Review of Broken Harbour by Tana French

Publisher: Penguin
Series: Dublin Murder Squad #4
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon    Barnes & Noble    The Book Depository


Book Blurb (from goodreads): 

The mesmerizing fourth novel of the Dublin murder squad by New York Times bestselling author Tana French. 

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. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care.

 At first, Scorcher and his rookie partner, Richie, think it’s going to be an easy solve. But too many small things can’t be explained. The half dozen baby monitors, their cameras pointing at holes smashed in the Spains’ walls. The files erased from the Spains’ computer. The story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder who was slipping past all the locks. 

And Broken Harbor holds memories for Scorcher. Seeing the case on the news sends his sister Dina off the rails again, and she’s resurrecting something that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control: what happened to their family one summer at Broken Harbor, back when they were children. 

With her signature blend of police procedural and psychological thriller, French’s new novel goes full throttle with a heinous crime, creating her most complicated detective character and her best book yet.

Reviewed By: Bea

Bea's Thoughts: 

 I enjoy police procedurals though if the author isn’t careful they can take it too far and forget about the people part of the equation. Happily, French blends procedure with character development yet doesn’t get mawkish or sentimental. Her writing is direct, plain but not boring; she writes with enough detail to sketch out what’s happening or provide a visual but is spare enough for the reader to fill in. French goes further than just giving us the details of the investigation but digs deeper and examines the psychology of everyone involved. She brings to life the fears, hopes, dreams and beliefs of the cops, the victims, their friends, families and co-workers.

There’s a subplot involving Detective Kennedy and his sister which didn’t completely work for me but it did give us insight into “Scorcher” Kennedy and how events unfolded towards the end of the story. While I liked Kennedy, I really liked his rookie partner Richie and their developing relationship.

The story held my attention and kept me reading, even when they arrested a suspect about halfway through the book. I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. French introduced some twists and turns and red herrings that kept me guessing, even when I thought I knew where the story was going. It’s an intelligent, complex story that won’t leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy but if something were to happen to me, I’d want “Scorcher” Kennedy on my case.

I received a hardcover from the publisher for review.

This review was originally posted at BookTrib.