Tana French is masterful. Faithful Place (first published in 2010) feels like it should be a Netflix crime series because the dialogue and characters are so vivid. Frank Mackey is a Dublin cop who is called home by his sister Jackie because a neighbourhood builder has dislodged a suitcase from the chimney of a derelict building. The suitcase belonged to Frank’s long-lost girlfriend Rosie. Twenty years ago Rosie went missing. The pair were to meet and run away to London together to work as roadies. Rosie never showed and everyone has always assumed she skipped town, just not with Frank.
Frank’s homecoming to Faithful Place is not celebrated. Yes, the suitcase is a bad omen, but Frank is estranged from his family, and on top of that he has become a cop. There’s hardly a more despised profession in Faithful Place.
Faithful Place is a fictionalized neighbourhood in Dublin near the Liberties. It’s a poor neighbourhood where everyone is suspicious of the cops and prone to gossip. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s meant small, cramped flats, basic meals, a hardy dose of Catholicism and no shortage of alcoholism and childhood violence.
Frank’s scrappy and shrewd older brother questions Frank’s motives for returning. Frank’s younger brother Kevin is keen to fall in as Frank’s sidekick again, and the sisters Carmel and Jackie are all about keeping the peace. This is a novel about long-brewing resentments, sibling rivalries, class conflicts, adolescent flirtations and grudges, and all the ways we misjudge those closest to us. Faithful Place is a captivating read. It’s dark, tragic, and there’s little redemption for any of the characters but it’s also funny, poetic, and full of genius storytelling.
I also enjoyed The Searcher by Tana French.