The Searcher

 

Shirley J.            Adult Fiction             Ireland, Retired American Police Officer, Missing Person

The Searcher by Tana French   464 pages

When a divorced retired American cop from Chicago retires after 25 years on the force, he just wants to get as far away from his current existence to go disappear somewhere.   He ends up in a boonie get away in a wee little countryside area far away from the lights of Dublin.    He moves into a run down shack that he plans on doing his own woodworking on to fix it up.   He is far away from everyone out in the woods and plans to enjoy what life he has left, fishing, hunting, maybe stopping in the pub in town once in a while, and the local dry goods store, other than that staying to himself and being self-sufficient.  The best laid plans.  He starts hearing something out in the woods surrounding his house, then starts noticing tracks  outside by his windows.   The locals seem a little odd and partial to joking around but are they spying on him?   It turns out the cop skills he thought he had put to bed will be pulled out full force again.   The quiet little bit of peace he thought he had found is about to be disrupted.  There are more secrets and dark sides even to this obscure place than he would ever have thought just proving there are no real getaways anymore.   Good story, well told.  It grabs you.   Once you start reading you won't want to put this one down.  I recommend this one to middle schoolers on up.