The Trespasser
Tana French isn't one to shy away from morally messy people. She likes taking complicated people, finding their buttons, and turning up the pressure to see whether they break or rise to the equation. I've liked a few of her protagonists, but most of them leaving me feeling off balance and a bit queasy.
So it should be no surprise that Antoinette, narrator of The Tresspasser, is a difficutl character. She's angry and paranoid. The world has been hostile to her, and she responds by being hostile right back. Often proactively. It was hard to be in her head for an entire book. Honestly, her level of anger and defensiveness just exhausts me. She tries so hard to prove that she doesn't care that she ends up spending all of her time caring what people are thinking of her every minute. It's no surprise to the audience to learn that most of her squad doesn't think about her as much as she believes, and I had a particularly hard time believing that O'Neill was in on the hazing. But that revelation, at the very end of the book, shifts her entire perspective. Hopefully it's a lasting change.
I don't really want to complain about Antoinette too much. If I met her I'd certainly keep my distance. But that's the sort of thing that makes for a good character and an interesting story. The case in this book is easy on the surface - young woman found dead in her apartment that morning after inviting her new boyfriend over. But the more they dig the less the facts add up. And where Antoinette is seeing a vast conspiracy with herself at the center, the truth ends up being much more devastating, in true French fashion.
This wasn't my favorite of the Dublin Murder Mysteries, but it was a solid entry. It was entertaining and puzzling and kept me on the edge of my seat. At this point I trust French enough to pick up any book she's written without knowing anything about it. She hasn't let me down yet. Unfortunately there's only one book left of her's that I haven't read. But she doesn't seem like she'll be done writing anytime soon.
So it should be no surprise that Antoinette, narrator of The Tresspasser, is a difficutl character. She's angry and paranoid. The world has been hostile to her, and she responds by being hostile right back. Often proactively. It was hard to be in her head for an entire book. Honestly, her level of anger and defensiveness just exhausts me. She tries so hard to prove that she doesn't care that she ends up spending all of her time caring what people are thinking of her every minute. It's no surprise to the audience to learn that most of her squad doesn't think about her as much as she believes, and I had a particularly hard time believing that O'Neill was in on the hazing. But that revelation, at the very end of the book, shifts her entire perspective. Hopefully it's a lasting change.
I don't really want to complain about Antoinette too much. If I met her I'd certainly keep my distance. But that's the sort of thing that makes for a good character and an interesting story. The case in this book is easy on the surface - young woman found dead in her apartment that morning after inviting her new boyfriend over. But the more they dig the less the facts add up. And where Antoinette is seeing a vast conspiracy with herself at the center, the truth ends up being much more devastating, in true French fashion.
This wasn't my favorite of the Dublin Murder Mysteries, but it was a solid entry. It was entertaining and puzzling and kept me on the edge of my seat. At this point I trust French enough to pick up any book she's written without knowing anything about it. She hasn't let me down yet. Unfortunately there's only one book left of her's that I haven't read. But she doesn't seem like she'll be done writing anytime soon.
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