Tana French’s award-winning, debut novel has a lyrical quality not normally found in mysteries. In the opening paragraph of the novel there is no blood, no scary set-up, and no one gets killed, instead French launches into setting, time and place:

Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set

            in small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland’s subtle seasons

            mixed for a connoisseur’s palate, watercolor nuances with a pinch-

            sized range of cloud and soft rain…The summer explodes on your

            tongue tasting of chewed blades of long grass, your own clean

            sweat…This is Everysummer decked in all its best glory.

Her poetic romanticism of her native Ireland runs throughout the novel, and is utterly enjoyable to read. As a reader you need to relax, get a cup of tea, and settle in for the ride.

Dublin Murder Squad partners Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox get assigned a case that will leave them both drastically changed by its conclusion. They are the type of partners so intimate with each other they can finished the other’s sentences.   They know exactly how each other will react to most situations, and when assistance is needed. This relationship has strengthened them and enabled both to move beyond their troubling pasts.

French tests this unwavering relationship between Ryan and Maddox with at first subtle, then sharp jabs to their Achilles’ heels while they are trying to solve the murder of 12-year-old, Katy Devlin.

This psychological mystery novel will entertain any book club, and also give you some good discussion points. The relationship between the two protagonists is a good place to start the discussion. Is it a good or bad relationship? Will they be okay? Was it just a bridge to get to somewhere else?

There is also Ryan’s past. A tragic event in his youth will change his secure, idyllic childhood into years of anxiety-ridden loneliness. By the end of the book has he made peace with himself?

Maddox also has a twisted, heartrending event from her past. Again, can she move beyond that event?

This novel has an authenticity that any book club would welcome.

 

Rating: 8.0