The Keeper is Tana French’s third Cal Hooper novel. Cal is an ex-Chicago cop who moved to the small village of Ardnakelty, Ireland, when he retired.
Cal has settled down to what he deems a pleasant life. Trey, the girl he helped in the first book, is now 17. She works with him building furniture and splits her time between his home and her mother’s. He’s having a comfortable affair with Lena based to some extent on maintaining each other’s privacy.
In the village store, the gossip is about the engagement of Rachel, an innocent and well-liked young woman, and Eugene, the spoiled son of the most powerful man in town, Tommy Moynihan. They are seen having a disagreement. Later, Rachel calls on Lena, apparently with the intention of confiding something or asking advice. However, Lena has made a habit of staying out of the business of the village, which she thinks is toxic, to the point of even avoiding her own sister and her old friends, so she does not encourage Rachel to confide.
Late that night, neighbors call Cal asking him to join a search for Rachel, who has disappeared. She is later found dead in the river, but she has antifreeze in her system. Rumors immediately begin circulating. Did she commit suicide, or did Eugene kill her?
Trey is concerned about what really happened to Rachel, so Lena decides to find out. Breaking the habit of years, she calls on various women trying to find out what they know. She eventually learns that Tommy Moynihan plans to force many of the local farmers off their land to make way for a giant development. This plan involves getting Eugene elected to a government position. Rachel found out about this plan and was trying to get Eugene to stop it.
Lena is soon being threatened by Tommy Moynihan, who says if she tells what she’s heard, he’ll have her declared insane and locked up, and he has already started rumors that she is unstable. Because she’s kept away from the village for years, some people are ready to believe it, and a Garda even comes to see her, because Tommy has the Gardas in his pocket. So she reverts to her former behavior, even staying away from Cal.
Cal doesn’t understand what’s happening, but he stays away from her. He and his elderly neighbor Mart are conducting their own investigation and begin to believe that Tommy killed Rachel.
This book is one that rapidly develops that sense of dread. My only problem with it is that it depends a lot on what Roger Ebert called “the idiot plot.” That is, that if Cal and Lena talked to each other, a lot of confusion could have been avoided, both in their relationship and the investigation.
What? Me Read? 