Faithful Place
A Novel
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4.2 • 935 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher, “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post), the bestseller called “the most stunning of her books” (The New York Times) and a finalist for the Edgar Award.
Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was a nineteen-year-old kid with a dream of escaping hisi family's cramped flat on Faithful Place and running away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly. But on the night they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again. Neither did Rosie. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank, now a detective in the Dublin Undercover squad, is going home whether he likes it or not.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
French's emotionally searing third novel of the Dublin murder squad (after The Likeness) shows the Irish author getting better with each book. In 1985, 19-yearold Frank Mackey and his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, made secret plans to elope to England and start a new life together far away from their families, particularly the hard-drinking Mackeys. But when Rosie doesn't meet Frank the night they're meant to leave and he finds a note, Frank assumes she's left him behind. For 22 years, Frank, who becomes an undercover cop, stays away from Faithful Place, his childhood Dublin neighborhood. When his younger sister, Jackie, calls to tell him that someone found Rosie's suitcase hidden in an abandoned house, Frank reluctantly returns. Now everything he thought he knew is turned upside down: did Rosie really leave that night, or did someone stop her before she could? French, who briefly introduced Mackey in The Likeness, is adept at seamlessly blending suspenseful whodunit elements with Frank's familial demons.
Customer Reviews
Excellent Writing
I am thoroughly enjoying this series; the author is far more talented than the average mystery writer. She has occasional lapses in the “suspension of disbelief” department, but otherwise, the stories are wonderfully engaging.
Faithful Place
Blah blah blah... Once you read the first tedious chapters you can guess who the killer is. What is supposed to be charming Irish neighborhood memories is boring, repetitive background detail.
If you want a well written novel involving family conflict read "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck.
Predictable, limp ending. Unlikable narrator.
I guessed whodunnit very early on in the book. You probably will too. And I was given next to no surprises or worthwhile plot twists for the rest of it. The book had a promising premise, but my god was I bored. I found myself skimming over several pages worth of meaningless descriptions, and even when the whole thing was done and dusted and the culprit was identified, we’re treated to a couple more chapters of sleep-inducing fluff. And about a hundred loose ends.
I honestly don’t understand how this got published. The characters are incredibly flat and one-dimensional, didn’t care about any of them. The protagonist is cocky and irritating, and his dialogues are extremely cringe-worthy. I couldn’t understand how he didn’t get slapped in the face more often. The only scenes where he somewhat redeems himself are the scenes with his daughter. I never once found myself getting absorbed in the novel. It’s tough to really want to immerse yourself in a story where the narrator’s a pain in the rear and can’t shut up about his every trivial thought.
It’s a pity. I really loved the gripping, unputdownable journey that was In The Woods. The characters were complex and realistic. So I expected the same caliber for this novel. It appears Tana French is something of a one-hit-wonder.