A suspenseful doorstopper reaches deep into the mind

Tana French: the novelist uses the structure of a suspense novel to deliver finely hewn prose that is rich with intellectual heft and psychological rigour Pic: Bryan Meade

Fiction: The Wych Elm, By Tana French, Penguin, €17.25

Some novelists make a splash in their home countries, but fail to find favour elsewhere. Tana French is not one of those novelists. The author might reside quietly in Dublin – born in the US, she has Irish, Italian and Russian heritage, and originally trained as an actor at Trinity before turning to writing – but her books, which include Faithful Place , The ...