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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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 one is 4.5. I don't know what would bump it up to 5, only I'm saving room in case book #5 is even better. it's the best of the Murder Squad books so far.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Rating: Psychologically complex and painful
This series, and this book in particular, is far more than a police procedural, rather stories that delve deeply into people's hidden fears and messed up lives and minds. They deal not just with murder, but with broken lives and psychological scars that really never heal, but that the best you can hope for is scar tissue to paint them over so the agony isn't always front and center, but yet are always there to come to the surface under certain conditions.
Not easy to read, but horribly realistic, at least in my experience.
Absolutely loved this book! I thought this was the second-best I've read in the series so far. The main characters were so so well-written without being super likeable (which is a tough balance, IMO). The mystery was compelling because I thought it was all solved halfway through...but there's still half the book to go. If you're into murder mysteries, this series is so good.
Note for graphic violence and language.
Note for graphic violence and language.
Detective Kennedy solves a murder of a family, which brings back childhood memories of his mother's suicide. His own family dynamics weave throughout the investigation, as he mentoring a new recruit.
Everything I wanted it to be - gripping suspenseful & satisfying
This was ok, and probably you'd think it was quite good if it were the first Tana French mystery you'd read, but I found it a bit too reminiscent of her earlier books (detective has a Big Case at the same location of a Traumatic Childhood Incident! How will he Handle it??) and the conclusion to be a bit overwrought, as in, if the events had continued to play themselves out, the mystery probably would've been solved with a lot less work on the detectives' part. I was also pretty annoyed by the strident "no I'm definitely right!" attitudes, even though I guess that was part of the point in the hubris leading to that character's downfall. Could've been done better, as in any Greek tragedy.
Still, probably a good vacation read.
Still, probably a good vacation read.
Mick Kennedy always solves his cases and solves them efficiently. When O'Kelly gives him a case to work on with rookie partner Richie, Mick races to work. But this triple homicide of a family out in Brianstown, the old Broken Harbor, brings back memories of his own childhood vacations -- one in particular he believes mangled his youngest sister's sanity.
This is the fourth in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. Kennedy appeared in the last, Faithful Place, following the trend of featuring the previous book's side character as the new protagonist. Also typical of French's style is the psychological twist within each case. Rather than spanning several weeks or months, this book spans less than a week, and it is packed full of clues, twists, and wild circumstances.
I loved the dynamics of Kennedy's partnership with rookie Richie. He teaches, he scolds, he praises. He does not belittle Richie like the rest of the department, but instead wants him to learn from his mistakes and observe others in action.
The insanity bits begin to take hold when Kennedy's sister Dina enters the scene. Her dialogue is fantastic -- run-on sentences, incomplete phrases, scattered breaths and punctuation, ideas not quite stringing together. That sort of dialogue continues into Patrick's character, and later Jenny's, as you begin to see their worlds crumble around them. This is such an effective way of recognizing the deteriorating mind without it being the mind of the protagonist.
What prevented me from giving this four or five stars is due to the length. There were many passages I felt were unnecessary -- whole chapters, even. As much as I enjoyed Dina's character, I think we could have done without this side story. There was something about it that felt unresolved, or that if it was going to be explored at all then it should be done in depth rather than in the back of the mind or whenever it was convenient.
This is the fourth in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. Kennedy appeared in the last, Faithful Place, following the trend of featuring the previous book's side character as the new protagonist. Also typical of French's style is the psychological twist within each case. Rather than spanning several weeks or months, this book spans less than a week, and it is packed full of clues, twists, and wild circumstances.
I loved the dynamics of Kennedy's partnership with rookie Richie. He teaches, he scolds, he praises. He does not belittle Richie like the rest of the department, but instead wants him to learn from his mistakes and observe others in action.
The insanity bits begin to take hold when Kennedy's sister Dina enters the scene. Her dialogue is fantastic -- run-on sentences, incomplete phrases, scattered breaths and punctuation, ideas not quite stringing together. That sort of dialogue continues into Patrick's character, and later Jenny's, as you begin to see their worlds crumble around them. This is such an effective way of recognizing the deteriorating mind without it being the mind of the protagonist.
What prevented me from giving this four or five stars is due to the length. There were many passages I felt were unnecessary -- whole chapters, even. As much as I enjoyed Dina's character, I think we could have done without this side story. There was something about it that felt unresolved, or that if it was going to be explored at all then it should be done in depth rather than in the back of the mind or whenever it was convenient.