“The nice thing about living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.”

–Immanuel Kant

Tana French’s The Keeper, the third and final book in her Cal Hooper trilogy, opens with the disappearance of young Rachel Holohan on the eve of her engagement. Soon her body is found in the river, an apparent suicide. Most people in the fictious Irish village of Ardnakelty agree that she killed herself, but Trey Reddy, Cal’s surrogate daughter,  does not.

Trey thinks Tommy Moynihan, local power-broker and Rachel’s future father-in-law, is responsible, either directly or indirectly, for her death. Cal’s fiancé, local widow Lena Dunne, worries that she missed warning signs of the Rachel’s state of mind, and she has no illusions about what her neighbours might be capable of.  Soon, her questions, combined with Cal’s discreet investigation of the girl’s final days sets of a chain of events neither of them could have predicted.

Moynihan relishes his position as minor royalty in the county, doling out carrots and sticks to the villagers, who know from bitter generational experience that it’s not a good idea to get on his bad side. When details of Moynihan’s plot to buy up farm land to clear the way for a factory come to light, the peaceful life Cal has painstakingly constructed after his retirement from the Chicago police is threatened.

Readers of the first two books in the series will know that Ardnakelty is layered and complicated and while Cal is no longer a “blow-in” after three years, he is only beginning to crack its social codes. Important political actions masquerade as simple nights at the pub, rumour is deployed as a weapon, and the seemingly friendly officers of the Garda turn out to be for sale.

French’s work definitely fits the label of “Irish noir,” and The Keeper grows darker as tension mounts vengeance becomes increasingly tragic. Beneath the surface question about the real cause of Rachel’s death is an exploration of the forces of tradition vs. modernity, and the resulting shifts in power and authority.  What kind of justice will the community demand, who has the right to enforce it, and how far will it reach?