Book: Faithful Place
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Brief synopsis:
Back in 1985, Frank
Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city, and living
crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had
his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run
away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from
factory work and poverty and their old lives.
But on the winter night when 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. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.
Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.
But on the winter night when 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. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.
Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.
My review:
This is Tana French's third book. Having read her first two, In the Woods and The Likeness, (and thoroughly loved both), I was really excited to read Faithful Place. While Faithful Place was as well written as her first two, I didn't find that I loved it.
There were several reasons. First, this one held less of a psychological suspense thriller element than her other books. The focus was more on Frank and his relationship with his family. While it gave a nice background into the character, this also led the mystery to become fairly predictable. The ending seemed a bit too easy. Now having read three French novels, I'm starting to find that may be the one weakness in her writing... if it seems to obvious, well, it may just be the answer. (Although, I will say in the first two, I didn't figure it out, but left feeling like I should have done so!)
There were a few plot twists I was predicting along the way that didn't happen and in a lot of ways, I wish something more twisty would have happened toward the end.
I will say, if you like Tana French, it's a good, solid and well-written novel and worth reading. But if you haven't read her, then absolutely read her first two books before tackling Faithful Place.
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