In the final installment of her critically acclaimed Cal Hooper series, Tana French returns to Ardnakelty.  This time around, a young woman named Rachel is found dead in a ditch with the cause attributed to the ingestion of antifreeze.  Rachel’s fiance’s father, local power broker Tommy Moynihan, wants Cal to look into Rachel’s death, but Cal initially declines given Tommy’s less than stellar reputation within the community.

Believed by many to be a suicide, Cal’s apprentice Trey, and Cal’s partner Lena, believe that something untoward had befallen Rachel.  As Rachel was beloved by those in town, Cal feels he owes his new friends an effort to confirm her cause of death.

What unfurls threatens to tear the town apart.

In recent years, I’ve somewhat drifted away from mystery novels.  I’m not sure if it’s my newfound fascination with horror and “weird-girl lit”, or maybe it’s more to do with being burnt out on the genre, but one constant author who has remained in my steady rotation is Tana French.  Just last year, I gave the first two novels in this trilogy spots in my annual Top 10 list.  Which begs the question, with the third and final book in this series, did she stick the landing?

For the most part, yes.  I thought this was a great closer to an excellent series (although the ending did not feel definitive). I would not say it was as good as the first two, but even the most average Tana French novel is better than most mystery novels out there.  The stakes are probably higher this time around than they were for the first two novels of the series, as this book is filled with desperate men doing desperate things to stay in power resulting in awful consequences.  I’m not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears at the end.  If this is the end, I’ll miss this motley crew.