The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He's cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie's suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true.
Faithful Place: A Novel
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Stef Penney, author of The Invisible Ones, interviews Tana French 
Stef Penney: You have created a tapestry of interlocking characters who all work in law enforcement in Dublin, and so far you’ve turned the spotlight on three different police officers. . . Do you have a favorite? Have you found some harder to inhabit than others?
Tana French: Frank Mackey in Faithful Place was by far the most fun to write because he’s got that dark, abrasive Dublin sense of humor that surfaces even--or especially--at life’s worst moments. The hardest to get into was Scorcher Kennedy, in my new book, Broken Harbour--I’ve just finished the edits. I think it’s to do with the gap between the way Frank saw him in Faithful Place, where he was a supporting character, and the way he sees himself. Frank sees a rule-bound, up-himself, irritating git; but from Scorcher’s point of view, he’s a man struggling desperately to do the right thing in a world where you have to trust in the rules because your own mind is too fragile and slippery to trust. There’s a huge gap between the two perspectives, and it wasn’t easy to switch. That perspective shift is one of the things I enjoy most about writing a series of books, where a secondary character in one book becomes the narrator in the next--it lets me explore the way truth can be mutable and subjective, shaped by people’s own needs as much as by objective reality--but it’s also the toughest part of it.
Penney: You’re known for writing about Dublin. Can you see yourself going anywhere else as the setting for a book?
French: I’ll be sticking with Dublin--for the foreseeable future, anyway. It’s the only city where I know all the little details--the sense of humor, the connotations of the accents, where to get a good pint and where not to go after dark. Setting a book in a place I didn’t know this intimately would feel very dislocated. I think crime is very deeply rooted in its setting--it happens everywhere but the form it takes is shaped by the fears and desires of the society where it happens--and so crime novels are rooted in setting, too. Both In the Woods and The Likeness deal with the relationship between past and present--how to balance the two without destroying either--and that’s a question that Ireland’s been struggling (and often failing) to deal with over the past twenty years. It wasn’t a deliberate choice to make the books “relevant”; it’s just that since the issue was a central part of the world I lived in while I was coming up with the books, it soaked into them. If I set a book anywhere else, that connection wouldn’t be there. Plus, I love Dublin. I care about its fears and desires with a passion that I don’t feel for any other place. Faithful Place, especially, is a love song to Dublin, its bad side as well as its good. I can’t imagine writing about somewhere I don’t care about so strongly.
Penney: The Mackeys in Faithful Place are extraordinarily vivid, but it’s a terrifying, bleak portrait of family life. Does this relate to anything in your life? Or, if not, what made you interested in writing about such a family?
French: Thank God, my family’s nothing like the Mackeys! I had an unfashionably happy childhood. But I’ve always been most interested in writing about things I don’t know about. That’s at the heart of Faithful Place, in a lot of ways. It’s about a big family, and a viciously dysfunctional one, neither of which I’ve experienced. And it’s also about a family that’s very deeply rooted in Dublin, and specifically in the centuries-old community of Faithful Place. Those roots have shaped everything the Mackeys are. I’ve always been fascinated by that kind of rooted life because it’s something I’ll never have--my parents have a handful of nationalities between them, I grew up in several continents, I’m an international brat. . . Writing about something so far from my own life is the closest I’ll ever come to understanding it.
Penney: Down to nuts and bolts: How do you write? Are you very disciplined? I imagine you must be since you’re quite prolific!
French: Hah, I wish. I’m not one of nature’s disciplined types. Back in college, I had a reputation for going into the library only to convince other people to come out for coffee, and I haven’t changed that much. Every morning, I fight the urge to call my friends and see if I can persuade anyone to come out and play. These days, though, my disciplined side almost always wins. I work six days a week, about seven hours a day. What makes the difference is that I love what I do and I feel ridiculously lucky to be doing it. After years of acting, where you’re dependent on other people to decide whether you’re allowed to work or not, being able to work every day feels like a massive gift. That considerably lessens the urge to goof off.
Penney: Any TV or film adaptations in the works? Because there should be! If yes, how did you find the experience?
French: Paramount has optioned The Likeness and In the Woods, and I’ve just heard that Likeness is in development. I’m not totally clear on exactly what that means, but it sounds very cool but slightly intimidating. I’m dying to see what comes out at the other end, but I deliberately didn’t even try to ask for any role in the adaptation process because anything I know about writing fiction is probably worthless when it comes to writing film. They’re such utterly different genres that the book’s going to have to change in ways I can’t begin to picture.
Penney: I loved the mythic quality of the backstory in In the Woods--and the fact that in the end you refused to answer the question. Did you encounter any resistance from publishers over the ending?
French: No resistance from publishers. I was expecting it, because the ending does break genre convention--I was all ready to argue my case that this was the only ending with integrity and anything else would be forced and artificial, sacrificing character truth for cheap closure. But none of the editors ever suggested changing it. I do get e-mails from readers who hate the ending. Fair enough; the genre comes with expectation of closure and the book doesn’t provide it, and some people have real trouble with that. But I also get e-mails from readers who love the ending and who would have been furious if I’d sacrificed that integrity in order to stick to the rules. There was no way I could have written something that would make both types of readers happy. All I could do was write the best book I could and hope there were enough people out there who like the same kind of thing that I do.
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. French's emotionally searing third novel of the Dublin murder squad (after The Likeness) shows the Irish author getting better with each book. In 1985, 19-yearold Frank Mackey and his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, made secret plans to elope to England and start a new life together far away from their families, particularly the hard-drinking Mackeys. But when Rosie doesn't meet Frank the night they're meant to leave and he finds a note, Frank assumes she's left him behind. For 22 years, Frank, who becomes an undercover cop, stays away from Faithful Place, his childhood Dublin neighborhood. When his younger sister, Jackie, calls to tell him that someone found Rosie's suitcase hidden in an abandoned house, Frank reluctantly returns. Now everything he thought he knew is turned upside down: did Rosie really leave that night, or did someone stop her before she could? French, who briefly introduced Mackey in The Likeness, is adept at seamlessly blending suspenseful whodunit elements with Frank's familial demons.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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More About the Author
Tana French grew up in Ireland, the US, Italy and Malawi. She trained as an actress at Trinity College Dublin and has worked in theatre, film and voiceover. She is the author of In the Woods (2007), The Likeness (2008) and Faithful Place (2010). Her books have won Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Barry and ICVA Clarion awards and have been finalists for LA Times and Strand Magazine awards. She lives in Dublin with her husband and daughter.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
386 of 398 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tana French at Her Best!,
By Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 100 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Faithful Place: A Novel (Hardcover)
The emotions in Tana French's new book Faithful Place: A Novel explode on the page and inside the reader. I felt tackled by this book. As soon as I started reading it, I was grabbed and held hostage. All my senses were caught up in the narrative. I had difficulty coming up for air even though I knew it was necessary once in a while. I lived this book 24/7 until I had finished it. That's Tana French for you.
The story begins with Frank Mackey, 19 years old, waiting for his true love, Rosie Daly, to meet him. They have plans to run away from their dysfunctional homes and neighborhood in Dublin to make a new life together in England. They are totally and fiercely in love as only first loves can be. Rosie never shows up. Frank waits until morning and then proceeds alone, never knowing what happened to Rosie but thinking, deep down, that she'd changed her mind and decided not to go with him. He doesn't make it as far as England but he does manage to start a new life for himself in Dublin. Ever since that time, Frank keeps hoping that he'll hear from Rosie. No one in her family, nor any of her friends know where she is and no one has heard from her. Frank hears nary a word, ever. Faithful Place, the neighborhood he's leaving, is close to Trinity College but is a world away. People in `The Place' "stank of stale nicotine and stale Guinness, with a saucy little top-note of gin". People held grudges and if they were not on the dole, they worked at the Guiness plant or at odd jobs. Those who worked regularly had nothing to show for it. You knew everyone and heard conversations and arguments going on from windows and in the streets. People grew up together and had decades of knowledge about each other. Fast-forward twenty-two years. Frank is an undercover detective with the Irish police force. He has been estranged from his family for twenty-two years, except for one sister, Jackie. Jackie gives him a frantic call that a suitcase was found in a derelict apartment building near his family's home and it appears to have belonged to Rosie. Soon after the suitcase is found, so is Rosie's body. From that time onward, Frank decides that he must find out what happened to Rosie that night. Tana French has a wonderful way of juxtaposing the present culture of Dublin with arts, culture, and events of other cities and times. She gives the reader credit for being smart and understanding who she is talking about whether it's Jim Morrissey, Tim Burton, Jeffrey Dahmer, Mario Lanza or Kojak. She'll interject wonderful sentences into her writing. For instance, "The dim orange glow coming from nowhere in particular gave the garden a spiky Tim Burton look". One of my favorites is, ` "Kojak's on the trail" Shay said, to the gold sky. "Who loves you baby?" ` The narrative goes back and forth in time and we're privy to the horrific family of origin that Frank came from. His `da' is a raging alcoholic and his `ma' gives Olivia Soprano a run for her money. His siblings would just as soon stab one another with an ice pick than share a civil word. The dialogue is crisp and anguished. There is no doubt or subtlety about what is happening in the Mackey family. When Frank returns to their midst after his twenty-two year absence, things are twisted up a bit. His da realizes that Frank must have an agenda and tells Frank to get the hell out of Dodge. Most people wouldn't talk to their worst enemy the way that Frank's father talks to him. This is a family filled and fueled by hatred. Frank, however, is there to stay. He has things to do and information to find out. The book falls together perfectly. There are no weak spots and the the two primary narratives - the mystery about Rosie's death and the story of Frank's family - meld together well. Tana French is a wonder. She has the Irish gift of the gab and I advise you not to start this book unless you're willing to be grabbed and held captive by its power.
82 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A long-awaited new novel from Tana French doesn't disappoint,
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This review is from: Faithful Place: A Novel (Hardcover)
If you haven't read Tana French's In the Woods and The Likeness: A Novel, then now is definitely the time to start acquainting yourself with this great author. With every new novel (and this is her third one) Tana French is showing signs of a creative growth that are nothing short of remarkable. I have been eagerly awaiting the release of her Faithful Place: A Novel and I'm happy to report that this novel will not disappoint either French's fans or her new readers who are only now discovering her work.
Tana French's writing is beautiful. She has a way of describing modern-day Ireland that will leave you completely enamored of this fascinating country. In my opinion, nobody creates more powerful descriptions of today's Dublin than this writer. French's sentences are always beautifully constructed, the characters are incredibly well-crafted, and the plot lines are engrossing. The best thing about Tana French for me is her capacity to create a very unique first-person perspective in every one of her novels. Each book is narrated in a voice that is very unique and absolutely unforgettable. Faithful Place: A Novel is very different in terms of its first-person narrator from French's previous two novels. Her fans are used to this author creating very endearing, complex characters whom you cannot fail to admire. In this new novel, however, we encounter a very different kind of character. Francis Mackey is not an extremely attractive character, to say the least. He is self-involved, selfish, and often very mean. He tortures his ex-wife to punish her for moving on after their divorce, he is mean to his aging mother, and he thinks nothing of hurting his little daughter's feelings just to run off and investigate an old girlfriend's disappearance. He has been obsessed with his former girlfriend Rosie for twenty years and has never been able to get over her apparent desertion. In short, Frank is a character one is hard pressed to like. It's is a mark of a very good writer, however, to be able to make one's readers care about the main character who is as difficult to admire as Frank Mackey. Tana French achieves that and more. The book is an absolute pleasure to read. As much as you might want to get to the solution of the mystery of Rosie's disappearance and Frank's painful relationship with his family, you will still want to linger over each beautifully written sentence.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!,
By Amy Tiemann "creator of www.MojoMom.com" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Faithful Place: A Novel (Hardcover)
Spoiler-free review:
With The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and its two prequels at the top of Amazon's bestseller list, I can't help but compare "Faithful Place" and say that Tana French's newest book is so beautifully written that it makes The Millennium Trilogy read like hack fiction. To fellow Stieg Larsson fans, I say look at it this way: this means that after you've finished the Millennium Trilogy you can discover a new masterful author of suspense, one who operates at a less frenetic pace. All three of Tana French's books, In the Woods, The Likeness: A Novel, and "Faithful Place" are as enjoyable as literature as much as they are about suspense. "Faithful Place" is French's most heartfelt work yet. Frank Mackey left his old Dublin neighborhood Faithful Place two decades ago, cutting ties with his family. We follow Mackey back to his Mammy's stoop to investigate an incident that will tear open his most sensitive wounds. I read the book in a few voracious days, and finished about a week ago, and "Faithful Place" is still haunting me. Even if some aspects of the mystery were potentially guessable, the whole of the story is greater than the sum of its parts. French does not just get us to see the killer's point of view by obliterating "good" and "bad" with cheap moral relativism; rather, she thoroughly illuminates the psyches (and blind spots) of all the characters in a way that makes you see how the whole puzzle fits together by making you ask, what is the cost of seeing the truth? I don't want to say more than that because I don't want to ruin this brilliant story for anyone. Be aware that some customer reviews here that say they contain spoilers *really* contain spoilers, to an extent I think is unwarranted. No one should spell out whodunit for a mystery in such a public forum that doesn't have any layers of protection from spoilers.
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