It’s difficult to find time to read an entire book in one go, but when it comes to Tana French’s The Keeper, experiencing its tense unfurling in a single sitting will ensure it’s as nerve-wracking and thought-provoking as French surely intended.
The bestselling, award-winning author, creator of the Dublin Murder Squad series and The Witch Elm, now concludes her trilogy starring Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago detective who moved to the Irish village of Ardnakelty over three years ago. In The Searcher and The Hunter, Cal learned to read the contours of his rural new home while reluctantly becoming embroiled in investigating crimes shaped by generations-old secrets. As The Keeper opens, Cal’s feeling fairly content: He’s become friends with his farmer neighbors, runs a woodworking business with 16-year-old Trey Reddy and is engaged to Lena Dunne.
But Ardnakelty’s equilibrium is disturbed once again when lovely Rachel Holohan is found lifeless in the river. Why was she there alone on a cold November night? The authorities deem her death a suicide, but Trey’s not the only one convinced Rachel was murdered. She was looking forward to marrying her boyfriend Eugene, the arrogant son of Tommy Moynihan, a wealthy businessman chummy with politicians and police who had taken an interest in buying the locals’ farmland.
The town is consumed with figuring out what happened to Rachel, and when Cal, Lena and Trey carefully inquire, they inadvertently set off social land mines. Neighbors are at odds, gossip becomes a lethal weapon and Cal’s unease skyrockets: “He has to stop himself from driving around in circles on the muddy roads like a crazy guy, rifle on the passenger seat, trying to keep an eye on everyone at once.”
Through it all, French weaves in eloquent musings on the sweeping Irish landscape, small-town life and the vagaries of change in a place that deeply treasures land and legacy. Can the townland and its inhabitants survive this latest assault on its safety, longevity and peace? All is gradually and compellingly revealed in this moody, atmospheric tale that’s well worth sinking into.