🕵️♀️ The Trespasser by Tana French – Book Review
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written, aggressively slow, and featuring just enough police corruption to make you question every cold case on Dateline.
⚠️ Spoiler Alert
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. We’re diving deep into the spoilers. If you want to solve the murder mystery with the detectives, go read the book first and come back!
🧐 What’s the Story?
So here’s the setup: Aislinn Murray, a flawless-looking young woman (the kind of flawless that makes you mad before she even opens her mouth), is found dead in her cozy little Dublin home. Hair curled. Table set. Romantic dinner half prepped. And she’s face-down on the floor with a cracked skull.
Enter Detective Antoinette Conway, who’s got the resting murder face of someone who’s had just about enough of her sexist coworkers, and Detective Steve Moran, the only guy who doesn’t make her want to punch drywall. Together, they make up the murder squad’s grumpiest duo.
The prime suspect? Rory Fallon, the adorably dull boyfriend. He's a soft-spoken librarian-type who stumbles through his alibi like he's auditioning for a true crime docuseries. He says Aislinn stood him up. Except…surprise! Surveillance footage places him in her neighborhood hours earlier than he claims. And that table? Very obviously set for a romantic dinner for two.
So yeah, things aren’t looking great for Rory.
🚨 This Smells Like a Setup
Just when you think the case is about to wrap up with a bow, senior detective Breslin starts applying pressure—a little too much pressure. He's desperate for them to wrap the case, pin it on Rory, and move on.
Cue Antoinette’s internal sirens: Why are we rushing this? What are you hiding, Breslin?
Turns out, Breslin is covering for his BFF, Detective McCann, who just so happens to have a long, very messy history with the victim.
💄 Barbie, But Make It Vengeful
Here’s where things get spicy. Two years before the murder, McCann handled a missing person case: Aislinn’s father, who’d just up and vanished. Except—plot twist—he wasn’t missing. He had moved on with another woman, living his best life and ghosting his daughter like a total trash human.
But McCann never bothered to tell Aislinn.
So what did Aislinn do when she found out? Oh, just rebranded herself as a full-on seductive Barbie—hair, heels, and heartbreak included. Her plan: seduce McCann, break up his marriage, and ghost him for good.
And it was working. Until Rory came along, and oops, she fell in actual love. She tried to end things with McCann gently. He didn’t take it well. He came over, saw that cute dinner for two, lost it, hit her, and…yeah. It was a one-punch manslaughter situation.
🧩 Whodunit, Wrapped Up
So no, Rory didn’t do it. (Though he did cry like someone who thought he was about to be imprisoned forever over a dinner reservation.)
The real killer? McCann. And the real mastermind behind the cover-up? Still McCann. Breslin just got sucked in like the world’s most gullible sidekick.
But don’t worry—Chief O’Kelly swoops in like a cop show deus ex machina and gets McCann to confess. Conway finally gets some justice, maybe even a drop of respect, and the department cleans house.
📝 Final Thoughts
This is one of those books where the writing is so good, you keep turning pages even when nothing is actually happening. Tana French can write the smell of bad coffee and make it feel like Shakespeare. But whew, the pacing? Glacial. I could’ve learned to knit a scarf between chapters. A nice, murder-themed scarf.
⭐ Final rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 out of 5 stars
Beautiful writing, brilliant atmosphere, and a mystery that needed a little less slow-burn and a little more spark.
🛍️ Buy the Book:
📘 Get The Trespasser on Amazon
🎧 Listen on Audible
🔍 If You Liked This, Try:
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The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith – Another detective story, faster pace, fewer brooding stares
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In the Woods by Tana French – Her debut novel, also moody, also Irish, arguably better
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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – More modern, more twisty, less slow
Let me know when you're ready for the next one—I am loving this series of blog posts we're building!
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