Having read the first two books of Tana French’s Dublin
Murder Squad series (In the Woods and The Likeness) I knew not to
expect a traditional mystery or any continuity from the previous novels. In
this series, while each book does contain the story of a crime and the
resolution of that crime, the plot takes a definite back seat to character development
and, in my opinion, the reader is often required to accept a fair amount of
implausibility regarding the storyline. But I don’t think that French is
interested in having a water-tight whodunit in her books. I think she is more
interested in showing the thoughts and emotions of a character under certain
stressors and it is that deep dive into character that makes readers (at least
those who like that sort of thing) come back for more.
Faithful Place centers on Frank Mackey, who was the undercover handler of
Cassie, the main character in The Likeness. Frank has been estranged
from his dysfunctional family ever since he left home at 19. But events from
the past cause him to rekindle his familial relationships, if only to exploit
them. When Frank ran away to England, his original intention was to go with the
love of his life, Rosie. Only Rosie never showed and young Frank assumed that
she had dumped him because of his crazy family…for fear that he would turn out
to be just like them. So Frank left alone, eventually became a police officer
in Dublin and maintained only intermittent contact with his youngest sister. However,
when a small blue suitcase with Rosie’s identification is found in the ruins of
an abandoned home in the neighborhood, Frank is drawn back to his old haunts to
try and find out whether or not Rosie even made it out of the neighborhood
alive 20 years ago.
As I stated above, these novels are heavy on character development
and Frank is to put it bluntly, an a**hole much of the time. I sympathized with him some, but it was pretty
clear to me that he is underhanded and manipulative, which
makes him good at his job in undercover, but not so good in his interpersonal
relationships. This didn’t bother me. I don’t necessarily mind unlikable characters.
As in the previous two books, Faithful Place is
narrated in the first person, so the reader has more or less the same
opportunity to put things together the as the narrator does. I believe that
both Frank and I realized who the perpetrator was at the same time. What is
less certain is if Frank realized in the course of the novel that he is much
more like his hair-trigger abusive father and manipulative mother than he would
like to admit.
This is my second book for the R.I.P. XI Challenge "Peril the Second" hosted by the blog Stainless Steel Droppings. It was pretty fun (and easy!) to direct my reading to suit the challenge and I look forward to participating in the XII Challenge next year.
