It would be very easy to confuse this as another book in The Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French, but it’s not.  This is the second book in the Cal Hooper series which first appeared as The Searcher (same author) in 2020. The last Dublin Murder Squad book was published in 2016. .

The Hunter 
by Tana French
Read by Roger Clark 16h 24m
Rating A++ / mystery-thriller 
(#2 in Cal Hooper series)

Those characters from The Searcher continue to be featured in The Hunter, with the addition of  Johnny, Trey’s usually absent father,  Sheila, her over-worked mother, as well as some other assorted characters. Just like The Searcher, this book starts out slow getting the main characters nice and firm before the plot starts tangling up.

If there were similarities between The Searcher and Shane the old book by Jack Scheifer (book 1949 and movie 1953) which is set in Wyoming of the 1880s,  then The Hunter follows up by being reminiscent of The Luminaries  by Eleanor Catton, (book  2013 and TV mini-series 2020).  which is set in the 1860s in New Zealand but also concerns a gold find. 

In The Hunter, two years have passed so Trey is now 15, still misses her brother and wants revenge. She also misses her charming but no-account father, Johnny, who is often absent for long periods of time.  Cal Hooper has become a kind of father-figure to Trey with neighbor Lena as his love interest and the busy-body next door still snooping and gossiping .

This time Johnny has returned and finds a “business” acquaintance has followed him. It turns out the two of them seem to be working out some scheme to swindle the townspeople due to finding gold someplace and selling shares. It’s a bit complicated.  We’re aware now that Trey’s brother was killed and no one has been held accountable so Trey wants revenge.  That means there will be a couple mysteries to be solved because someone else is going to die.  

This is a masterfully written crime novel with the tension building slowly across several threads into a complete fiery climax. Also, to add some literary merit, there are fair themes woven in as some characters learn lessons about retribution, sacrifice, and family. I suppose there could be a third novel in the series, but the ending is quite satisfying as it is.