The Hunter: A Novel

A New York Times Bestseller • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 • A New York Times Best Crime and Best Thriller Novel of 2024 • A Washington Post Best Thriller of 2024 • An NPR, New York Post , Chicago Sun-Times , and Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024 • A Wall Street Journal , Parade , and AirMail Best Mystery Book of 2024 • An Elle Best Mystery and Thriller Book of 2024

“Extraordinary.”—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.” —TIME

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” ( The New York Times ), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.