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A review by tonstantweader
Granite Harbor: A Novel by Peter Nichols
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Granite Harbor is the name of a small town in Maine that holds tightly to its past. It’s a quiet town where a British writer who has run out of stories can get a job as the town’s only police department detective. Alex Brangwen followed his wife to Maine where they soon divorced after his writing career folded. He stays because they share custody of their teenage daughter Sophie and he is a good father. He’s a decent police detective.
Granite Harbor has a colonial history that is honored by The Settlement, a small historical reenactment village. Isabel, a former teacher digging herself out of the hold she and alcohol dug, has just started working there. It’s one of those towns where people recognize each other on the streets. But then there is a murder, a grotesque murder of a high school student, a close friend of Isabel’s son Ethan.
Ethan is a great kid. He joins Sophie and his friend Jared in mourning their friend. Then Jared is murdered and Alex and Isabel begin to fear their children are next.
Peter Nichols creates a Granite Harbor with streets you can walk down, salt breezes you can taste, and people you know nearly as well as your neighbors. The sense of place and multi-layered character-building are delicious. The setting and the people are perfect for the police procedural that readers will expect.
But things take a turn. The murder is grotesque and the murderer’s back story is bound to traumatize even the toughest reader. This backstory is the sort of thing that is found in horror stories. It was too out of sync with the setting and the characters. It felt like a betrayal.
And then, it violates the rules of The Detection Club. There’s Rule Two: “All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.” This is especially annoying when old-fashioned police work gets there on its own. There are also too few people who could be possible suspects so you will solve the mystery too quickly.
I am annoyed because the place and people promise so much and it should have been a great mystery if only it were not so horrific.
Granite Harbor will be released on April 30th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
Granite Harbor at Celadon Books
Peter Nichols on Wikipedia
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/granite-harbor-by-peter-nichols/
Granite Harbor has a colonial history that is honored by The Settlement, a small historical reenactment village. Isabel, a former teacher digging herself out of the hold she and alcohol dug, has just started working there. It’s one of those towns where people recognize each other on the streets. But then there is a murder, a grotesque murder of a high school student, a close friend of Isabel’s son Ethan.
Ethan is a great kid. He joins Sophie and his friend Jared in mourning their friend. Then Jared is murdered and Alex and Isabel begin to fear their children are next.
Peter Nichols creates a Granite Harbor with streets you can walk down, salt breezes you can taste, and people you know nearly as well as your neighbors. The sense of place and multi-layered character-building are delicious. The setting and the people are perfect for the police procedural that readers will expect.
But things take a turn. The murder is grotesque and the murderer’s back story is bound to traumatize even the toughest reader. This backstory is the sort of thing that is found in horror stories. It was too out of sync with the setting and the characters. It felt like a betrayal.
And then, it violates the rules of The Detection Club. There’s Rule Two: “All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.” This is especially annoying when old-fashioned police work gets there on its own. There are also too few people who could be possible suspects so you will solve the mystery too quickly.
I am annoyed because the place and people promise so much and it should have been a great mystery if only it were not so horrific.
Granite Harbor will be released on April 30th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
Granite Harbor at Celadon Books
Peter Nichols on Wikipedia
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/granite-harbor-by-peter-nichols/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Murder, and Violence