Stalker

Instead of fishing, a retired American detective in the Irish countryside has another case...

It's not every day that a former member of the Chicago Police Department moves into a remote village in the West of Ireland. However, Cal Hooper longed for peace and quiet before he turned 50, and now he spends his days repairing the dilapidated house he bought overseas, to everyone's surprise. His social life has been reduced to conversations with his nosy neighbour Mart, necessary visits to the shop whose owner Noreen matches him with his widowed sister, and the occasional beer in the local pub. Suddenly, however, a thirteen-year-old boy unexpectedly enters this sedentary, albeit quite contented, life and his request cannot be refused. Trey is convinced that his older sibling has been kidnapped and sees a retired American professional as his only hope of finding his brother. Despite doubts about the illicit background of the young man's disappearance, Cal sets out to find him - and only now is he getting to know the true face of the community he wants to fit in with. Can he do anything in a strange environment, without a police badge and equipment?

The first volume of a new crime series from the author of a successful series of mysteries about the Dublin homicide cases brings to the scene an experienced but burnt-out investigator whose dream retirement is postponed indefinitely.

"The new Tana French is always a reason to rejoice. You'll read it once for the plot, and then again for the wonderful and clever way it's presented." - The New York Times

"A subtly graduating narrative of missed chances to escape is perhaps the best thing [the author] has written so far. (...) It is a masterpiece of its kind." - The Washington Post

"The first novel in a series featuring new investigator Cal Hooper delivers an intimate whodunit in the charming and dangerous setting of a remote Irish village. It is also written in an extremely impressive style." - iliteratura.cz

First the kid's dad, then his big brother. Not surprisingly, he wants an answer that will bring one of them home without admitting the possibility that they just walked away without a word. Cal only regrets that he didn't get out sooner and instead secretly nurtured hope all along.

He realizes that he's more concerned than angry. He doesn't like this feeling, nor does he like the fact that she recognizes him and understands him perfectly. It is as natural to him as hunger or thirst. Cal could never stand to see a case go unsolved. It was usually a good quality, that made him stubborn, a patient worker, who sought the truth even in time, when most of the others would have given up, but sometimes it became his weakness: when you keep pounding away at something that will never break, you end up just tired and sore. - excerpt from the book