Faithful Place - Tana French

This is French's third novel in her trilogy about detectives from the Dublin undercover squad. While my memory is not always the best, it seems to me that each of the novels in the series (which also includes In the Woods and The Likeness) stands alone, and this third one doesn't even seem to have any of the same characters as the first two. What it does have is some pretty good twists and turns. Frank Mackey is dealing with an ex-wife he's still in love with, and a daughter coming into her own, when he discovers that the first love he thought abandoned him at age 19 was actually murdered. The murder forces Frank to return to his estranged family and deal with his abusive alcoholic father, and his simply horrible mother. As Frank works behind the scenes to find out the truth, he learns that his family is inextricably linked to his former lover's fate. The plot is a bit overly dramatic at times, but I liked the portrayal of Frank's big Irish family and the complicated relationships among siblings and family. I will note, once again, that I was highly irritated with the portrayal of the young girl in the book - the way her dialogue was written reminded me of Meg from A Wrinkle in Time. I mean, really, are 8-12 year old girls really that whiny and obnoxious? Maybe I don't want to know.