Book Summary and Reviews of The Keeper by Tana French

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labmom55

I’ll miss these characters
The Keeper is the third and final in the Cal Hooper series and it reminds me all over again why I love Tana French. I was mesmerized by her writing and her ability to describe a character with the spot on phrase. “ He has the air of a man about to file an elaborate grievance with HR.” That also gives you an idea of the dry humor in her writing. “The rumors flying around…you’d want to wash out your ears with holy water after hearing them.”

After several years, the town of Arknakelty has started to accept Cal. He fits in with the gang down at the pub. He’s got his “fiancée” Lena and his “apprentice” Trey. In short, life is going well. But then, one of the young women in town, the girlfriend of the town bigwig’s son, goes missing and is later found dead in the river. And all the old grievances and divisions in the town come back to the forefront. Cal is asked to pick sides and leaves himself open to problems when he doesn’t pick the bigwig. The danger to those he loves leaves him tied in knots.

This is a long book (almost 500 pages). But I just savored it. The character development is fantastic. I was so engaged by all three of the main characters, and felt for them, even when they were working against each other. “Cal has always known that Lena’s chosen weapons are barricades, not artillery, but he never thought she would use them against him.”

Those looking for a fast paced mystery will be disappointed. This is a slow burn of a story, with lots of interplay and head games between the characters. French manages to totally immerse the reader in the town of Arknakelty - the weather, the farms, the pub, even the local store. I could just envision every scene. The book has a lot to say about the power of gossip and innuendo, about not always being able to get total justice. I was torn between wanting to know what Justice would be obtained but not wanting the story to end.

I would not recommend reading this as a stand-alone. You need to understand how the relationships have been built up over the prior two books. The good news is that all three are totally enjoyable.

My thanks to Netgalley and Viking Penguin for an advance copy of this book.

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