This paragraph probably ticked me off more than anything else in the book. and NO, she didn't 'fool' me, because YOU'RE the narrator and YOU'RE the one telling the story. And if that was in itself deceptive, remember, I told you that, too: I warned you, right from the beginning, that I lie.'Īs if that excused anything. I told you everything I saw, as I saw it at the time. But before you decide to despise me too thoroughly, consider this: she fooled you, too. I am aware that, within an impressively short time of meeting me, Rosalind had me coming to heel like a well-trained dog: running up and down stairs to bring her coffee, nodding along while she bitched about my partner, imagining like some starstruck teenager that she was a kindred soul. 'I am intensely aware, by the way, that this story does not show me in a particularly flattering light. To make matters worse, French throws in this little gem towards the end of the novel: I wanted to take a baseball bat to his head. in hard-boild stories) are unlikable, and have many personal issues, but this guy just took the cake. Sure, he's been warped by his childhood and circumstances, but he does just about every annoying thing you could possibly imagine- he constantly navel-gazes and feels self pity, he sleeps with then immediately plays the stereotypical male 'I don't want anything to do with you now' role with his female partner (the person we were told was his best friend, and whom he would never ever sleep with), he acts like an idiot over the 17 year old villain/ temptress/ psychopath/ whatever betraying his partner, and by the end of the book he is worse off than ever. Rob (Adam) Ryan is an asshole, plain and simple. First, I don't think I've ever read a mystery novel with a less likable main character/narrator. That book wasn't perfect, but it had characters you rooted for, didn't wallow too much in pop culture references, and most importantly IT SOLVED THE FRIGGING MYSTERY.

Maybe my opinion has been influenced by reading THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO immediately prior to this one. If I could, I'd probably rate this at 1.5 stars- it ultimately pissed me off, and annoyed me throughout, but it was good enough to keep me reading and I suppose that should count for something.

The searcher by tana french review