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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I have been reading this series in order and I consider this the best one so far, even better than the debut novel "In the Woods." The main character - who is the primary detective leading the investigation has flaws himself - but you learn his background slowly through his interaction with the other main characters and some reflection caused by the case. It is not until the very end when it is clarified what happened. You also learn about how much discretion and honesty is required of the investigators so that justice properly dispensed and served. Politics also play an important role and the investigators are required to make a huge effort to ensure that the investigation is being performed fairly - and yet they have to push quite a bit from their end to make sure the facts are brought out.
Tana French is fantastic. This one was a bit intense for me - during the pandemic and preceding the election. Probably not the best time to read such an intense stressor. Whoa.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another super-twisty, well-written, gripping mystery full of surprises in the Dublin Murder Squad series! Perfect for the R.I.P. Challenge!
My full review & and audio sample:
https://bookbybook.blogspot.com/2021/10/review-broken-harbor.html
My full review & and audio sample:
https://bookbybook.blogspot.com/2021/10/review-broken-harbor.html
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a tough one. The crime was particularly depressing. The isolation of the victimized family (both physical and self-imposed emotional isolation) and the unraveling it caused was somewhat reminiscent of The Shining. The unraveling of Scorcher and his self-imposed isolation made an interesting parallel. His buttoned-up, in control personality did not hold up by the end. The story addresses many questions about mental health and what might cause a breakdown, ranging from a character with (maybe) bipolar disorder to a seemingly normal family that fell apart, and a seasoned detective caught in the middle. What's particularly sad is how Scorcher's relationship with the rookie detective reveals his loneliness and longing for connection. It seems like he might be punishing himself because of his feelings of responsibility for his mother's suicide. It's a lot to process, but but it's well-written and challenging and just a little bit heartbreaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Murder
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Tana French freaking does it again! This series is so immersive and at the end of each book I’m sad to see the main character go, but as soon as I start the next I’m immediately invested. Her writing is so delicately beautiful, especially when describing scenery or feelings, which doesn’t seem like it would be a fit for big tough male detectives but it IS! It works so well, and makes the detectives, victims, and killers more understandable and real.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
April 2020: This is one of my favorites from this series, and I'm kicking myself for not writing this review immediately upon finishing it for the second time, because I got something different out of it this time than I did on my first read. But I don't remember what that was! The only notes I left myself consisted of the temporary review I left here on Goodreads, which read, "This one whomped me good." So helpful.
Maybe it was something about Scorcher and his black and white worldview, and the limits of sanity in a world full of grey. I know that I continue to be impressed with her unparalleled ability to take complicated characters like Scorcher, who verge on the unlikable, and make them so human and relatable. I don't like Scorcher, but I feel for him.
This one is maybe even better on re-read, because half the weight of it is Scorcher's perspective distorting the case and his ability to find the truth, because of the things he wants to believe. If you remember what happened, you can see it all so clearly in a way you couldn't on the first go-round, where you're just as confused as he is. The story of the family on the ghost estate, slowly losing everything, was so sad, and so full of grey humanity.
If you somehow still haven't read Tana French, I highly recommend you give her a shot. This one wouldn't be a bad starting place. All the Dublin Murder Squad novels work best if you read them in order, but can also be read as standalones.
September 2015:
Guys, I'm obsessed with Tana French. I don't know if you can tell. I've given all of her books 4.5 stars or higher. Something about the way she writes about feelings and regret and humanity and just EVERYTHING, gets to me. You know how sometimes authors describe the process of writing like opening a vein? That's how I feel about Tana French, except in reverse. Instead of opening up her own veins, she's the one opening mine. And I'm like, goddamn, lady, I JUST HAD THIS CARPET CLEANED.
Broken Harbor, like the previous Faithful Place, had a narrator I didn't much care for, but as in Faithful Place, French makes that character and his flaws not only work for her, but she makes them the whole point. This time around we've got Scorcher Kennedy, the detective who got screwed out of the solve in Faithful Place. I would say he got screwed by detectives Frank Mackey and Stephen Moran, but I think it's more accurate to say he actually got screwed by his own black and white view of the world. He was convinced that the wrong guy did it, and now he's paying the price. Scorcher (whose real name is Mick) hasn't had a big case assigned to him since he biffed the last one, but he's handed a case that could salvage his reputation, and from the outside, it seems like a slam dunk.
On a ghost estate outside Dublin, the Spain family is found murdered. Two children under five, and a husband are dead. The wife is near death. But weird inconsistencies keep popping up that the easy solve can't explain away. Scorcher's rookie partner, Richie, is a sharp young guy, and the two soon find they work well together. But the case starts eating away at everything, including and especially Scorcher, whose sister Dina is mentally ill, and who has a history with the ghost estate in Brianstown, which used to be called Broken Harbour when Scorcher and his family vacationed there when he was a kid.
At the beginning of this book, it felt like the most bog-standard murder mystery French had written yet, and that turned out to be very much on purpose, because this book is at its heart is about the stuff you can't see, what's hidden underneath the veneer of civilization, about what it takes to push someone over the edge. Of madness that can touch you without warning, and there's nothing you can do about it. The same reason I have such a hard time with Scorcher as a person is the reason I find him fascinating as a character. He's the kind of guy who is hardwired to believe the world works a certain way and is totally unbending in the face of evidence to the contrary. And that's exactly why he's the perfect target for French's particular brand of psychological agony. Those kind of people are the ones who fall the hardest.
[4.5 stars]
Maybe it was something about Scorcher and his black and white worldview, and the limits of sanity in a world full of grey. I know that I continue to be impressed with her unparalleled ability to take complicated characters like Scorcher, who verge on the unlikable, and make them so human and relatable. I don't like Scorcher, but I feel for him.
This one is maybe even better on re-read, because half the weight of it is Scorcher's perspective distorting the case and his ability to find the truth, because of the things he wants to believe. If you remember what happened, you can see it all so clearly in a way you couldn't on the first go-round, where you're just as confused as he is. The story of the family on the ghost estate, slowly losing everything, was so sad, and so full of grey humanity.
If you somehow still haven't read Tana French, I highly recommend you give her a shot. This one wouldn't be a bad starting place. All the Dublin Murder Squad novels work best if you read them in order, but can also be read as standalones.
September 2015:
"I’m the least fanciful guy around, but on nights when I wonder whether there was any point to my day, I think about this: the first thing we ever did, when we started turning into humans, was draw a line across the cave door and say: Wild stays out. What I do is what the first men did. They built walls to keep back the sea. They fought the wolves for the hearth fire."
“Just about everything in this life is treacherous, ready to twist and shape-shift at any second; it seemed to me that the whole world would be a different place if you had someone you were certain of, certain to the bone, or if you could be that to someone else.”
Guys, I'm obsessed with Tana French. I don't know if you can tell. I've given all of her books 4.5 stars or higher. Something about the way she writes about feelings and regret and humanity and just EVERYTHING, gets to me. You know how sometimes authors describe the process of writing like opening a vein? That's how I feel about Tana French, except in reverse. Instead of opening up her own veins, she's the one opening mine. And I'm like, goddamn, lady, I JUST HAD THIS CARPET CLEANED.
Broken Harbor, like the previous Faithful Place, had a narrator I didn't much care for, but as in Faithful Place, French makes that character and his flaws not only work for her, but she makes them the whole point. This time around we've got Scorcher Kennedy, the detective who got screwed out of the solve in Faithful Place. I would say he got screwed by detectives Frank Mackey and Stephen Moran, but I think it's more accurate to say he actually got screwed by his own black and white view of the world. He was convinced that the wrong guy did it, and now he's paying the price. Scorcher (whose real name is Mick) hasn't had a big case assigned to him since he biffed the last one, but he's handed a case that could salvage his reputation, and from the outside, it seems like a slam dunk.
On a ghost estate outside Dublin, the Spain family is found murdered. Two children under five, and a husband are dead. The wife is near death. But weird inconsistencies keep popping up that the easy solve can't explain away. Scorcher's rookie partner, Richie, is a sharp young guy, and the two soon find they work well together. But the case starts eating away at everything, including and especially Scorcher, whose sister Dina is mentally ill, and who has a history with the ghost estate in Brianstown, which used to be called Broken Harbour when Scorcher and his family vacationed there when he was a kid.
At the beginning of this book, it felt like the most bog-standard murder mystery French had written yet, and that turned out to be very much on purpose, because this book is at its heart is about the stuff you can't see, what's hidden underneath the veneer of civilization, about what it takes to push someone over the edge. Of madness that can touch you without warning, and there's nothing you can do about it. The same reason I have such a hard time with Scorcher as a person is the reason I find him fascinating as a character. He's the kind of guy who is hardwired to believe the world works a certain way and is totally unbending in the face of evidence to the contrary. And that's exactly why he's the perfect target for French's particular brand of psychological agony. Those kind of people are the ones who fall the hardest.
[4.5 stars]