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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I loved the beginning of this book. I liked the banter between the head detective and his assistant, I felt like the setting was well described and the characters reasonably flawed and believable. But then something happened. Or something didn't happen. Towards the middle of the audiobook, the premise got strange and I kept waiting for it to be reasonably explained. Where is the author going with this? The beginning had been so good that I swore she would provide a reasonable plot line to explain this odd bit in the middle. And I waited and waited and listened patiently and then impatiently and it never happened. The plot got worse, two of the characters made no sense and in the end, had it been a real book and not an audio on my iPad, I would have thrown it across the room. I gave it 3 stars because i loved the narrator and I really thought the author did a good job with the detectives. It was the people being investigated that fell apart for me. If I read this author again, I'll get a real book, so I can skim through it to make sure it makes sense.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked this, but not as much as Tana French's other books. I was really looking forward to it for my vacation read, and it definitely kept me entertained, but I found the detective's personal story a distraction from the main story rather than it adding as it was supposed to.
Good murder mystery, and I like Tana French's style of touching on the supernatural without resolving it. Didn't like the protagonist as much as Cassie from The Likeness.
4.5. Tana French continues to impress me with the way she tackles the crime genre and the depth she brings to it. She is just so good at crafting deep relationships to people- the way people can make each other glow, bring out the best in each other. And how devastating it is to lose those kinds of bonds. The setting and the time period for this book is particularly fascinating- even as it was written in 2012, it was looking back at the 2008 recession and its devastating impact on folks. I couldn’t tear myself away from the book at the end and was swept away by an array of emotions I didn’t expect.
That said - it is pretty damn hard to read a cop book in 2022. acab!! Even though you can see how it’s justified in the eyes of our protagonist, the gaslighting, the lies, the harassment, the evidence tampering….. pheeeewww.
That said - it is pretty damn hard to read a cop book in 2022. acab!! Even though you can see how it’s justified in the eyes of our protagonist, the gaslighting, the lies, the harassment, the evidence tampering….. pheeeewww.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book! Second fav of the series so far after Faithful Place.
French has such a good way of making characters that you can’t like or root for, but you also can’t hate.
French has such a good way of making characters that you can’t like or root for, but you also can’t hate.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This series is phenomenal. I thought book three was the weakest (though still good) so I was thrilled that I loved Broken Harbor. It captured the magic I felt with the very first book — and I think that’s because of the partnership between Scorcher and Richie, which was reminiscent or Rob and Cassie. (Books two and three were sorely missing the partnership dynamics)
I loved the mystery of this and how it was all revealed. There were very few suspects but it still had me going back and forth between them, not knowing whether the veteran Scorcher was right, or the rookie Richie. It was a great dynamic. The setting of the half-abandoned development and the family slowly going insane worked so well, and the whole subplot with the animal in the attic was chilling. Absolutely loved this one.
I loved the mystery of this and how it was all revealed. There were very few suspects but it still had me going back and forth between them, not knowing whether the veteran Scorcher was right, or the rookie Richie. It was a great dynamic. The setting of the half-abandoned development and the family slowly going insane worked so well, and the whole subplot with the animal in the attic was chilling. Absolutely loved this one.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was… fine