The Trespasser: A Novel (Dublin Murder Squad)

The Trespasser: A Novel (Dublin Murder Squad)

“Atmospheric and unputdownable.” — People In bestselling author Tana French’s newest “tour de force” ( The New York Times ), 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 catalog-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 Antoinetteʼs road. Aislinnʼs 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? “A tour de force . . . When you read Ms. French—and she has become required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting—make only one assumption: All of your initial assumptions are wrong.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times   "Tana French is the most interesting, most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years." — The Washington Post "[Tana French] inspires cultic devotion in readers…most crime fiction is diverting; French's is consuming." — The New Yorker “Atmospheric and unputdownable.”  — People  “Thrilling.” —Buzzfeed   "A fierce examination of the chasm between how women choose to present themselves before the world and the more complicated truth underneath--and not to mention a total page-turner." — Harper's Bazaar “Beautifully crafted . . . may be her best yet.”   —Entertainment Weekly “This is the kind of book you’ll want to dig into with all the lights on.” — Cup of Jo   “There's nothing standard about French's approach to crime fiction, which plays the form much like a jazz musician improvising on a standard. Even when the outlines of the mystery seem familiar…she finds a way to get at enriching themes and powerful emotional truths in fresh and surprising ways.” —Chicago Tribune   “As in all of the author's work, meaning lurks beneath every quip and glance. French not only spins a twisty cop tale, she also encases it in meticulous prose, creating a read that is as elegant as it is dark." —Associated Press Praise for Tana French “To say Tana French is one of the great thriller writers is really too limiting. Rather she’s simply this: a truly great writer.”­  —Gillian Flynn   “Terrific—terrifying, amazing, and the prose is incandescent.” —Stephen King   “French is a poet of mood and a master builder of plots.” ­ —Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post   “One of the most distinct and exciting new voices in crime writing.”  —The Wall Street Journal Tana French is also the author of In the Woods , The Likeness , Faithful Place , Broken Harbor and The Secret Place . Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family. ***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof*** Copyright © 2016 Tana French The case comes in, or anyway it comes in to us, on a frozen dawn in the kind of closed-down January that makes you think the sun’s never going to drag itself back above the horizon. Me and my partner are finishing up another night shift, the kind I used to think wouldn’t exist on the Murder Squad: a massive scoop of boring and a bigger one of stupid, topped off with an avalanche of paperwork. Two scumbags decided to round off their Saturday night out by using another scumbag’s head as a dance mat, for reasons that are clear to no one including them; we turned up six witnesses, every one of whom was banjoed drunk, every one of whom told a different story from the other five, and every one of whom wanted us to forget the murder case and investigate why he had been thrown out of the pub / sold bad skunk / ditched by his girlfriend. By the time Witness Number 6 ordered me to find out why the dole had cut him off, I was ready to tell him it was because he was too stupid to legally qualify as a human being and kick all their arses out onto the street, but my partner does patience better than I do, which is one of the mai