Rosie, the more adventurous of the two, decides that they should run away to London, work hard, save money, and rise above the level of poverty that seems their destiny were they to stay in Ireland. Rosie spends several weeks working on the specifics and they are set. Late one December night they agree to meet. Frank is supposed to wait at the top of the hill for his girl who allows that her parents must be sound asleep before she dares leave the flat. Frank waits in vain for Rosie never arrives.

Frank checks in at Number 16, an abandoned flat where Rosie intended to pick up her suitcase which was to have been secreted there by a friend, but Rosie isn’t there. He does find a note written in her hand indicating she is going to England. Since she missed their rendezvous point Frank assumes she has decided to go without him. He is still determined to quit the life that would be his in Faithful Place and strikes out on his own.

Frank maintains no contact with his family save his sister Jackie who occasionally phones. He is a detective, divorced, with a nine-year-old daughter named Holly. His life is less than perfect as he has never found a love equal to the one he thought he shared with Rosie. Out of the blue Frank has many messages on his phone from Jackie begging him to call her. With more than a little reluctance, he does.

A new building project has begun in Faithful Place and Number 16 is being destroyed. The wrecking crew has discovered a suitcase, presumably the one that Rosie packed so many years ago. Though he was devastated by the presumed decision made by Rosie to leave without him, the discovery of the suitcase indicates that something other than Rosie making a life of her own in England may have occurred. Now not only his lost love of Rosie, but his sense of justice forces Frank back to the life he swore he had left forever.

While Frank Mackey appears in Tana French’s previous novels, his role is a minor one. Faithful Place is his alone, detailing the back story of his life that brought him to his position as a detective. Though it is ostensibly a mystery novel, it is really a novel of inner city Dublin populated by primarily white, primarily Catholic working class without much upward mobility from generation to generation. It is a coming of age tale with a bittersweet ending.

Ms. French is a master of description of both place and mood. It is easy to envision Faithful Place and its small flats in various stages of decay. Likewise Frank’s reluctant return to his childhood home after having scrambled long and hard to build a better life for himself. The fact that his young daughter has never been to visit his parents is testimony to the fact that he wants to divorce himself from that life with a fervor that bears no relationship to his lack of marital success with Holly’s mother. The clichéd, stereotypical descriptions of the Irish poor pale in comparison to French’s ability to transport her readers into a location ironically named Faithful Place.

The narration of the story requires a transition between two periods in time. The first includes the young Frank Mackey and his family, Rosie Daly and her family as well as the friends of the young couple. The second time frame is the present. Frank is returning to his childhood home and no one knows what has become of Rosie. No one has heard a word from the girl since that cold night some twenty-two years ago. The transitions between these time periods occur seamlessly under French’s able pen (computer). Often authors using the device of alternating time frames resort to different font types, alternating chapters, a line of asterisks, extra white space. French uses none of these tricks and yet it is perfectly clear when the action is occurring.

Faithful Place is a novel of people and mores. The family dynamic plays a key role in this tale.There are obvious changes in family interaction from the past to the present, yet some unwritten rules remain hard and fast. The author subtly provides many helpful lessons in life through the interaction of family members leaving the reader with more than a few worthwhile points to ponder.

Mystery fans will not be disappointed either. French’s latest offering is not a traditional mystery, but there are deaths by persons unknown to be reckoned with, trails to follow and clues that need to be discovered and examined. All three of the author’s books work well as a standalone as they are only tangentially related to one another. In each, a different character takes center stage. Her facility with her characters seems to have improved with each effort, so I eagerly await her next book.

--Andy Plonka