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Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad #4)

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 · rating details · 12,634 ratings · 2,434 reviews

Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, the brash cop from Tana French’s bestselling Faithful Place, plays by the book and plays hard. That’s what’s made him the Murder squad’s top detective—and that’s what puts the biggest case of the year into his hands.

On one of the half-built, half-abandoned “luxury” developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children are dead....more

ebook, US Edition, 464 pages

Published July 24th 2012 by Penguin Group (USA) (first published January 1st 2012)

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Aug 01, 2012 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: distant-lands

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.

there is no better quote to encapsulate this book. because wild doesn't always want to stay out, and tana french keeps finding t...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Regina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, mystery, thriller, philosophy, favorite-series, arc-publisher-netgalley, favorites, will-continue-series

Tana French could write an obituary and I would read it. I would, in fact, hunt down the newspaper just so that I could read it. Ms. French's books are the sum of almost everything I love in fiction -- flawed characters, seriously messed up pasts, conflicting moral questions, interesting settings and subtle social commentary. I believe French's writing could be easily categorized as mystery or thriller, but I think putting French's books in those boxes is misleading and doesn't do her books the...more Tana French could write an obituary and I would read it. I would, in fact, hunt down the newspaper just so that I could read it. Ms. French's books are the sum of almost everything I love in fiction -- flawed characters, seriously messed up pasts, conflicting moral questions, interesting settings and subtle social commentary. I believe French's writing could be easily categorized as mystery or thriller, but I think putting French's books in those boxes is misleading and doesn't do her books the justice they deserve. Tana French writes about characters, she solidly develops them, lets you peak into their lives and then as you are leaning in to get a good look - you tumble into the characters' lives and storyline completely. Reading her books is an experience.

Like most fans, I waited excitedly and curiously for over a year for Broken Harbour. The main character in Broken Harbour is "Scorcher" and he was introduced in French's last book Faithful Place. Just an aside (but an important one!), it is not necessary to read Faithful Place or any other book by French to understand and enjoy Broken Harbour. Scorcher was not an important character in Faithful Place and he seemed, rather distasteful. So I waited to see what Ms. French could do to make me want to read about him. But I never doubted that she would. I was right to not doubt, I could not put Broken Harbour down. I wanted to quit my job and my family and just read and that is the magic of Tana French.

Broken Harbour is darker than the first three books she has written, which I did not think was possible. Like Faithful Place, the book deals with family dynamics, economic struggles, and career pressures. Scorcher is not a likeable guy. He is rigid, he lectures subordinates, and he lives by a very strict way of life -- there is no compromise. The upside to his character is that he judges himself as harshly as he judges those around him. He never lets himself take a break from any of his tough rules. Little by little as the murder investigation deepens, the reader learns more about Scorcher's past. There is very little that is shocking about childhood stories and said tales of painful memories, but Scorcher's tale is sad. And his method of dealing with his pain is in the end, understandable.

Okay, take a look at the cover of the book -- the lone and empty tricycle by the beach. Eerie? Sad? Yes and even scary. Broken Harbour had me spooked in the beginning to go to bed. The story is introduced with a horrific crime that has taken place in a very eerie setting. The setting is that of a building development that was never completed due to the economic turn-down. Only a few families live in the one or two completed homes among a skeleton of abandoned construction along the coast of Ireland. Stresses of job loss, disappearing social status, marital pressure and loss of sanity work to make every layer of this story heartbreaking, exciting and slightly scary. Not scary in the Stephen King or Halloween horror movie sense; but scary in the sense that wow, that family could be mine. I could lose my job tomorrow and where would we be? Tana French brings some very real economic realities to the forefront and weaves them together to create a rich and frightening tale. I highly recommend this book for fans of Tana French, psychological thrillers, mysteries and character driven stories. You will not regret it.

To read this review and others like it check out: www.badassbookreviews.com (less)

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Aug 11, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller-horror, 2012

Broken Harbour is yet another gripping psychological mystery from one of my favourite authors. I love how Ms French can always be relied on to deliver something brilliant that is far more about people and their mentalities than it is about simply solving cases. She has a real talent for creating personalities that seem to jump off the page and Scorcher Kennedy is no exception.

Though all her novels offer an in-depth exploration of the human mind, I think Broken Harbour is perhaps the one that best explores insanity... that fine line so easily crossed in times of desperation and hardship. I questioned the mental state of almost every character I came across in this novel, all of them had some serious issues and obsessions that drove them to new extremes. Is Pat Spain an overly cautious man looking out for his family, or have their recent financial worries driven him over the edge?

But it's not just this novel's victims that seem prone to madness, there's a big question mark over Scorcher Kennedy himself and whether or not his childhood experiences at Broken Harbour are influencing his decisions on the case and making him irrational. And, of course, Scorcher's indisputably mad sister who turns up and causes havoc at the worst possible times. There's just an uncertainty hanging over everything in this novel, all the characters' motivations come under the microscope.

Once again, this is more psychology than mystery, with the murders forming the platform on which minds can be explored. It's a good job, really, seeing as the murderer is fairly easy to guess. Oddly, though, French's novels do not suffer when you discover the culprit early, I think mainly because her stories are more about the reasons why people were led to murder and the reasons why the people around them behaved the way they did. It's this psychological analysis that keeps me hooked to her books, plus my need to discover where the detectives will finally end up.

P.S. I'm still waiting to hear about Rob. I know I sound like a broken record, but can't we just get a glimpse into his life now? Please?(less)

27 likes · like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Lost_In_Kudzu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-challenge

I miss Rob and Cassie. Wish she'd get back to their story :/

99 likes · like · see review

Aug 18, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, europe-and-british-isles, cops-and-pee-eyes, miss-trees

3.5 stars

Netterooski's Top Five Suggestions For Alternate Titles:

The Critter In the Crawlspace
A Rodent In the Rafters
The Monitor Murders
Paddy's Pretend Pet?
Video Vermin

If you've read the book, the above needs no explanation. If you haven't yet read it, prepare yourself for obsessive coverage of animal behavior.

28 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2012 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’ve been an avid fan of Tana French since her chilling debut novel, In the Woods, a poetically written murder mystery that combined police procedural with psychological thriller. She writes evocatively about solitary adults afflicted by damaged childhoods. Her novels go beyond the murder cases and weave layered tales about memories, the search for identity, the healing of broken families, and the social and economic issues of contemporary Ireland. Broken Harbor will satisfy old enthusiasts and...more I’ve been an avid fan of Tana French since her chilling debut novel, In the Woods, a poetically written murder mystery that combined police procedural with psychological thriller. She writes evocatively about solitary adults afflicted by damaged childhoods. Her novels go beyond the murder cases and weave layered tales about memories, the search for identity, the healing of broken families, and the social and economic issues of contemporary Ireland. Broken Harbor will satisfy old enthusiasts and hook new ones alike with its complex characters, detailed plot, moving themes and fresh, taut dialogue.

The narrator is Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, a tough, flinty cop introduced in French’s third novel, Faithful Place. Here he is fleshed out as a media-savvy and taciturn (and surprisingly sensitive) crackerjack detective with a reputation to fix. He is assigned to a murder that occurred in the affluent but half-abandoned suburb of Brianstown, which used to be called Broken Harbor. This is sure to be a high profile case: the fatal stabbing of a family man, Patrick Spain, and the suffocation of his two young children. His wife, Jenny, a victim of multiple knife wounds, is in critical condition at the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Kennedy has a resonant family history with BH, reaching back to childhood summer vacations with his mother (who died years ago) and two sisters. One sister, Dina, is emotionally unstable, volatile and flammable, and pops in unannounced at inconvenient times. Kennedy is protective of Dina, but her labile moods and confrontational behaviors are particularly vexing to him during this investigation. Each day that he works on the case has him scratching at the past, exposing his dark torments to the light, as he gets closer to the private lives of the Spain family.

Kennedy chooses a rookie cop, Richie Curran, to help him solve the murder in an upscale housing development, one of many communities that have suffered from Dublin's economic recession. Patrick, they learn from Jenny's sister, Fiona, had been laid off from his job months ago, and the historically happy couple were challenged by recession-era fates. Does this factor into the murder? And why are there so many irregular holes in the walls?

The story unfolds gradually, with dense and convoluted character descriptions buoyed by an unhurried pace. It begins with a fact-finding mission, as all her books do, and expands its focus to a poignant examination of family, as well as the socio-economic milieu of Dublin that affects the quality of everyday lives. From the quotidian to the uncommon, French’s story encompasses loss, love, and redemption, and wraps around the reader in an elaborate maze.

All the books are loosely connected by a non-narrating character from one novel showing up as the narrator in the next. In this way, nobody suffers from too much exposure (which leads to a tendency to flatten out over time). Instead, the author continues to expand on her vivid portrait of Ireland’s working classes with her socially observant eye and sumptuous, moving prose.

Her talent for mining subconscious fears and desires borders on the spectral, with a finesse that keeps it real but laces it with gothic menace. For devotees longing for Rob and Cassie to return, you may be initially disappointed at their absence. However, you’ll let it go once you engage in this spellbinding tale.

The prose-rich Tana French will be music to your ears. Here is how Scorcher sees the fragile, sonorous beauty of Broken Harbor:

"I looked out over the water, into the night that was coming in on the tide...The beach looked like something I had seen in an old film, once upon a time; that hotheaded boy felt like a character from some book I had read and given away in childhood. Only, somewhere far inside my spine and deep in the palms of my hands, something hummed; like a sound too low to hear, like a warning, like a cello string when a tuning fork strikes the perfect tone to call it awake."
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Aug 10, 2012 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hardback, series, britain-ireland, mystery-thriller, paper-read, published-2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It's Here! *pets cover; pats pages*. So very rare that I handle a spanking new book.

Dedication: For Darley, magician and gentleman

Opening: Let's get one thing straight: I was the perfect man for this case. You'd be amazed how many of the lads would have run a mile, given the choice - and I had a choice, at least at the start.

From the back cover: Nothing about the way this family lived shows why they deserved to die.

But here's the thing about murder.

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it doesn't...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Matt Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense

Actual rating: 3½ stars

I honestly had no intention of reading Broken Harbor after being completely drained a year ago by In the Woods and The Likeness back-to-back. And then there I was, in the bookstore, reading the inner sleeve and thinking, "Hmm, that sounds really interesting." Well played, Tana French.

Two weeks into mentoring his new rookie partner, Detective Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy is given what appears to be the case of the year: a family brutally murdered in Brianstown; husband and kid...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Lewis Weinstein rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-thrillers

My first Tana French. So far it's terrific.

Dec 21 ... The first 100 pages or so really captured my interest. The next 100 pages have simply drifted, with long scenes going nowhere and little or no tension.

A comment added to Switterbug's review ... Your excellent review encourages me to complete Broken Harbor, which, after a terrific start, has become bogged down. Perhaps I will see, as you did, how this slow story development emerges into a satisfying conclusion.

I'll finish the book and add mo...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

IN THE WOODS proved a tough read for me, but now that I’ve finished, and enjoyed, BROKEN HARBOR I’ll add the novel that started it all back into my to-read pile. True to form, the fourth novel in the series has a different spin than other mysteries I’ve read, with a flawed main character who views the world in black and white. Not your typical whodunit, this novel focuses more on why, and why certainly keeps you reading until the end.

The dialogue proves strong and compelling, sense of place play...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Tamahome rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Checked out because of über-reader Karen's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A talk the author gave at a library: http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast...

pg 69/450 (13 hours total?) Very promising British crime/mystery novel so far. Apparently the author takes a minor character from a previous novel and makes it the main character for the next one, creating a chain. In this case the character was a douche police detective. But maybe in this book we can see why he was that way. From...more
Checked out because of über-reader Karen's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A talk the author gave at a library: http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast...

pg 69/450 (13 hours total?) Very promising British crime/mystery novel so far. Apparently the author takes a minor character from a previous novel and makes it the main character for the next one, creating a chain. In this case the character was a douche police detective. But maybe in this book we can see why he was that way. From the library talk I gathered that the author was an ex-actress and gets a lot of police info from talks with a friend. There's a lot of interesting scenes between people and what sounds like realistic police procedural info. I'm not sure I'd like the audiobook. I'm reading it in an American accent, heh.

pg 124/450 Reading it pretty fast. I'm not sure I want all this sad homelife in my genre fiction. And I just saw the book on the best seller shelf. I feel tainted!

pg 206/450 Hey, it seems like it's over. Or maybe not. Hmmm. One thing that bugs me a little is that it's first person narration, and the descriptions are very eloquent. It just seems if a cop could write this well, he should quit and become a writer. :) But hey, I'm reading 3 hours a day of this, so I'm on board. The dialog is very good. I could easily see some 2 part cable tv TBS adaptation.

pg 300/450 See how I stopped today at a nice even number, so I could put it in Goodreads? Hmm, this is a little long, but I don't usually read books this fast. Only 150 pages to go. I hope the conclusion isn't "everyone is just crazy". I get the feeling the even the main character is going to go through something big, which is nice.

Pg 360/450 Not sure about this...

All done. There's a lot of good characterization (maybe too much for me), but I found the mystery's solution implausible. Some may find it moving. Certainly a lot of talk went into explaining it. The effect of the current economy on people is dealt with somewhat. An audiobook would definitely work with an American accent, except for the occasional cute British or Irish slang, like 'gaff' for house. And boy does the word 'OK' come up a lot. I like the idea of the author using a new character in each book of her series. Then she can go all out with their life. Kind of like that Star Trek where the aliens are always on a suicide run, so they can always use 100% power in their ship attacks ("Journey to Babel"). Again it's very well written in first person, but to me it sounds like a writer instead of a cop. A nice change of pace from my usual reading (scifi).
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Sep 27, 2012 Step rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Much better than the third book in the series, and some great buildup, as always, but UGH, Tana French needs to learn to stick the landing. I'm still frustrated over the ending of the first book, and only the second has had an ending deserving of the previous x pages. With this one, unrealistic character choices makes for an ending that doesn't quite make any sense, and certainly doesn't match the journey we took to get there. But, it was better than the third book? Now can we PLEASE find out wh...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, novels, mystery

Tana French is so good. I liked this book a lot; parts of it were so creepy, covering things I've never quite seen in a crime or mystery novel before. I like that this book is similar to her other books, in terms of balancing the investigation with the narrator's melancholy and sense of loss. I like that it covered a different sort of crime. What I didn't like, if I must pick a bone, is how talky it was. The characters speak in multiple paragraph chunks, and sometimes all of their conversation f...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was another 3.5 stars for me. I really, really liked how procedural this was. The story starts with the detective Michael Kennedy getting the murder assignment (after the usual set up: this should've been a typical case, but it wasn't--all the stuff to set up suspense), and then walks the case step by step from seeing the victims--parents and 2 kids--dead in their house to a fairly satisfying conclusion. That was interesting to me. French delivers the long, careful dialogue without rushing....more

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Apr 05, 2013 ☮Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So many crazy people in this book, in need of some serious counseling. Having just read The Burgess Boys too, the sibling dynamic between Mick (Scorcher) and his sisters reminded me of the similar history of The B. Boys’ dad’s tragic death haunting those kids forever. In Broken Harbor, Mom commits suicide when the 3 kids are young -- the youngest probably witnessed it and/or was meant to be a part of it. Mick has a memory of that day too, which isn’t revealed until the end.
He should really be...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Arielle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: written-this-century, mental-illness, crime-thriller, real-life

3.75

Oh god. Devastating. There is no joy in this book - none at all. This may sound obvious, with the plot centring around the homicide of a family (including children), but in each of French's previous novels there is always a gentleness somewhere, a few moments of respite and of lightness and of hope. Yes, even the first (Into The Woods) which deals with psychopaths and the murder of a child. I'm not sure if the plot in Broken Harbour is the reason for the absence of all of these, or if it is...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mick `Scorcher' Kennedy is an Irish cop to be admired. He wins cases and he knows good from bad - no gray areas for him and he doesn't step over the line. He is a cop's cop.

When a terrible murder case comes into the precinct, the superintendent assigns it to Mick and his rookie partner, Richie Curran. The case is ugly - two parents stabbed and their two children smothered to death in their cribs. The wife is alive, but barely. Who is the murderer and what is the motive? There is blood all over t...more Mick `Scorcher' Kennedy is an Irish cop to be admired. He wins cases and he knows good from bad - no gray areas for him and he doesn't step over the line. He is a cop's cop.

When a terrible murder case comes into the precinct, the superintendent assigns it to Mick and his rookie partner, Richie Curran. The case is ugly - two parents stabbed and their two children smothered to death in their cribs. The wife is alive, but barely. Who is the murderer and what is the motive? There is blood all over the kitchen and holes punched out in the walls of the house. The computer information has been erased but not well enough - the police are able to restore it.

The location of the murders is Broken Harbor, a place that holds sad and horrible memories for Mick and his family. It is the place that he vacationed as a child and where his mother took her life when he was a teenager. Mick and his older sister, Geri, helped to raise their younger sister, Dina, who has turned out to be mentally ill as an adult, most likely manic depression or borderline personality disorder. No one in the squad knows about Mick's past connection to Broken Harbor but it is a weight on his back all the same. As he investigates the murders he flashes back to his childhood and the reader can feel the pain and horror he experienced.

The victims are the Spains, once flourishing with the upswing of Ireland's economy and then losing everything material and emotional when Ireland hits its recession. Both Jenny and Pat Spain lose their jobs and there is nothing new in the workings. They had a great love for one another but it's gotten very mixed up with extraneous stuff that plays into the murder. They no longer talk to each other and Pat is obsessed with what he thinks is an animal in the walls of his house.

The initial part of the book is primarily a police procedural but it turns into a psychological mystery as it progresses, typical for Tana French's style. I found it to be the weakest of her books despite it having all the ingredients for a great novel. There are parts of the book that were just plain boring and I've never experienced that before with any of her writing.

Her characters are well-developed but not quite enough. There are just some things missing that need to be filled in. Mick is anguished and depleted, tired of caring for Dina but not knowing what to do. However, I never quite got to the heart of the family relationship and what made Mick tick. The language is beautiful but often goes no where, like a half-way started poem. If you take on this novel, be prepared to give it a lot of your time. It took me two weeks to get through it and that is very atypical for me. Usually a 450 page novel will take me five or six days at most.
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Jul 30, 2012 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, ireland

I've read a lot of graphic, violent, extreme-serial-killer thrillers, but never, until Broken Harbor, have I read a mystery novel that scared me. This one, however, was disturbing. The events in this book--beginning with the first walk-through after the crime--completely unsettled me. A couple images from the book: (view spoiler) will stay with me--and spook me--for a long time. One of my favorite genres of novel is a haunt...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hell-yeah, yikes

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Ah, deadly. Thank you, Tana French, for writing whole-heartedly excellent books that come along just when I'm in a major slump & kick me in the pants. You are going to write several more of these, correct? Please?

Oh, this book. This book is so good. It scared me to bits, to the point that when I went to bed late at night on the day I started reading it, I made myself jump when I caught my own shadow moving. Baby monitors sitting in front of holes broken in the walls = way scary, in case you...more Ah, deadly. Thank you, Tana French, for writing whole-heartedly excellent books that come along just when I'm in a major slump & kick me in the pants. You are going to write several more of these, correct? Please?

Oh, this book. This book is so good. It scared me to bits, to the point that when I went to bed late at night on the day I started reading it, I made myself jump when I caught my own shadow moving. Baby monitors sitting in front of holes broken in the walls = way scary, in case you didn't know. Scorcher Kennedy - maybe my favorite Dublin Murder Squad narrator after Cassie. The best part of him? When he finds out that Richie's gift for getting people to talk stems from the fact that he actually thinks people are unique human beings, and Scorcher reacts with nothing but disgust. This case is easily the most heinous in the series, especially when it all works out in the end; it turns out that the reason for the baby monitors is even worse than I expected. The case gets "solved" at some point but of course it's not really "solved" at all. That has bothered me in the past with other mystery books, but not at all in French's. As long as I've still got pages of her book in my hand, I'm happy. She can toss as many red herrings & new twists in as she wants, as far as I'm concerned.

Any qualms? There are a few. I wish that Dina had been explored a little better or left out entirely, although I love the way her crazy was written, how she knew she was starting to have a breakdown when she heard her shoes squeaking or flushing the toilet sounded like popcorn. I wish that Richie would've gotten a chance to come back for a little bit at the end. The ending itself seemed too abrupt, especially in light of the eventual evidence plant - it would've been nice to see that play out a touch. My main nit to pick, however, is that I read this way too fast (but I couldn't quite help myself) & now I'm going to have to wait how long? for her to write & publish another wonderful book. (less)

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Dec 08, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, mystery, adult-fiction

I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy this one when it came out, as it's a Scorcher Kennedy story, and I really disliked him in Faithful Place... but I didn't find him nearly as distasteful in this book as a lead character as I did in the last as a secondary character.

The book did seem to drag on at times, and the ending was depressing (as all the Tana French books have been), but overall, it was an enjoyable listen.

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Jul 26, 2012 Moira Russell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, on-the-kindle, 2012-50-new-books-challenge

I'm going to have to try to write up a review later. I cannot believe I have been so gutted by a psychological thriller. Poor Kennedy. Poor Richie. Poor Jenny. Man.

(This is the review that made me really sure I wanted to read it: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/boo... )

ETA Oh here, have a tl;dr comment since apparently I can't write reviews anymore, WARNING it is full of spoilers. Giant crashing spoilers that will make you want to go out and buy one of those old cartoon-style traps, yes.

I was...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Next time I pick up a Tana French book, someone beat me please. The spark that animated the first two books, and compensated for their structural weaknesses, has turned sour.

This book just drags. While the premise -- that Ireland's recession and housing crash can literally drive you crazy or kill you - was intiriguing, the book was just bloated and in need of a good editor. The plot bogs down for about 300 pages in the middle -- I was so bored that I convinced myself into thinking the end would...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Janebbooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: to-re-read

A long time between drinks...

Up in the Carolinas of the southern part of the USA where I grew up, they have a saying that when the North Carolina governor says to the governor of South Carolina..."it's been a long time between drinks...," he or she is commenting on the length of time between children of some older parents...usually a gap of ten or more years. I can relate this curious time table to Tana French's extraordinary police procedurals that are blended with extreme psychological suspens...more A long time between drinks...

Up in the Carolinas of the southern part of the USA where I grew up, they have a saying that when the North Carolina governor says to the governor of South Carolina..."it's been a long time between drinks...," he or she is commenting on the length of time between children of some older parents...usually a gap of ten or more years. I can relate this curious time table to Tana French's extraordinary police procedurals that are blended with extreme psychological suspense. Frank Mackay, the protag of French's last book Faithful Place, has long since solved the case in Dublin's inner city and returned to the high-count sheets of Dalkey when a fellow officer appears at the crime scene at the beginning of BROKEN HARBOR.

It's been over two long years since Tana French has published a new crime story.

Detective Sergeant Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy, of the Dublin Murder Squad, is the lead for this case which takes the reader north of Dublin to an almost abandoned housing estate on the Irish sea once called Broken Harbor. Scorcher and his family used to holiday in a caravan in that neck of the woods. He's a ten-year veteran cop with an impressive solve rate and is currently partnered with a ill-dressed rookie who's been on the job for two weeks. He believes the Spain family murders will be his "dream case." So he pockets a tie for Richie, checks out his "favorite silver Beemer from the car pool," and sets the GPS.

Harlan Coben has advance praise on the back of BROKEN HARBOR's dust jacket. "I've been enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen to read Tana French. She is, without a doubt, my favorite new mystery writer. Her novels are poignant, compelling, beautifully written, and wonderfully atmospheric. Just start reading the first page. You'll see what I mean."

Tana French is enthusiastically my favorite crime writer. In only a few pages or so into BROKEN HARBOR, she has nailed the squad room vernacular, placed the crime in a favorite part of the world, and carried us through the crime scene meticulously...all the while silently noting the economic depression of a Celtic tiger losing its fangs. "Just start reading the first page. You'll see what I mean." (less)

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Aug 29, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amazing - just amazing. I am a huge Tana French fan and Broken Harbor did not disappoint. This is the forth novel in her "Murder Squad" series and she always takes a secondary character forward as the narrator in to her next.

The case in this novel is a brutal murder of a family that takes place in a half-built, half developed "luxury" oceanfront development. French creates such an evocative description of the place you can feel the desperation and despair that is life in Broken Harbor. This hap...more Amazing - just amazing. I am a huge Tana French fan and Broken Harbor did not disappoint. This is the forth novel in her "Murder Squad" series and she always takes a secondary character forward as the narrator in to her next.

The case in this novel is a brutal murder of a family that takes place in a half-built, half developed "luxury" oceanfront development. French creates such an evocative description of the place you can feel the desperation and despair that is life in Broken Harbor. This happens to be real problem in Ireland. Just as the real estate "bubble" burst in the US it has in Ireland and is visible in the numerous abandoned planned communities that litter the landscape. Developers have lost their backing to complete them - and the workmanship was shoddy anyway - and most of the occupied units are filled with people who were approved for mortgages they can no longer afford and are essentially trapped. They have no recompense from the builders and the bank is ready to foreclose any day.

Her novels are not just mysteries but psychological thrillers and the eerie elements surrounding the murder of a husband and two children and the critically injured yet surviving wife are fascinating.

This novel brings the cop Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy to the forefront and explores what happens to a man who has survived personal tragedy and found professional success adhering to the "rules" when he finds himself facing the idea that breaking those rules might actually be the right thing to do. He is partnered with a rookie, Richie Curran, who is a wonderfully developed character. I would love him to be the narrator of the next book but apparently she is halfway through book 5 and she has decided to use two characters from her third book - Faithful Place - as dual narrators.

Richie has an unbelievable - at least to Kennedy - ability to relate to witnesses and gain their trust. But in the end his empathy proves to be his - and the case's - undoing. The conflicts between right and wrong and sanity and insanity make this a wonderful read. Get a copy now!(less)

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May 24, 2012 Ronna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

With 'Broken Harbor', Tana French has once again brought us a thrilling police procedural with lots of 'crazy' psychological turns and twists. Veteran detective , 'Scorcher' and his new rookie detective, Richie, explore means and methods of working togetherness to solve a terrible tragedy.

The 'perfect' couple, with their 6 year old Emma, and 3 year old Jack, have been living in the partially developed 'Broken Harbor' by the sea for about a year when their tragedies strikes them. At first it's b...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Tana French is the Joss Whedon of the Dublin Murder Squad.

Is this book flawed? Yes. Were there some plot points that required significant suspension of disbelief? Sure. Tana French has a history of her books starting much more strongly than they finish. But that doesn't matter to me when I am so engrossed in the characters that I find the need to read the book in basically two straight sittings this weekend. Scorcher ranks right up there with Rob and Cassie, (sorry, Frank), and I thought his ch...more Tana French is the Joss Whedon of the Dublin Murder Squad.

Is this book flawed? Yes. Were there some plot points that required significant suspension of disbelief? Sure. Tana French has a history of her books starting much more strongly than they finish. But that doesn't matter to me when I am so engrossed in the characters that I find the need to read the book in basically two straight sittings this weekend. Scorcher ranks right up there with Rob and Cassie, (sorry, Frank), and I thought his character history and development was the best we've seen so far. I was heartbroken for him when we realized what Richie had done, and I felt that same sadness as when Rob and Cassie's partnership deteriorated. I felt for Jenny, although I admit that I did predict her as the killer since Richie started acting odd around her. Still, the description of the murders was gut-wrenching. Although I have to say I did laugh when she was telling Kennedy about her husband, sitting in front of an empty cabinet holding out a "bait" hand.

Her books don't have neat endings; they have endings that are hollow and leave the characters limping to the finish line. I wanted Kennedy to have that relationship with his partner that he didn't even know he craved until he tasted it. It doesn't help that Richie could never have been the partner Kennedy needed; in fact it seems almost crueler that the whole thing was just a mirage. Just for a second, Kennedy felt himself letting go and starting to relax, and it ended in disaster. He sought control because he was too afraid to show any sort of vulnerability or depend on anyone. And in the end, all he could cling to was his schizophrenic? bipolar? sister.

So overall, the book wasn't perfect but I can't bring it in me to rank it anything less than 5 stars. Plus, there were some seriously creepy scenes in the first half of the book. Glass walls that let you see an entire kitchen? Empty housing-complexes with those dark windows? A secret lair complete with binoculars? Cameras pointed at an attic trap door with mesh over it? YEESH. (less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Jodi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French and she gets better all the time. Winner of the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards for best first novel, Tana has firmly secured a place in the mystery and thriller genre and the accolades of her readers.

Promised the lifestyle of an upscale community the Spain’s purchase a home in Brianstown, Ireland formerly known as Broken Harbor. Amidst the countries recession and loss of jobs the building comes to a screeching...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-suspense

WOW - 4.5 stars. Scorcher was a bit of an arrogant ass in Faithful Place, wasn't sure I'd enjoy him as the Hero. I was so wrong about Scorcher, his character draws the reader in to reveal a very complex guy buried beneaht his perfect facade. There's a lot more brewing there under the surface. Shouldn't be surprised that TF has written another great character layered with depth that I didn't expect. TF always has so many twists and turns in her stories, I was just sure I had this one figured out...more

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May 14, 2013 Fourborne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-book-list, mystery

I know that police detectives often use profanity, but this was overboard. I liked the plot but hated the language.
All but one member of the Spain family lies dead. The house is full of cameras and mysterious holes in the walls. How could a murderer get in undetected. The best detective of Dublin is put on the case, Mick Kennedy aka Scorcher. Mick has a new young rookie helping him on the case or his he hindering it? The scene of the crime also brings up so old demons from Mike's past.

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May 20, 2013 Avadhut added it · review of another edition

Summary –

In a ghost estate outside Dublin, Pat and his two kids are dead. His wife Jenny is viciously attacked but survives miraculously. When Scorcher Kennedy visits this relic of Ireland’s one-time real estate dream, which not so long ago was a sleepy, poor hamlet called Broken Harbour, he thinks the case is simple. However, little things about the case baffle him. There are many baby monitors placed in the house and a big hunting trap in the attic. Though the house is not in great shape, ther...more Summary –

In a ghost estate outside Dublin, Pat and his two kids are dead. His wife Jenny is viciously attacked but survives miraculously. When Scorcher Kennedy visits this relic of Ireland’s one-time real estate dream, which not so long ago was a sleepy, poor hamlet called Broken Harbour, he thinks the case is simple. However, little things about the case baffle him. There are many baby monitors placed in the house and a big hunting trap in the attic. Though the house is not in great shape, there are holes in the walls that he cannot explain.

Review –

This book was a mix of likes and dislikes for me. To start with, Scorcher Kennedy was not my favourite pick as narrator. In Faithful Place, he came out as a pompous ass and I felt it served him right when Frank Mackey raked up his case and his reputation. However, I really liked him in Broken Harbour. He is a straight, “Do by the book” cop who is intense and highly dedicated to his work. Ok… he is still pompous and preaches a lot but he lives by a very strict code and judges himself as harshly as others. I admired him more for his unforgiving personal decisions at a critical point in the case.

Still smarting from his tattered reputation, Scorcher is picked up for Broken Harbour case. At first, the case seems to be straightforward but nothing in French’s book is, as it seems. Then we learn about Kennedy’s link to Broken Harbour, the place where the murdered family lived and his troubled past and now we are not sure if he is the right man to lead the case.

As usual, French’s prose is nothing but a sheer joy to read. It’s beautiful, no two ways about it. Every page has razor sharp descriptions that made me say “Aha!” In addition, French is master of characters and trust me… this is an understatement. Her books are mysteries not just because of the plot but also due to role played by psychological turmoil of her characters, chiefly the narrator in each case. She brings her characters to life and you can literally see them in front of your eyes while reading her books. Kennedy’s relationship with his new rookie partner Richie Curran plays an important role in Broken Harbour. It was heartening to see the otherwise reticent Kennedy warming to young Curran.

My problem with the book was in the mystery. Normally in French’s books, by the time you reach the dramatic end, knowing the murder’s identity becomes somewhat irrelevant. (At least that is how I have felt about her books). It is more about why the crime happened than who did it. However, in Broken Harbour I could guess the murderer straight of the bat. I also thought that impact of Pat’s growing craziness on Jenny and kids did not come out, as it should have. Plus, the motive for murders was a tad too stretched for me to swallow. I am also less sympathetic to Dina, Kennedy’s barmy sister as she keeps insisting that Broken Harbour case is raking up his brain. Without her, the book may have been around fifty pages shorter and tidier.

Broken Harbour shows the fallout of recession on ordinary Irish people. The real estate bubble crash was biggest in its history. Pat and Jenny are the casualties of this crash. Coincidentally the next book I picked up was Michael Lewis’s Boomerang, which describes in great length why normally reserved Irish people behaved the way they, did during boom and bust.

As a standalone, Broken Harbour is still an engrossing read and deserves rating of more than four but coming from Tana French, especially when I had desperately waited so long for it, I think Broken Harbour is my least favourite among her books. Not to say, I will still be eagerly awaiting her next book due for release in 2014 (Damn… That’s a whole year from now!)(less)

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About Tana French

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi, and has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin, and has worked in theater, film and voice-over.

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Books by Tana French

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)

The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #5)

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Quotes from Broken Harbor

“People you knew when you were teenagers, the ones who saw your stupidest haircut and the most embarrassing things you've done in your life, and they still cared about you after all that: they're not replaceable, you know?” — 9 people liked it

“I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would never even have crossed a kid's mind to tell an adult to fuck off. There was plenty of bad there, I don't forget that, but we all knew exactly where we stood and we didn't break the rules lightly. If that sounds like small stuff to you, if it sounds boring or old-fashioned or uncool, think about this: people smiled at strangers, people said hello to neighbors, people left their doors unlocked and helped old women with their shopping bags, and the murder rate was scraping zero.

Sometime since then, we started turning feral. Wild got into the air like a virus, and it's spreading. Watch the packs of kids roaming inner-city estates, mindless and brakeless as baboons, looking for something or someone to wreck. Watch the businessmen shoving past pregnant women for a seat on the train, using their 4x4s to force smaller cars out of their way, purple-faced and outraged when the world dares to contradict them. Watch the teenagers throw screaming stamping tantrums when, for once, they can't have it the second they want it. Everything that stops us being animals is eroding, washing away like sand, going and gone.” — 7 people liked it

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Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad #4)

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