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BOOK REVIEW
Tana French’s
‘Dublin Murder Squad’ Novels
Reviewed by Fred H. Olin, MD
There are five volumes (so far) in Tana French’s series of books functional family on a street named “Faithful Place,” the title of
set in Dublin, and I’ve read all six of them. “Wait…didn’t you say the third book. He’s planning to run away to London with his girl-
there were five? Yeah, you did. Huh?” Let me explain… friend, Rosie, to start a new life. Rosie doesn’t show, and Frank and
everyone else assume that she went off without him. Twenty years
I recently read a review of the fifth book in the series, “The Secret later, Rosie’s suitcase is found hidden in a derelict house, and her
Place,” and decided that it sounded promising. It was more than bones are found under the basement floor. By this time Frank is di-
that: It was captivating, so I looked up the first four and decided to vorced and has weekend custody of his daughter, Holly, who be-
read them in order of their publication. When I got to the end of comes a witness in the murder of one of Frank’s brothers…in the
the fourth book, I decided to re-read “The Secret Place.” It was even same house. One of the police involved is Mick “Scorcher”
better the second time around. Kennedy, whose partner is Stephen Moran.
These are books about murders in Ireland, the detectives who Brianstown is a subdivision developer’s rechristening of “Broken
work to solve them, the perpetrators and others involved, but, as Harbor,” a resort camp on the Irish coast and the title of the
was said in a New York Times review, “Ms. French is a psychological fourth book, where Mick Kennedy and his family went for sum-
storyteller much more than a forensic one.” The people and imagery mer holidays in his childhood and a family tragedy occurred.
that inhabit these tales represent some of the best characterizations Kennedy is the lead detective investigating the stabbing murder
and descriptions I’ve ever run across. At the end of each book, I of a man, the smothering of his two children and the serious
felt that I knew the individuals involved and the places where the wounding of his wife.
action occurred. Following are brief summaries of each book.
A year later, Holly Mackey, now 16 and a student at an exclusive
Spoiler alert: There are no spoilers here. Dublin high school for girls, finds a note on the “Secret Place,” a
“In the Woods” involves the disappearance of two children from bulletin board where the students can post anonymous notes. The
a patch of suburban woods 20 years or so before the action in the note has a picture of the victim, and says, “I know who killed him.”
book. They are never found, but the third child who was with them She takes it to Stephen Moran, now a cold case detective with am-
is found, scared, minimally injured, and unable to tell the world bitions to be part of the murder squad. If you read this book, you
what had happened. That child, Rob Ryan, grows up to be a de- will know the characters – you may not like them, but you will
tective whose partner is a woman, Cassie Maddox. They are inves- know them.
tigating the murder of a 12-year-old girl in the same area.
“The Likeness” finds Cassie Maddox out of the murder squad, My advice: Go online for that New York Times review of “The
but her boyfriend (not Ryan) catches a case where the victim, who Secret Place.” Then start reading with “In the Woods.” The San
looks exactly like Cassie, has been living a sort of communal exis- Antonio Public Library has them all, in various formats.
tence with several other grad students in a mansion one of them in-
herited. Her ID says that she is Lexie Madison…a name Cassie Fred H. Olin, MD, is a semi-retired orthopaedic sur-
used years ago in an undercover operation. Lt. Frank Mackey is a geon and chairman of the BCMS Communications/Pub-
secondary character who runs the undercover squad. lications Committee. On St. Patrick’s Day, he spells his
Nineteen-year-old Frank Mackey lives with his amazingly dys- name O’Lin.
40 San Antonio Medicine • May 2015
