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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I'm such a fan of Tana French, but this book just didn't do it for me. I won't give up on her though - her first three books were great. The error with this one was picking an unlikable character to focus on. And unlike some of her other characters, he was not redeemed. Still, the story is decent and the book has those moments of French's beautiful writing, although not with the same intensity as her first 3 novels. Hoping the next one is more like the first three, all of which were 4 - 5 stars.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
WOW.
I've enjoyed all of the Dublin Murder Squad books, and for me, they've gotten better and better as the series has continued. I liked the first one, but I think the later ones have done a fantastic job bringing deeper issues into the stories. Broken Harbor explores mental health in multiple ways--how someone else's mental state can affect your own, the impact location can have on your thoughts, the ways in which we trick ourselves into thinking that everything is, or will be, just fine. It explores the lengths people go to to protect the ones they love, as well as the accompanying guilt. My one issue with it is
Anyway, Tana French continues to be fantastic.
I've enjoyed all of the Dublin Murder Squad books, and for me, they've gotten better and better as the series has continued. I liked the first one, but I think the later ones have done a fantastic job bringing deeper issues into the stories. Broken Harbor explores mental health in multiple ways--how someone else's mental state can affect your own, the impact location can have on your thoughts, the ways in which we trick ourselves into thinking that everything is, or will be, just fine. It explores the lengths people go to to protect the ones they love, as well as the accompanying guilt. My one issue with it is
Spoiler
that everything with Dina gets wrapped up so quickly. I understand that it's meant to show that her actions are par for the course, and that this is how she is and that when you have mentally ill family members, sometimes fitting them into your life is just what you have to do, but I really wanted her to get help, or (and yes, I know this sounds awful) for her to die. I have a very short fuse now when it comes to dealing with other people, so when Kennedy screamed at her, I cheered. I did the same thing when Jonah yelled at his siblings in When We Collided---I don't like martyrs, or characters who take care of people and never get angry. That's not how it works, it's not healthy to be someone who never gets angry. And I just had no tolerance for Dina and I wanted her to go away, because she's not someone I could deal with in real life.Anyway, Tana French continues to be fantastic.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To me, this was the best so far for this series. There was a lot going on to make it interesting, aside from the murder of a few people in a family. All this was going on during a big downturn in the economy which I could relate to, as I lived through a few similar downturns, the housing bubble being the most similar. Here, people were living in a half-finished development, where most units were empty and unfinished, with the survivors so far underwater they might never recover.
There were also some internet discussion boards that were entertaining for me, as I've been participating in these since around 1990. It was a bit funny at times, actually very realistic.
The whole book was very dark, including the ending. Lots of people hurt emotionally, a few killed, and not too much happiness, just craziness.
Made me seek out an Elvis Cole story to cheer myself up a bit. :-)
There were also some internet discussion boards that were entertaining for me, as I've been participating in these since around 1990. It was a bit funny at times, actually very realistic.
The whole book was very dark, including the ending. Lots of people hurt emotionally, a few killed, and not too much happiness, just craziness.
Made me seek out an Elvis Cole story to cheer myself up a bit. :-)
This whole series is so good... In this one, Scorcher Kennedy works hard, and navigates via positive thinking and aphorisms to compensate for the chaotic void in his soul. He plays by the rules, as did the murder victims--a family--he is now investigating. The urgency and tension, and Scorcher's personal risks as he pursues truth and justice in this shocking, violent case, made this impossible for me to put down. Tana French is brilliant at perception, nuance, and portrayal.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mike Kennedy is assigned to look into the murder of Pat Spain and his two children - and the attempted murder of mom Jennifer Spain. The Spains live in Brianstown - aka - Broken Harbor - a seaside development north of the city - that has many unfinished homes due to the housing bust.
Kennedy has some family history with Broken Harbor - which has nothing to do with the story - other than to explain why his sister Dina is crazy.
Back to the Spains. They bought the house early on - started their family. Everything was picture perfect. Pat had a great job, Jennifer drives an SUV, is the loving mother, taking Emma to school and Jack to preschool. Then Pat loses his job - and - with an apparent mink infestation in their house - he loses his mind.
As Kennedy and his new to the Murder Squad partner Richie, investigate - they find multiple oddities. Starting with - holes in the walls, seven baby monitors, chicken wire in the ceiling and a voyeur’s nest in a neighboring building complete with binoculars to look in on the Spain’s kitchen.
The investigation focuses on Conor Brennan, the man who set up the nest - and - turns out to be a growing up best friend of the Spains and Emma’s godfather. What happened to cause their estrangement? Looking like Conor is the murderer - complete with a confession. But Richie keeps insisting that they should look at Pat Spain. His online searches to find a solution for the infestation in the attic lead the detectives down a path that makes Kennedy believe that Pat went crazy, Jennifer reached out to Conor for assistance - and Conor acted to “rescue” Jennifer by murdering Pat. But why the children as well? It doesn’t add up.
Kennedy is focused on Brennan, Richie is focused on Spain - and it all blows up when Dina follows Richie home to ask where Kennedy is. Richie has no idea that Dina is Mike’s sister - he thinks she is a friend. She finds an evidence bag at Richie’s house - tries to take it to Mike at the station - but is intercepted by Mike’s nemesis Quigley. When Mike finally gets his hands on the evidence bag - he confronts Richie with hiding a crucial piece of evidence - which Richie defends in a lackluster manner. In a way - Mike’s crazy sister blows the case open.
Note for myself - what Richie found was a woman’s pink fingernail at Conor’s apartment - implicating Jennifer. Kennedy goes to the hospital and gets an un documented confession from Jennifer that she couldn’t take Pat’s obsession with the mink - the harm it was doing to the children - how it was breaking up their perfectly happy family. She put the children to bed - and then sometime towards dawn, smothered her two children, went downstairs and attacked her husband with a kitchen knife, and attempted to kill herself with the same knife. She might have succeeded - except that Conor was in his nest. Seeing the struggle with Pat - he came over to the house - but Pat was dead. Jennifer kept telling him that she did it to rescue the children - begged Conor to let her join them. He wiped the internet history from Pat’s laptop - and took the knife away with him. Leaving one muddy footprint.
In the end - we get the story of what happened to Mike and Dina’s mother out on Broken Harbor - which caused Dina’s mind to break. Well done.
Kennedy has some family history with Broken Harbor - which has nothing to do with the story - other than to explain why his sister Dina is crazy.
Back to the Spains. They bought the house early on - started their family. Everything was picture perfect. Pat had a great job, Jennifer drives an SUV, is the loving mother, taking Emma to school and Jack to preschool. Then Pat loses his job - and - with an apparent mink infestation in their house - he loses his mind.
As Kennedy and his new to the Murder Squad partner Richie, investigate - they find multiple oddities. Starting with - holes in the walls, seven baby monitors, chicken wire in the ceiling and a voyeur’s nest in a neighboring building complete with binoculars to look in on the Spain’s kitchen.
The investigation focuses on Conor Brennan, the man who set up the nest - and - turns out to be a growing up best friend of the Spains and Emma’s godfather. What happened to cause their estrangement? Looking like Conor is the murderer - complete with a confession. But Richie keeps insisting that they should look at Pat Spain. His online searches to find a solution for the infestation in the attic lead the detectives down a path that makes Kennedy believe that Pat went crazy, Jennifer reached out to Conor for assistance - and Conor acted to “rescue” Jennifer by murdering Pat. But why the children as well? It doesn’t add up.
Kennedy is focused on Brennan, Richie is focused on Spain - and it all blows up when Dina follows Richie home to ask where Kennedy is. Richie has no idea that Dina is Mike’s sister - he thinks she is a friend. She finds an evidence bag at Richie’s house - tries to take it to Mike at the station - but is intercepted by Mike’s nemesis Quigley. When Mike finally gets his hands on the evidence bag - he confronts Richie with hiding a crucial piece of evidence - which Richie defends in a lackluster manner. In a way - Mike’s crazy sister blows the case open.
In the end - we get the story of what happened to Mike and Dina’s mother out on Broken Harbor - which caused Dina’s mind to break. Well done.
I keep forgetting that murder mysteries are not often for me, the reader, to solve. I remembered this about halfway through Broken Harbor, and rather than beating myself up for not being able to figure things out right away - what's the fun in that, after all - I went along with the flow, keeping pace with the protagonist. I enjoyed the ride. French succeeded in making me really, really want to know the truth behind the bizarre domestic tableau found by the detectives.
Some chapters are almost entirely dialogue - not a complaint, just an observation - and I think the parts involving the protagonist's sister added unnecessary bloat to the story. I can see how she was useful for his character development, but I wanted to get back to solving the crime.
I will read more stories by Tana French. 3.5 stars.
Some chapters are almost entirely dialogue - not a complaint, just an observation - and I think the parts involving the protagonist's sister added unnecessary bloat to the story. I can see how she was useful for his character development, but I wanted to get back to solving the crime.
I will read more stories by Tana French. 3.5 stars.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated