Faithful Place: A Novel

Tana French

Jul 2010 · Penguin

About this ebook

From Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter, “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post), the New York Times bestseller called “the most stunning of her books” (The New York Times) and a finalist for the Edgar Award. 

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was a nineteen-year-old kid with a dream of escaping hisi family's cramped flat on Faithful Place and running away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly. But on the night they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again. Neither did Rosie. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank, now a detective in the Dublin Undercover squad, is going home whether he likes it or not.

Ratings and reviews

With all of the publicity of Tana French's "Faithful Place," I was anxious to read it. The promise of a story based on a dysfunctional family in Dublin, Ireland, fascinated me. This is a story about a family with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who acts like a mob boss in her home. The adult children have antagonistic feelings toward each other and everything is cloaked in the extreme poverty of suburban, Dublin. When he was nineteen-years-old, Frank Mackey was scheduled to meet his love, Rosie Daly at an empty house in the neighborhood. They were to elope to England. She never showed up. Despondent, Frank couldn't face going home so he moved in with some younger people and later joined the police. Since Rosie had left a note that she'd be back someday, Frank kept a place in his heart for her and never really loved another. Now, a quarter of a century later, Rosie's suitcase is found in the old house. Frank investigates and confirming his worst fears, a decomposed body is found. As with the author's other work, this is a literary, plot driven novel. We observe life in a family that has more than its share of issues and see how Frank looks into the past while attempting to deal with his feelings toward his family and the life he could have had. Even though Frank is a dark character and the novel did slow down toward the middle, I felt compelled by this story and wanted to see how the mystery was resolved.

My favorite so far, of Tana French's artful, painful, murder mysteries. Other reviewers have commented on the degree of psycho-social tension Ms. French weaves around her characters. Many other reviewers have observed that she is at her suspenseful best unraveling the angst of human relationships. I disagree with the previous reviewer's characterization of the prose of this book as clunky writing. I was completely seduced by the voice she created. Francis Mackey's views of his city, and his neighborhood from over the top of his emotional ramparts were a convincing, compelling monolog from a very believable narrator . Frank's conflicted longing for, and fear of his family and his past wrung me. Few murder mystery crises have filled me with such deep apprehension as I felt for Frank and Holly approaching the appalling, tragic pre-Christmas Sunday tea. For many of us in recovery, childhood memories of what families do to cope, and what happens when coping fails are far more terrifying than murder.

About the author

Tana French is also the author of In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place and The Trespasser. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.