The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French

Title: The Trespasser: A Novel
Classification: Adult Fiction
Genre: Crime Fiction/Murder Mystery/Thriller
Series: Dublin Murder Squad
Format: Hardcover; 464 pages
Publisher: Viking; First Printing edition (October 4, 2016)
ISBN-10: 0670026336
ISBN-13: 978-0670026333
Author's Website: http://www.tanafrench.com/
Notes: I bought this one.



“The vic,” I say, tapping the photo of Aislinn with my marker. “Aislinn Murray, twenty-six, lived alone in Stoneybatter, worked as a receptionist at a firm selling bathroom supplies to businesses. No criminal record, no calls to us. Assaulted yesterday evening in her home: Cooper’s preliminary exam says she took a punch to the face and hit her head on the fireplace surround. Texts on her phone narrow down the time to between 7:13 and 8:09.” I move to Rory’s photo. “This guy here, Rory Fallon, he’s been seeing her for a couple of months. He was due at her house for dinner at eight o’clock.”At first it looked to be a classic case of boy beats girl. Aislinn Murray was getting ready for a date when something went terribly wrong. As detective Antoinette Conway and her partner, Stephen Moran, begin interviewing friends, neighbors, and the primary suspect, however, a different story slowly begins to emerge. With the media breathing down their neck for justice and pressure from their superiors to get the job done, Antoinette and Steve will have to chose between taking the easy way out or getting to the bottom of what really happened.

 “If you want to kill someone, have enough respect for my time to make it someone, anyone, other than the most gobsmackingly obvious person in the world.” 

Detective Antoinette Conway just got her wish.

This is the sixth book of the Dublin Murder Squad series. If you haven't read the previous books, that's just fine. Each book of the series is self contained, and you're lucky if you catch even a glimpse of one of the other main characters in the series.

I've read all of Ms. French's books, and this is the first one that didn't draw me in from the first chapter. Antoinette is a rather abrasive character. She's a women trying to make it in a predominantly male profession and she's struggling to find her place within it. She's convinced she's on her last legs with the murder squad, and that this case was given to her to drive the final nail into her proverbial coffin and her partner, Steve, will be collateral damage. All the pranks that have been played on her since she arrived in the Murder Squad have put a chip on her shoulder, and she's constantly on the defensive.

What I found quite interesting, as the story developed, was how similar Aislinn, the murder victim, was to Antoinette. I found quite a few parallels between the two, and I almost felt the two were mirror images of each other—both relative and opposite at the same time, and therein, in my humble opinion, lies the brilliance of the book. Both had grown up without their fathers during the critical years of their lives. Both had people keeping information about their fathers from them. Both had a hard time growing up. Both were underestimated because they were women. I think it’s safe to say both had tempers. Interestingly, however, they took two very different paths. Aislinn used her gender to her advantage while Antoinette had it used against her. One chose vengeance while the other chose to avenge others. By comparing the two, I could see how Antoinette’s life could have taken a very different path. I felt the way the book played out was the author's way of trying to make us see how thin the line there is between right and wrong and how easy it is to cross.

Favorite quotes:
- 'You can knock down a genuine belief, if you load up with enough facts that contradict it; but a belief that’s built on nothing except who the person wants to be, nothing can crumble that.'

- 'I was doing exactly the same thing as Aislinn: getting lost so deep inside the story in my head, I couldn’t see past its walls to the outside world. I feel those walls shift and start to waver, with a rumble that shakes my bones from the inside out. I feel my face naked to the ice-flavored air that pours through the cracks and keeps coming. A great shiver is building in my back.'

- 'Every murderer says that to us, sooner or later. You weren’t there. You don’t understand. There’s a small dry chip of silence while no one points that out.'

Overall, I gave this one 4 out of 5 roses. I loved the different nuances between Aislinn and Antoinette's personalities. While I guessed who dunnit early on, I enjoyed the twist that I didn't see coming. I wish the book would have explored how Antoinette dealt with the information she'd uncovered about what was behind the squad's attitude towards her. It felt like a subject that should have been broached. Additionally, I would have liked Antoinette's side of the story of what actually went down. She only hinted at it when she stated the person used enough truth to make their lie believable. I kept wondering what truly happened?

The order of the Dublin Murder Squad:

Early Review of Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) by Tana French

• Title: Broken Harbor: A Novel
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Murder Mystery
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (July 24, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 0670023655
• ISBN-13: 978-0670023653

Author's Website: http://www.tanafrench.com/
To Read an excerpt CLICK HERE

Brianstown, formerly Broken Harbor, is a new development. Before the economy took a nosedive, it promised to have everything a young family could want--playgrounds, a daycare, lots of room for the little ones to run around and explore, ocean views and plenty of other young families. Now only a handful of completed and occupied houses stood. The rest were in various stages of development and stood abandoned. Patrick and Jennifer Spain had bought into the dream. They were described as the perfect loving couple, but their 'happily ever after' was cut short. Something happened in that house that transformed the fairy tale into a nightmare. It's Detective Sergeant (Mick) Kennedy's and Detective  Garda (Richie) Curran's job to find out what.  

Mick Kennedy, aka Scorcher, is a 10 year veteran to the Dublin murder squad. He loves his job and he's good at it.  While most detectives shy away from the high profile cases, Mick relishes them. He sees them as challenges and has managed to solve cases where nobody claims to have seen anything. For the past 7 of the last ten years he's had one of the top solve rates of the department. When a case dealing with the brutally attack on a family of four lands in Mick's lap, he sets out to solve it with a detective in training in tow. Three of the family members are dead with the fourth one's life hanging in the balance. As Mick states, "this case should have gone like clockwork. It should have ended up in the textbooks as a shining example of how to get everything right. By every rule in the book, this should have been a dream case." Sometimes, however, things don't go the way they should. That's the funny thing about life. Sometimes it's unpredictable and uncontrollable...

__________________________ 

This is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series and it could easily be labeled as a standalone. None of the main characters from the previous books appear in this one, but there is a link to 'Faithful Place'. In 'Faithful Place', Mick is part of the 'calvary' who comes to Frank Mackie's aid investigating Rose Daly's murder. Frank and Mick went to cop college together and Frank is the one who gave Mick the nickname Scorcher. If you'd like to refresh your memory, check out chapter 6 of Faithful Place.

By all accounts Jenny and Pat Spain were a happy couple. Sweethearts since the age of 16. When a murder like this happens, where the house is locked up tight with alarm system in place, it's usually the survivor the police first look to as a potential suspect, but Jenny had wounds she couldn't have inflicted herself. The second person they typically look at as a suspect is the spouse, but at the crime screen the detectives make a significant discovery. A bloody shoe print is found that doesn't match any of the crew working the murder or the victims. Now Mick and Richie will try to work their brand of magic and deconstruct what happened and catch a killer.

Ms. French once again creates a mystery that has you truly bonding with the main character and itching to know what happened. I love how Ms. French creates characters and situations that are so true to life you'd have no problem believing she'd fashioned them after real life people and events. One of the nice things Ms. French does in this book is have a secondary story that slowly gets divulged as the main story progresses. It gives us a better insight into Mick.

At one time, Broken Harbor held only fond memories for Mick. That was before his mother killed herself. As Mick slowly solves what happened to the Spains, memories of the two weeks leading to his mother's death haunt him. We slowly learn what happened to his mother, and see how it affected and molded him into the detective he's become. I believe the experience with his mother left him wanting to make sure people put the patterns of other tragedies together correctly, because people need to know what happened. Additionally, I believe he wanted to prove to himself things happened for a reason.

My favorite quote:
"Over time, the ghosts of things that happened start to turn distant; once they've cut you a couple of million times, their edges blunt on your scar tissue, they wear thin. The ones that slice like razors forever are the ghosts of things that never got the chance to happen." 

Overall, I gave this one 4 out of 5 roses. This book contains plenty of drama, mystery, twists and turns. It got a touch slow in he middle, but the ending picked up the pace and included things I couldn't have foreseen. If you think you know what happened, think again. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a new piece of information came to light. Ms. French is one of my favorite mystery writers for good reason and this book is an example of why.

Order of the Series: