Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Have I told you about my lord and savior, Tana French? (Bingo – Shelfie)

Faithful Place by Tana French

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I heart Tana French. If someone gives me a blanketed, “I’m looking for a book to read” I typically check to see if they like thrillers and if so, start bellowing “Tana French Tana French Tana Freeeeeench.” I own all of her Dublin Murder Series, shown here (if you squint). Behold, the rad bookshelf that my husband built! It goes around three of the four walls of this room. I looove it because it a) saves space b) displays our books in a fun way […]

“My father told me once that the most important thing every man should know is what he would die for.”

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3) by Tana French

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This was even better the second time. I think this might actually be the most balanced of all the books, in terms of tragedy vs. hope. In the Woods is just tragic all around, as is Broken Harbour, and The Likeness is still too full of Cassie’s grief over her partnership/friendship with Rob, and with what happens in the actual book, for it to feel much like a win when she gets proposed to by Sam. But here, devastating things happen to Frank (happened to Frank 22 years before), […]

Dear Tana French, Never stop writing!!

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When I read Tana French’s debut thriller, In the Woods, my expectations were high because I had heard such great things about her storytelling, and she soared past my expectations. This was a book I did not put down, in fact, stuck in the car on a road trip I read on, knowing that reading in the car makes me feel gross.  It.  Did not.  Matter.  The oversimplified way I explain her style is that I tell people if you have ever been sucked into […]

You can never go home again

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A spring evening in 1985, nineteen-year-old Frank Mackie is waiting impatiently outside for his girlfriend Rosie Daly, as they plan to elope and move to London, making a new life for themselves away from the hard life of the Dublin working poor. When she doesn’t show, Frank goes looking for her in the abandoned house a few door down, and finds a note that suggests she’s gone off without him. As Frank’s father is a violent drunk, his mother is neurotic and shrewish and his […]

“Dependably good” doesn’t sound like high enough praise, but it’s meant to be

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I love starting a book I know is going to be good, and Tana French has quickly become one of those authors who send me tripping home from the library in gleeful anticipation. I think The Likeness has been my favorite so far, but I was in a lazy zone then and didn’t review that one. Oops. This one was good too, but seemed even darker. Frank Mackey is a detective in the undercover department (that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean). When […]

Can’t believe I almost skipped this one

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This book really surprised me. I loved The Likeness, but detective Frank Mackey was NOT a favorite character. I really considered skipping this one and moving on to book four of the series. I’m so glad I resisted temptation because Faithful Place ended up being my favorite so far. As with all her novels (at least the ones I’ve read!), French is just as interested in the characters and how they cope with events as she is in the mystery itself. Frank grew up poor […]



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