French Tana Скачать все книги 12 Количество книг

The sensational new novel from "one of the most talented crime writers alive" ("The Washington Post") The photo on the card shows a boy who was found murdered, a year ago, on the grounds of a girls' boarding school in the leafy suburbs of Dublin. The caption saysI KNOW WHO KILLED HIM. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to get a foot in the door of Dublin's Murder Squad-and one morning, sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey brings him this photo. "The Secret Place," a board where the girls at St. Kilda's School can pin up their secrets anonymously, is normally a mishmash of gossip and covert cruelty, but today someone has used it to reignite the stalled investigation into the murder of handsome, popular Chris Harper. Stephen joins forces with the abrasive Detective Antoinette Conway to find out who and why. But everything they discover leads them back to Holly's close-knit group of friends and their fierce enemies, a rival clique-and to the tangled web of relationships that bound all the girls to Chris Harper. Every step in their direction turns up the pressure. Antoinette Conway is already suspicious of Stephen's links to the Mackey family. St. Kilda's will go a long way to keep murder outside their walls. Holly's father, Detective Frank Mackey, is circling, ready to pounce if any of the new evidence points toward his daughter. And the private underworld of teenage girls can be more mysterious and more dangerous than either of the detectives imagined. "The Secret Place" is a powerful, haunting exploration of friendship and loyalty, and a gripping addition to the Dublin Murder Squad series.

Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland. His plans are to fix up the dilapidated cottage he's bought, to walk the mountains, to put his old police instincts to bed forever. Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. And once again, Cal feels that restless itch. Something is wrong in this community, and he must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door

"Atmospheric and unputdownable." – People

A brilliant new novel from the New York Times bestselling author, whom Gillian Flynn calls "mesmerizing" and Stephen King calls "incandescent."

Being on the Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point.

Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There's nothing unusual about her – except that Antoinette's seen her somewhere before.

And that her death won't stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn's boyfriend, fast. There's a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinette's road. Aislinn's friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.

Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can't tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?

Debiut irlandzkiej pisarki wynagrodził mi z nawiązką "cierpienia", jakie odczuwałam podczas poprzedniej lektury. Tym razem powieść wciągnęła mnie bez reszty na dwa dni i jedną noc, podczas której rozmyślałam nad możliwymi rozwiązaniami dwóch wątków kryminalnych. Czytałam po angielsku, bo kupiłam swój egzemplarz po przeczytaniu entuzjastycznych recenzji na blogach anglojęzycznych. Byłam zupełnie nieświadoma faktu, że książka wkrótce będzie wydana po polsku. Czytanie w oryginale jednak wydaje się być dobrym pomysłem, bo ani tytuł, ani okładka polskiego wydania nie mają odzwierciedlenia w treści książki. Ciekawe jak zawartość:)

Gdybym miała w jednym zdaniu napisać o czym jest ta powieść brzmiało by ono: O tym jak spieprzyć sobie życie. Ale to nie wszystko co trzeba wiedzieć na temat tego thrillera.

20 lat wcześniej dwoje dzieci ginie w małej miejscowości w pobliżu Dublina. Dwunastoletni chłopiec i dziewczynka nigdy nie zostają odnalezieni, nie ma śladów, nie ma ciał, nie ma świadków. Bo nie można nazwać świadkiem chłopca, który wraz z zaginioną dwójką bawił się tego dnia w lesie. Adam został odnaleziony pod drzewem w stanie głębokiego szoku, z zakrwawionymi cudzą krwią butami, zadrapaniami na skórze i dosłownie zresetowaną pamięcią. Jak sam później wspomina, narodził się jako dwunastolatek – wcześniejsze wspomnienia utracił na skutek tragicznych przeżyć tego dnia w lesie.

Obecnie Adam pracuje jako inspektor Rob Ryan w wydziale zabójstw. Ukrywa swoją przeszłość przed innymi, bo uważa (słusznie), że nie jest to rzecz, którą można by się chwalić. Do tajemnicy dopuszcza tylko swoją zaufaną partnerkę z pracy i przyjaciółkę – Cassie. Kiedy w tej samej miejscowości zostają znalezione zwłoki dziewczynki Rob i Cassie postanawiają spróbować połączyć tę sprawę z zaginięciem przyjaciół Roba.

Narratorem jest sam Rob, coraz bardziej zagubiony, rozdarty, destrukcyjny, do bólu szczery. Akcja nie rozwija się w jakimś zawrotnym tempie – Rob relacjonuje ją powoli, z postępem śledztwa odkrywa różne wątki, a jednocześnie obnaża siebie, co dla mnie było bardziej bolesne i wymowne niż samo śledztwo. To raczej ja przewracałam kartki w zawrotnym tempie próbując jak najszybciej dowiedzieć się, co wówczas wydarzyło się w lesie. Po zamknięciu książki – nie umiałam powiedzieć nic sensownego oprócz kilku przekleństw. Nie zdradzę dlaczego, bo kto ma ochotę na świetny thriller z głęboką podbudową psychologiczną niech sam przeczyta "Zdążyć przed zmrokiem" (sic!).

In Broken Harbour, a ghost estate outside Dublin – half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned – two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder squad's star detective. At first he and his rookie partner, Richie, think this is a simple one: Pat Spain was a casualty of the recession, so he killed his children, tried to kill his wife Jenny, and finished off with himself. But there are too many inexplicable details and the evidence is pointing in two directions at once. Scorcher's personal life is tugging for his attention. Seeing the case on the news has sent his sister Dina off the rails again, and she's resurrecting something that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control: what happened to their family, one summer at Broken Harbour, back when they were children. The neat compartments of his life are breaking down, and the sudden tangle of work and family is putting both at risk…

Ritengo innanzitutto che il titolo "Nel bosco", ingegnosa pensata della mente della French, sia già di per se stesso deliberatamente inquietante. Nonostante ciò vi posso garantire che anche le più oscene atrocità disegnate dalla vostra mente a supporto dell'enigmatico titolo, verranno oscurate dai fatti nudi e crudi narrati dall'autrice con dovizia di particolari. Tre bambini: Jamie Elinor Rowan, Adam Robert Ryan e Peter Joseph Savage, tutti di dodici anni appena, il 14 agosto 1984 hanno scavalcato, come d'abitudine, il muro che separa la zona abitata di Knocknaree, contea di Dublino, per andare a giocare nel fitto bosco circostante. Quell'intricata ragnatela di tronchi, rami, siepi e quant'altro non li spaventava in quanto avevano fatto di quel bosco il loro rifugio. Nessuno conosceva i suoi segreti come quei tre vivaci adolescenti. O, perlomeno, così si credeva. Infatti, in quel maledetto giorno, solo Adam uscì dal bosco, scioccato, con tracce di sangue, lacerazioni e neanche il minimo ricordo di ciò che era accaduto a lui e ai suoi amici, inspiegabilmente scomparsi. Molti anni dopo questo inesplicabile fatto il detective Rob Ryan viene assegnato ad un caso di omicidio avvenuto a…Knocknaree e da quel momento, un po' per volta, è costretto a rivivere gli sconvolgenti avvenimenti di vent'anni prima. "Nel bosco" è il primo romanzo di Tana French e si può affermare, oltre ogni ragionevole dubbio, che il risultato da lei ottenuto è stato ottimo. Ci troviamo di fronte ad un thriller psicologico molto ben impostato in cui l'autrice, oltre a dedicarsi alla descrizione minuziosa di ogni singolo personaggio presentre nella storia, ha la lodevole capacità di catapultarti, senza che tu possa effettivamente rendertene conto, nella mente del protagonista. Sarete schiacciati dalle stesse paure che opprimono il detective Rob, proverete la medesima angoscia tutte le volte che l'autrice vi spingerà fino al limitare del bosco e verrete tormentati da turbini di immagini confuse e irreali. Non è sicuramente un processo facile quello che porta un essere umano a entrare nella mente di un suo simile, sia esso reale o fittizio, trovo perciò degna di nota l'abilità della French nell'ottenere tale risultato dai suoi lettori. A seguito di un inizio un po' lento perchè dedicato alla descrizione di luoghi e personaggi a noi estranei, il libro intraprenderà la sua inesorabile discesa verso la soluzione del mistero e voi non riuscirete più a staccare gli occhi dalle sue pagine. Vi assorbirà completamente. Alla fine entrerete anche voi "nel bosco".

En 1985, Frank Mackey tenía diecinueve años, crecía en medio de la pobreza en el centro de Dublín, viviendo con su familia en un pequeño apartamento en Faithful Place. Sin embargo, Frank tenía su punto de mira en algo mucho mejor. Él y su novia Rosie Daly estaban listos para huir juntos a Londres, casarse, conseguir buenos trabajos y romper con el trabajo de la fábrica y la pobreza de sus anteriores vidas. Pero en la noche de invierno, en la que pretendían irse, Rosie no se presentó. Frank esperó durante horas, de madrugada, pero ella no apareció y él decidió irse solo.

Ahora Frank es el policía más duro y efectivo de la policía irlandesa, y aquella cita frustrada no es más que un recuerdo de adolescencia. Hasta que recibe una llamada: han descubierto la mochila de Rose detrás de una chimenea en una casa abandonada de Faithful Place. Algo se remueve en el interior de Frank. ¿Y si después de todo ella no faltó a aquella cita… sino que alguien le impidió hacerlo? El viejo barrio y su propia familia reciben a Frank con hostilidad, rencores acumulados durante años… y un espantoso secreto que desvelar.

Anthony Awards

Barry Awards

Edgar Awards

Macavity Awards

***

When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods one sunny day with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened. Twenty years later Adam – now using his middle name of Rob – is a detective with the Dublin police force. His colleagues don't know about his past. He works as a team with Cassie Maddox, a smart, tough cookie; they are best friends as well as partners. When the body of a young girl is found at the site of an archaeological dig, Rob and Cassie get the case. And when they reach the crime scene, Rob realises it is the exact site of his childhood trauma. They also find a hairclip that he recognises as having belonged to his friend. Could there be a connection between that old, unsolved crime and this? Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet. Rob and Cassie are investigating the murder of Katy Devlin, but they both hope that they might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.

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.

La tarde del 14 de agosto de 1984, tres niños de doce años, Jamie Rowan, Adam Ryan y Peter Savage, saltan el muro que hay al final de la calle donde viven en la pequeña localidad de Knocknaree, en el condado de Dublín, y que separa la urbanización del bosque. Corren hacia la leyenda, hacia las historias para no dormir y las pesadillas que los padres nunca oyen. Han jugado allí muchos días parecidos a ése, han trepado por los mismos árboles, se han escondido en los mismos huecos y han compartido aventuras sólo interrumpidas por la caída de la noche o los gritos de sus madres llamándolos a cenar. Pero ese día es distinto: ni la oscuridad los devuelve a casa ni responden a los cada vez más nerviosos ruegos de sus padres… A las 22.20 la luz de una linterna se detiene en el rostro de Adam Ryan. El policía se encuentra a un chico atemorizado y que no recuerda hada, con las uñas rotas de tanto escarbar en la corteza de un roble y con las zapatillas y los calcetines empapados en sangre. Jamie y Peter desparecieron sin dejar rastro.

Veinte años después Ryan se ha convertido en otra persona. Ahora se llama Rob y es un inspector de policía que guarda con celo su pasado e intenta llevar una vida normal. Hasta que el descubrimiento del cadáver de una niña de doce años muerta en el mismo lugar donde a él le encontraron amenaza con remover recuerdos que creía sepultados para siempre. Junto a Cassie Madox, su compañera de caso y su mejor amiga, desenmaraña los secretos de la familia de la niña asesinada y trata de acercarse con veladas pistas a una verdad ya de por sí fragmentada y escurridiza, y cuyas piezas quizá sólo se encuentren en aquel verano de hace años, en el bosque…

Tarde o temprano, el pasado siempre vuelve.

Hacía mucho que Cassandra Maddox no oía hablar de Lexie Madison; en concreto cuatro años, cuando Frank Mackey, su superior en Operaciones Secretas, le ordenó infiltrarse en el mundillo de la droga bajo una nueva identidad: Alexandra Madison, estudiante del diversity College de Dublín. Después de aquella misión, abortada cuando fue apuñalada por un paranoico, Cassie se incorporó a Homicidios y más adelante a Violencia Doméstica, y el nombre de Lexie cayó inevitablemente en el olvido… Hasta el día en que, en un bosque a las afueras de Glenskehy, no muy lejos de Dublín, se halla el cadáver de una joven identificada como Lexie Madison. La noticia sume a Cassie en el desconcierto. «Aquella joven era yo»: sus mismos ojos, su nariz respingona; ambas son como dos gotas de agua. Aprovechando esta inexplicable coincidencia, Mackey urde un plan tan ingenioso como arriesgado para descubrir al asesino: «resucitar» milagrosamente a Lexie ante la opinión publica y hacer que Cassie adopte, por segunda vez, su antigua identidad.

Seducida por el reto, Cassie se instala en Whitethorn House, donde Lexie convivía en aparente armonía con cuatro excéntricos estudiantes, sobre quienes recaen todas las sospechas. Mientras trata de echar abajo las coartadas de cada uno ellos, Cassie empezará a sentirse fascinanada por la mujer que le «robó» su creación y por este grupo tan peculiar, en especial su líder… Una fascinación que alterará el devenir de la investigación y pondrá en peligro su vida.

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling psychological thriller In the Woods Six months after the events of In the Woods, Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to recover. She?s transferred out of the murder squad and started a relationship with Detective Sam O?Neill, but she?s too badly shaken to make a commitment to him or to her career. Then Sam calls her to the scene of his new case: a young woman found stabbed to death in a small town outside Dublin. The dead girl?s ID says her name is Lexie Madison?the identity Cassie used years ago as an undercover detective?and she looks exactly like Cassie. With no leads, no suspects, and no clue to Lexie?s real identity, Cassie?s old undercover boss, Frank Mackey, spots the opportunity of a lifetime. They can say that the stab wound wasn?t fatal and send Cassie undercover in her place to find out information that the police never would and to tempt the killer out of hiding. At first Cassie thinks the idea is crazy, but she is seduced by the prospect of working on a murder investigation again and by the idea of assuming the victim?s identity as a graduate student with a cozy group of friends. As she is drawn into Lexie?s world, Cassie realizes that the girl?s secrets run deeper than anyone imagined. Her friends are becoming suspicious, Sam has discovered a generations-old feud involving the old house the students live in, and Frank is starting to suspect that Cassie?s growing emotional involvement could put the whole investigation at risk. Another gripping psychological thriller featuring the headstrong protagonist we?ve come to love, from an author who has proven that she can deliver.

***

Tana French's second novel, The Likeness, is a suspenseful and extremely enjoyable read. Like her first (Into the Woods), it is set in and around Dublin, Ireland. The story entails an investigation of a homicide (it is a mystery, after all), but it also has something more: an inquiry into the nature of human selfhood.

Cassie Maddox used to be a detective on the Murder Squad but transferred to Domestic Violence (DV) about six months ago. Murder investigation is not the only thing she's left behind; she also spent time as an undercover agent. In her mid-twenties at the time, she was young enough to pass for a college student and had spent nine months posing as an undergraduate named Lexie Madison, investigating a drug ring. Unfortunately, Cassie's career as Lexie came to an abrupt end when she was stabbed.

Cassie is getting ready to head to DV one day when she gets a call from her boyfriend Sam, who still works in Murder. Could she come to a crime scene, right away? Puzzled, Cassie goes to an abandoned two-room house in the rural town of Glenskehy, where a body was found. Frank Mackey, with whom she had worked on the undercover case, is there as well. Cassie is startled by what she finds: the victim could have been her twin sister. What's worse, the girl's ID says her name is Lexie Madison. Here is a mystery twice over: who killed this girl, and who is she, really? Lexie Madison never existed except as an undercover front.

Whoever the girl was, she had constructed a life for herself as Lexie, a graduate student in English. With four fellow students, she shared the "big house" in town (a mansion that one of the students inherited), and judging from the videos found on her phone, they were as thick as thieves. Brought in for questioning, the four say they were together the night Lexie died and hadn't left the house. Lexie had gone on her customary nightly walk and simply never returned.

Stymied in the investigation, Frank convinces first Sam and then Cassie that the only way to find out what happened is to send Cassie undercover as Lexie. It is a once-in-a-career opportunity for undercover work but very dangerous. Frank concocts a story that Lexie survived the stabbing and, now recovered from being in a coma, is returning home. They drop her off at the house, with the four friends waiting, and the perilous charade begins. Cassie must work to find out what happened without giving herself away by the things she doesn't know.