Faithful Place
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Review
Praise for THE LIKENESS:
'An intricate and edgy top-notch psychological thriller.' (Woman and Home )
'Creepily melding elements of Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' and undercover police procedural, THE LIKENESS by Tana French, seduces from the start... A nifty tale of desire for belonging, as well as a cool thriller' (Time Out )
'Beautifully written and elegantly descriptive, this is a true literary detective novel rather than a whodunnit' (Irish Mail on Sunday )
'The Likeness isn't just a good page-turner, but a skilfully written modern novel . . . French has a brilliant ear for dialogue . . . Also in the best tradition of classic crime writers, such as P D James and Ruth Rendell, her characters are fully-rounded people and she is able to layer plots and storylines with a mastery that belies the fact that it is only her second book.' (Sunday Independent )
'French's second foray into the dark world of psychological crime more than proves she's the real deal' (Daily Mirror ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'An intricate and edgy top-notch psychological thriller.' (Woman and Home )
'Creepily melding elements of Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' and undercover police procedural, THE LIKENESS by Tana French, seduces from the start... A nifty tale of desire for belonging, as well as a cool thriller' (Time Out )
'Beautifully written and elegantly descriptive, this is a true literary detective novel rather than a whodunnit' (Irish Mail on Sunday )
'The Likeness isn't just a good page-turner, but a skilfully written modern novel . . . French has a brilliant ear for dialogue . . . Also in the best tradition of classic crime writers, such as P D James and Ruth Rendell, her characters are fully-rounded people and she is able to layer plots and storylines with a mastery that belies the fact that it is only her second book.' (Sunday Independent )
'French's second foray into the dark world of psychological crime more than proves she's the real deal' (Daily Mirror ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
Praise for THE LIKENESS: 'An intricate and edgy top-notch psychological thriller.' -- Woman and Home 'Creepily melding elements of Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' and undercover police procedural, THE LIKENESS by Tana French, seduces from the start... A nifty tale of desire for belonging, as well as a cool thriller' -- Time Out 'Beautifully written and elegantly descriptive, this is a true literary detective novel rather than a whodunnit' -- Irish Mail on Sunday 'The Likeness isn't just a good page-turner, but a skilfully written modern novel ... French has a brilliant ear for dialogue ... Also in the best tradition of classic crime writers, such as P D James and Ruth Rendell, her characters are fully-rounded people and she is able to layer plots and storylines with a mastery that belies the fact that it is only her second book.' -- Sunday Independent 'French's second foray into the dark world of psychological crime more than proves she's the real deal' -- Daily Mirror
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tana French has been a cut above from the word go. Her haunting debut In the Woods left no doubt in my mind that a distinctive new voice in crime fiction had spoken up, demanding a fair hearing, and though French's next novel had its issues - perhaps The Likeness was a touch too Murder She Wrote in the belief-beggaring mystery of coincidence at its core - nevertheless its was a gripping read, so taut and thrilling and refreshingly character-driven most longtime crime writers would have stood to learn a thing or two from it.
Well you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Faithful Place in French's best yet, and by a country mile. With a brilliantly conflicted new protagonist to come to grips with, and a grim new neighbourhood with its very own closet full of skeletons to explore, the Irish import of the hour ably breaks away from the pack, delivering an unabashedly heartfelt portrait of a people, a place, and a time.
Twenty years ago, Frank Mackey planned to escape Faithful Place with his gorgeous girlfriend, Rosie Daly. The son and the daughter of two tight-knit families at war with one another over a long-forgotten grudge, these star-cross'd lovers had hoped to run away from the estate, to take off towards the bright city lights of London and never return. In secret the pair packed their bags, arranged with great care a rendezvous point from which they would stage their daring flight, and bided their sweet time.
But come the appointed hour, there was no sign of Rosie. Frank waited for her the whole night through... but nothing. And with the dawning of the next day came the dawning realisation that the love of his life had stood him up. Rather than coming crawling back to the Mackeys, with his tail between his legs, Frank resolved instead to forge on with the plan, such as it was.
The one that got away has been the bane of his existence ever since, so when Frank - an undercover detective now, working for the Dublin police force - when Frank gets wind of the discovery of a suitcase filled with Rosie's things stuffed up the chimney flue of Number 16, Faithful Place, and returns home to hear tell of a rank smell as of rotting rats in the same abandoned building shortly after he and the Daly girl were presumed to have run away together, he must face the very real possibility that twenty years ago, Rosie met a markedly more awful fate than the life he has imagined her living ever since: murder.
As dark as anything Tana French has written, as fraught with cruelty, loss, and the corruption of quiet hope, Faithful Place is yet an indelibly endearing novel. Charming in a thuggish sort of sense, say like Jason Statham coming home for a cup of tea, and funny in the way a Glasgow kiss might be, if it went badly wrong - as so often such things do - Faithful Place will surely grab you from the get-go, disarming you with its warmth and its humanity, disturbing you with its brutal honesty, and insight.
It's somewhat off-kilter as far as crime fiction goes - but then this author has made that style of narrative her stock in trade - and perhaps French can be a little over-verbose when directness is all such-and-such a moment demands, but these are niggles... nothings, really, next to the fabulously alarming way your heart will pound when inevitably, Frank confronts a killer.
Faithful Place is crime fiction at its very finest. A tragic tale, brilliantly told... loving but bittersweet... and told with such prescient truth that you'll be a mess well before the end: the latest from Tana French? Superb.
Well you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Faithful Place in French's best yet, and by a country mile. With a brilliantly conflicted new protagonist to come to grips with, and a grim new neighbourhood with its very own closet full of skeletons to explore, the Irish import of the hour ably breaks away from the pack, delivering an unabashedly heartfelt portrait of a people, a place, and a time.
Twenty years ago, Frank Mackey planned to escape Faithful Place with his gorgeous girlfriend, Rosie Daly. The son and the daughter of two tight-knit families at war with one another over a long-forgotten grudge, these star-cross'd lovers had hoped to run away from the estate, to take off towards the bright city lights of London and never return. In secret the pair packed their bags, arranged with great care a rendezvous point from which they would stage their daring flight, and bided their sweet time.
But come the appointed hour, there was no sign of Rosie. Frank waited for her the whole night through... but nothing. And with the dawning of the next day came the dawning realisation that the love of his life had stood him up. Rather than coming crawling back to the Mackeys, with his tail between his legs, Frank resolved instead to forge on with the plan, such as it was.
The one that got away has been the bane of his existence ever since, so when Frank - an undercover detective now, working for the Dublin police force - when Frank gets wind of the discovery of a suitcase filled with Rosie's things stuffed up the chimney flue of Number 16, Faithful Place, and returns home to hear tell of a rank smell as of rotting rats in the same abandoned building shortly after he and the Daly girl were presumed to have run away together, he must face the very real possibility that twenty years ago, Rosie met a markedly more awful fate than the life he has imagined her living ever since: murder.
As dark as anything Tana French has written, as fraught with cruelty, loss, and the corruption of quiet hope, Faithful Place is yet an indelibly endearing novel. Charming in a thuggish sort of sense, say like Jason Statham coming home for a cup of tea, and funny in the way a Glasgow kiss might be, if it went badly wrong - as so often such things do - Faithful Place will surely grab you from the get-go, disarming you with its warmth and its humanity, disturbing you with its brutal honesty, and insight.
It's somewhat off-kilter as far as crime fiction goes - but then this author has made that style of narrative her stock in trade - and perhaps French can be a little over-verbose when directness is all such-and-such a moment demands, but these are niggles... nothings, really, next to the fabulously alarming way your heart will pound when inevitably, Frank confronts a killer.
Faithful Place is crime fiction at its very finest. A tragic tale, brilliantly told... loving but bittersweet... and told with such prescient truth that you'll be a mess well before the end: the latest from Tana French? Superb.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book compulsive from the opening sentence onwards, to the very last page. I have read one of her other books, 'The Likeness' which was strong on many levels, but this gripped far more than that book did, much as I enjoyed the way French played with the idea of doubles in 'The Likeness'. 'Divorced Cop' is a cliche, what French does is turn the cliche inside out so that the first murder is the catalyst for a much bigger story, told in retrospect, about how a deeply unhappy family might contribute to the potential for divorce and estrangement, never mind the motivation for becoming a policeman, and how the unhappy family background and police work combined would strain the most committed of marraige partnerships. The portrayal of the Frank Mackey is humane-ness itself, tested by an inhumane situation.
As for predictability, some will guess who did what and when they did it fairly early in, but the point is more why they did it, which is where the compulsion comes into the reading of it. One of the reasons Greek Tragedy has lasted is because the plots are about 'why' rather than 'how' or 'when', character rather than procedural details, and those tragedies were about invoking catharsis. The family at the centre of this story, and the street on which they live, are hewn out tragedy, and have a strong sense of spiking each other's chances from before birth onwards. I am sure French kept a note book of the aggressive vernacular working class phrases which fit the Dublin she portrays, which particularly delighted me. Even now, though, I would not like to think of or count the number of expletives in the book, nor the number of seperate portrayals of domestic violence, or times when drink put reason and calm to sleep. Only once does a television get destroyed, but they are disposable anyway.
The book ends with a ragged catharsis, a rather emotionally drained potential for a fresh start is there for the taking, if the rest of Frank's life is calm enough. But of course that is all for another book.
As for predictability, some will guess who did what and when they did it fairly early in, but the point is more why they did it, which is where the compulsion comes into the reading of it. One of the reasons Greek Tragedy has lasted is because the plots are about 'why' rather than 'how' or 'when', character rather than procedural details, and those tragedies were about invoking catharsis. The family at the centre of this story, and the street on which they live, are hewn out tragedy, and have a strong sense of spiking each other's chances from before birth onwards. I am sure French kept a note book of the aggressive vernacular working class phrases which fit the Dublin she portrays, which particularly delighted me. Even now, though, I would not like to think of or count the number of expletives in the book, nor the number of seperate portrayals of domestic violence, or times when drink put reason and calm to sleep. Only once does a television get destroyed, but they are disposable anyway.
The book ends with a ragged catharsis, a rather emotionally drained potential for a fresh start is there for the taking, if the rest of Frank's life is calm enough. But of course that is all for another book.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I loved Tana French's first two novels and was expecting more of the same, but no. This is both different (different setting, different characters) and the same (well-drawn characters, narrative complexity.) My only criticism is that this novel is a little longer than it needs to be. With 20% less content it would be better-paced.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enjoyable
I thought that this was pretty well written and enjoyable novel.
It is quite insightful when it comes to family dynamics and I enjoyed the characters and... Read more
It is quite insightful when it comes to family dynamics and I enjoyed the characters and... Read more
Published 29 days ago by The Emperor
Ended up rooting for the murderer!
From the second chapter in, the over-analytical style of writing grated. The self-centered and unpleasant Frank Mackay became more and more irritating to the point where I wanted... Read more
Published 1 month ago by book fan
Good read
Another good read from this author. I look forward to her next release. Kept me guessing.Plot and characters well formed.
Published 2 months ago by lmh
Emperors New Clothes
Wow, the reviews of this book on the cover made this sound like the book of the year. 'Tailor-made to terrify' from the Guardian and many others similar to that. Read more
Published 3 months ago by dixie dean
A superb story
I read "Into the Woods" and really enjoyed it then bought "The Likeness" which bored me so much I gave up half way through. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Susanna Kelly
Terrific story; will look for more by Tana French
I stumbled across this book by chance and was hooked on it from the first page. The storyline is strong, the characters feel real, the book is beautifully written, and the reported... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Blogpiper
Shows potential
This is the first of Tana French's works that I've read and it took me a few attempts to really get into the book as the pacing feels slow and a little inconsistent in the opening... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. M. E. Merritt
Recommended
This has to be one of the best novels I have read for a long time. Not so much a crime thriller as a family drama, but exceptionally well written and French's writing really... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Princess Mononoke
Outstanding, blurbs not misplaced
For once, the blurbs on the cover were not misleading. The presentation of a dysfunctional family is entirely believable and full of black humour, as is the character of the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Indiscriminate Reader
It made me want to read her earlier books
I picked up Faithful Place in a bookstore in Dublin, having no idea who Tana French is. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mary Suzanne Glespen
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