction's biggest contemporary star' GUARDIAN
‘If you haven’t read Tana French yet, I really highly recommend that you do’ HARLAN COBEN
Irish Times bestseller, March 2024
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
One for fans of The Banshees of Inisherin and True Grit. The self-contained sequel to French’s bestseller The Searcher whisks us back to the bucolic village of Ardnakelty in Ireland’s wild west. Retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper has become a surrogate father figure to wayward teenager Theresa “Trey” Reddy, and when Trey’s estranged father Johnny unexpectedly returns to town—accompanied by a sinister stranger who claims to have roots in the region—trouble soon follows. The pair reveals a get-rich-quick scheme to find gold in the mountains, which soon turns the townsfolk against each other. This is an atmospheric neo-noir which grips with smouldering tension and surprise twists, and French vividly conjures up the rugged rural landscape and the gossipy claustrophobia of smalltown life. A beguiling, well-crafted web of secrets and lies, mistrust and murder.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar winner French's slow-burn sequel to 2015's The Searcher underlines her knack for setting and character development. Teenager Trey Reddy is less than pleased by her ne'er-do-well father Johnny's unexpected return to the small Irish village of Ardnakelty to execute a get-rich-quick scheme he believes will finally enable him to provide for his family. On a recent visit to a London pub, Johnny claims to have spoken up when a stranger asked whether anyone present was from Ardnakelty; the man, Cillian Rushborough, then revealed to him that the village was home to a hidden trove of gold. Johnny's account is met with skepticism from Cal Hooper, the ex-Chicago cop who retired to the village and became a surrogate father to Trey after the events of The Searcher. Cal's suspicion proves warranted, and Rushborough's subsequent arrival in Ardnakelty sets in motion a series of crimes, including a murder, that upend Cal's and Trey's once peaceful existence. While this isn't quite up to French's best—the gears of the plot take too long to start turning—it's a pleasure to spend time with her finely drawn characters, and the murder investigation, when it finally gets underway, has impressive scope. This may be a step down from its predecessor, but it's still a cut above similar fare.
Customer Reviews
Excellent book - I haven’t been so absorbed in ages
Great writing, superb characterisation and a tense but credible plot developing as slowly as only the Irish can
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