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From Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher, a New York Times bestselling novel that "proves anew that [Tana French] is one of the most talented crime writers alive" (The Washington Post). "Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting." --The New York Times Mick "Scorcherˮ Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and thatʼs how the biggest case of the year ends up in show more his hands. On one of the half-abandoned "luxuryˮ developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks itʼs going to be an easy solve, but too many small things canʼt be explained: the half-dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spainsʼ walls, the files erased from the familyʼs computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder slipping past the houseʼs locks. And this neighborhood--once called Broken Harbor--holds memories for Scorcher and his troubled sister, Dina: childhood memories that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control. show lessTags
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BookshelfMonstrosity Painful childhood memories haunt the detectives of these dark psychological thrillers. Both authors write their respective cities (Boston and Dublin) with realism that augments the flawed, believable characters' struggles. Their secrets and suspicions offer compelling insight into trust in relationships.
20
Member Reviews
Sometimes there is no safe place. So begins the blurb for Tana French's fourth novel, 'Broken Harbour', in which it gradually becomes clear that a family's house and their relationship with it has played a significant role in their murders.
What's it about?
A family of four have been found slain in their own home. Mike Kennedy, the murder squad detective in charge, is suitably cynical after ten years in the job and is soon ready to call the deaths an inside job, one way or another. However, his new trainee, Richie, refuses to believe such a perfect seeming family could have played any role in their own deaths and posits an outsider, a madman fixated on the Spains. As the evidence mounts, whose theory will win out? And by the time this show more case is unravelled, what else will unravel with it?
What's it like?
Extremely engaging from the outset. Narrated in the first person by Kennedy, readers are immediately enmeshed in office politics and learning about this detective's house style. "Long before I say Word One to a witness, or a suspect, he needs to know that Mick Kennedy is in the house and that I've got this case by the balls." If you're not put off by this macho bravado, you'll soon be intrigued by the case and the relationship developing between the two murder squad detectives. Kennedy doesn't have a partner; he prefers to work with trainees as they're less trouble and will do what they're told, but Richie insists on questioning him and could be the partner he didn't even know he wanted. This angle is nicely handled, (you feel yourself really wanting their partnership to work,) but there's still plenty of focus on the case itself, which is a strange one.
Why are there holes bashed in the walls of the Spain's perfect house? Why are there multiple baby monitors pointed at the holes? And why were the family no longer receiving visitors? There's a nice mixture of CSI style investigation and good old-fashioned police interview technique as the case unfolds almost in real-time. We're treated to a post-mortem, 'floaters' being assigned duties and night-time stakeouts - then everything changes and suddenly it's all about the psychology. If this character did it - why? There's still a focus on the evidence but there's more focus on unpicking the Spain's history and trying to chart their last few months in detail.
Will I like it?
The pace seems to slow down about half-way through and the book itself weighs in at 533 pages, so if you're not sufficiently invested in the characters then you could find your motivation to see the crime solved fading - especially if you've reached a plausible conclusion and are just waiting to see it realised. However, the criminal investigation is embedded in a deeply atmospheric novel and French makes effective use of humour throughout, so it's well worth reading to the end, even if you think you know who and - crucially - why dunnit.
I particularly enjoyed the very entertaining conversations between Kennedy and Dr Cooper, a pathologist who dislikes the lead detective sufficiently to pepper him with putdowns throughout their conversations. For instance: "Far too many variables are involved to permit an intelligent guess and, regardless of what you might do in my place, I refuse to make an unintelligent one." Ouch.
I also appreciated the evocative descriptive touches deployed throughout: there was "Silence, so packed with stubborn that you could feel it elbowing you." and "A couple of med students who should have known better had brought their eyebags and stubble outside for a cigarette." Of course, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure and vice versa... French could lose some readers through a lack of concision.
Final thoughts
'Broken Harbour' is an intriguing and atmospheric crime novel, but it's also much more. It's a moving account of the effects of the recession on the unemployed; it's a frightening look at how minds can become untethered from reality; and it's an exploration of what it means to uphold the law and to dispense justice.
The whole fits together beautifully and I will certainly be looking for Tana French's previous novels, all of which are narrated by members of the same fictional Dublin Murder Squad. (There's an interesting interview with French about this particular novel and its links to its predecessors here.) The only question is where to begin, at the beginning ('In the Woods') or with the most compelling plot outline ('The Likeness')? Decisions, decisions. show less
What's it about?
A family of four have been found slain in their own home. Mike Kennedy, the murder squad detective in charge, is suitably cynical after ten years in the job and is soon ready to call the deaths an inside job, one way or another. However, his new trainee, Richie, refuses to believe such a perfect seeming family could have played any role in their own deaths and posits an outsider, a madman fixated on the Spains. As the evidence mounts, whose theory will win out? And by the time this show more case is unravelled, what else will unravel with it?
What's it like?
Extremely engaging from the outset. Narrated in the first person by Kennedy, readers are immediately enmeshed in office politics and learning about this detective's house style. "Long before I say Word One to a witness, or a suspect, he needs to know that Mick Kennedy is in the house and that I've got this case by the balls." If you're not put off by this macho bravado, you'll soon be intrigued by the case and the relationship developing between the two murder squad detectives. Kennedy doesn't have a partner; he prefers to work with trainees as they're less trouble and will do what they're told, but Richie insists on questioning him and could be the partner he didn't even know he wanted. This angle is nicely handled, (you feel yourself really wanting their partnership to work,) but there's still plenty of focus on the case itself, which is a strange one.
Why are there holes bashed in the walls of the Spain's perfect house? Why are there multiple baby monitors pointed at the holes? And why were the family no longer receiving visitors? There's a nice mixture of CSI style investigation and good old-fashioned police interview technique as the case unfolds almost in real-time. We're treated to a post-mortem, 'floaters' being assigned duties and night-time stakeouts - then everything changes and suddenly it's all about the psychology. If this character did it - why? There's still a focus on the evidence but there's more focus on unpicking the Spain's history and trying to chart their last few months in detail.
Will I like it?
The pace seems to slow down about half-way through and the book itself weighs in at 533 pages, so if you're not sufficiently invested in the characters then you could find your motivation to see the crime solved fading - especially if you've reached a plausible conclusion and are just waiting to see it realised. However, the criminal investigation is embedded in a deeply atmospheric novel and French makes effective use of humour throughout, so it's well worth reading to the end, even if you think you know who and - crucially - why dunnit.
I particularly enjoyed the very entertaining conversations between Kennedy and Dr Cooper, a pathologist who dislikes the lead detective sufficiently to pepper him with putdowns throughout their conversations. For instance: "Far too many variables are involved to permit an intelligent guess and, regardless of what you might do in my place, I refuse to make an unintelligent one." Ouch.
I also appreciated the evocative descriptive touches deployed throughout: there was "Silence, so packed with stubborn that you could feel it elbowing you." and "A couple of med students who should have known better had brought their eyebags and stubble outside for a cigarette." Of course, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure and vice versa... French could lose some readers through a lack of concision.
Final thoughts
'Broken Harbour' is an intriguing and atmospheric crime novel, but it's also much more. It's a moving account of the effects of the recession on the unemployed; it's a frightening look at how minds can become untethered from reality; and it's an exploration of what it means to uphold the law and to dispense justice.
The whole fits together beautifully and I will certainly be looking for Tana French's previous novels, all of which are narrated by members of the same fictional Dublin Murder Squad. (There's an interesting interview with French about this particular novel and its links to its predecessors here.) The only question is where to begin, at the beginning ('In the Woods') or with the most compelling plot outline ('The Likeness')? Decisions, decisions. show less
A long, sometimes slow-moving, creepy, and extraordinarily well-written novel about a family attacked in their new estate home on the outskirts of Dublin. A father and his two children are dead, their mother found bleeding beside her husband, and nothing adds up. As "Scorcher' Kennedy schools a young detective in the fine art of police work, he keeps a firm line drawn between the investigation taking place in a ghost town of a half-built housing development, left abandoned by its builders when the crash left Ireland overextended and out of luck, and his personal life, including caring for his mentally unstable sister unwelcome memories of family outings at Broken Harbor, then a seaside holiday site, now a grim reminder of a broken show more economy and all the dreams that broke with it. The half-built estate and the emotional reaction of the family to the sudden halt of the future they had planned so carefully is a powerful depiction of the trauma caused by the economic crash - and of the super-heated materialistic "Celtic Tiger" economy that preceded it, warping a generation's sense of values. The interplay between the investigation and Kennedy's own fierce devotion to his idea of order, a firm, clear, no nonsense way of looking at the world that he's trying to impart to his young charge, that adds a moving twist to what is often a modern Gothic, full of twisted psychological denial. It's Kennedy's occasional vulnerability and tenderness that gives the ending a heartbreaking touch of grace. show less
Broken Harbour is a zombie estate outside Dublin. Built during the economic boom and abandoned in the subsequent crash, it is half-built and sparsely populated. When a father and his children are found dead with the mother critically injured and on the way to intensive care, detective Scorcher Kennedy thinks he has a simple case of murder-suicide to add to his impressive record of solving crime. However, the case proves to be more complicated and raises some issues from Scorcher's own past.
I've enjoyed reading every book of the Dublin Murder Squad series so far and this one was the best yet. In fact I will go as far as to say this is the best detective/crime thriller that I have ever read (with the caveat that the Bernie Gunther books show more are not classified as such), The author constructed a superb plot, full of complexity, twists, turns and surprises ad coupled this with beautifully drawn characters. None of them were likeable and none of them were simple and the interplay between them was fascinating and compelling. I really couldn't put this down and will need to move on quickly to the next book. Not a word was wasted and every morsel of information was critical to the development of the plot- even if it wasn't immediately obvious why or how. show less
I've enjoyed reading every book of the Dublin Murder Squad series so far and this one was the best yet. In fact I will go as far as to say this is the best detective/crime thriller that I have ever read (with the caveat that the Bernie Gunther books show more are not classified as such), The author constructed a superb plot, full of complexity, twists, turns and surprises ad coupled this with beautifully drawn characters. None of them were likeable and none of them were simple and the interplay between them was fascinating and compelling. I really couldn't put this down and will need to move on quickly to the next book. Not a word was wasted and every morsel of information was critical to the development of the plot- even if it wasn't immediately obvious why or how. show less
So far there isn't one Tana French novel I haven't loved. This one features a police detective with deep psychological scars who comes up against a case that makes him borderline unstable. Wait, that's every book. Let me be more specific.
This book features detective Scorcher Kennedy, a rule-bound, no-nonsense detective with the best solve-rate in the squad. He is asked to investigate a horrific assault against a family living in a housing development by the Irish sea, where most of the houses are empty after the 2008 economic crash. The problem for Kennedy is that the area where the murders took place
is where he vacationed as a boy, and he harbors some horrific memories of his own.
It's hard to talk more about the story line without show more spoilers. The appeal lies in the interaction between Kennedy and his brand-new partner, the very vivid setting, the convincingly drawn secondary characters, and the Irish social problems that loom so large over the story. Who done it? The crash done it, and the predatory lenders (that's not a spoiler; it's a metaphor).
If Tana French has a formula going, it's okay by me. Her books are un-put-downable. show less
This book features detective Scorcher Kennedy, a rule-bound, no-nonsense detective with the best solve-rate in the squad. He is asked to investigate a horrific assault against a family living in a housing development by the Irish sea, where most of the houses are empty after the 2008 economic crash. The problem for Kennedy is that the area where the murders took place
is where he vacationed as a boy, and he harbors some horrific memories of his own.
It's hard to talk more about the story line without show more spoilers. The appeal lies in the interaction between Kennedy and his brand-new partner, the very vivid setting, the convincingly drawn secondary characters, and the Irish social problems that loom so large over the story. Who done it? The crash done it, and the predatory lenders (that's not a spoiler; it's a metaphor).
If Tana French has a formula going, it's okay by me. Her books are un-put-downable. show less
Broken Harbor is the fourth installment in Tana French’s fantastic Dublin Murder Squad series. Each of her the novels feature a different member of the squad, usually a character introduced in a previous work. French expertly pairs each fully-formed character with a complementary storyline and appropriate tone. Broken Harbor highlights Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, who was introduced as a minor character and antagonist of sorts in the previous book: A Faithful Place. Kennedy has an excellent track record with the squad and is known for his diligence and strict adherence to procedure. When a triple murder gets called in, his superior offers him a chance to head up the high-profile investigation. During their conversation it is intimated show more that there was a prior case that was uncharacteristically problematic for Scorcher. He needs to redeem himself by quickly resolving this one to retain his reputation. He also is obliged to act as a mentor to his rookie partner, Richie. Richie is rough around the edges, but eager to prove himself. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s mentally-ill younger sister returns and caring for her is a potential distraction and a conflict of duty. The triple homicide brings Scorcher back to a familiar location that has some strong emotional attachment for him and his family. Kennedy’s own complicated backstory is carefully unfolded as he investigates the murder of the young family. He and his new partner seem well suited to each other, and he begins to feel a guarded respect for the younger officer. Scorcher’s past has alienated and hardened him, but he begrudgingly suspects that he might eventually accept Richie as a permanent partner or friend. Broken Harbor, like all of French’s novels, is exquisitely paced and well-written. It is a thrilling mystery with many unexpected turns that also manages to address some deeper themes as well. The need for keeping up appearances, the power of shame and the nebulous boundaries between right/wrong weave into the narrative. As a staunch believer in the rules, Kennedy prefers clear-cut answers when “the world’s vast hissing tangle of shadows burns away, all its treacherous grays are honed to the stark purity of a bare blade, two-edged: cause and effect, good and evil.” Unfortunately, he discovers that circumstances are often far more complicated and may not be so easily defined. This case will challenge Scorcher’s core beliefs and cause him to question all the rules he has come to rely on. Broken Harbor can be read as a stand-alone novel, but mystery fans would benefit from starting the series from the beginning. show less
One's enjoyment of BROKEN HARBOR by Tana French hinges completely on how much you can stand its main character, Mick Kennedy. You first meet Mick in the previous Dublin Murder Squad mystery, and, if you are like me, he doesn't impress you very much after that first introduction. The impression stands after only a few chapters into BROKEN HARBOR, book five of the Dublin Murder Squad series.
Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy is a pompous ass, and it skews everything he does in his investigation of what could be a robbery gone wrong, a murder-suicide, or something else entirely. Unlike other detectives we have met so far in this series, he doesn't leave his biases at the door. Instead, he brings them directly into the investigation and lets them show more skew his view of the evidence. We are front and center to the rather nasty things he thinks about certain witnesses and the callousness he feels towards the victims. We even get to witness the superior attitude he lords over his rookie partner.
Thankfully, we know from the first chapter that Mick's investigation somehow goes wrong and causes him long-term career issues because Mick mentions certain regrets in that first chapter. The promise of something bad happening to him was enough to keep me going through the rougher parts because he really is a pompous ass with a major chip on his shoulder.
There is another aspect of BROKEN HARBOR that may come as a shock or prove to be a trigger warning for some readers, and that is the topic of mental health. Mental health plays a significant role in the mystery and within Mick's past, but Ms. French does not use the same careful terminology or enlightened approach to mental health as we do today. Instead, she has her characters talk about mental health as we did back in the early 00s, the story's setting. We didn't see mental health as a disease to be treated. Instead, we looked at it with derision, as something you could avoid, and anyone who exhibited signs of mental health issues was mocked and considered weak-minded. To the modern reader, Mick's opinions and various discussions of mental health will be upsetting and may be a cause to DNF the book, even though Ms. French is doing nothing but using historically accurate language and opinions.
At the same time, BROKEN HARBOR is the type of novel that you could not write and set into today's timeline. The setting of the story is just as important as the details of the mystery Ms. French includes. Today's characters would recognize mental health issues in each other and would urge loved ones to get help. There are more safeguards in place for school-age children to monitor behaviors and get help. The mental health parts of the story just wouldn't work today, making BROKEN HARBOR as much historical fiction as it is a mystery.
No matter how you feel about Mick or Ms. French's approach to mental health, BROKEN HARBOR provides some excellent thought points on the meaning of justice and whether it is or should be as black and white as the law spells out. It also focuses the reader on the long-lived dangers of unattended trauma. While I will admit to feeling just a bit of Schadenfreude at Mick's unraveling, I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery and its talking points even more. show less
Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy is a pompous ass, and it skews everything he does in his investigation of what could be a robbery gone wrong, a murder-suicide, or something else entirely. Unlike other detectives we have met so far in this series, he doesn't leave his biases at the door. Instead, he brings them directly into the investigation and lets them show more skew his view of the evidence. We are front and center to the rather nasty things he thinks about certain witnesses and the callousness he feels towards the victims. We even get to witness the superior attitude he lords over his rookie partner.
Thankfully, we know from the first chapter that Mick's investigation somehow goes wrong and causes him long-term career issues because Mick mentions certain regrets in that first chapter. The promise of something bad happening to him was enough to keep me going through the rougher parts because he really is a pompous ass with a major chip on his shoulder.
There is another aspect of BROKEN HARBOR that may come as a shock or prove to be a trigger warning for some readers, and that is the topic of mental health. Mental health plays a significant role in the mystery and within Mick's past, but Ms. French does not use the same careful terminology or enlightened approach to mental health as we do today. Instead, she has her characters talk about mental health as we did back in the early 00s, the story's setting. We didn't see mental health as a disease to be treated. Instead, we looked at it with derision, as something you could avoid, and anyone who exhibited signs of mental health issues was mocked and considered weak-minded. To the modern reader, Mick's opinions and various discussions of mental health will be upsetting and may be a cause to DNF the book, even though Ms. French is doing nothing but using historically accurate language and opinions.
At the same time, BROKEN HARBOR is the type of novel that you could not write and set into today's timeline. The setting of the story is just as important as the details of the mystery Ms. French includes. Today's characters would recognize mental health issues in each other and would urge loved ones to get help. There are more safeguards in place for school-age children to monitor behaviors and get help. The mental health parts of the story just wouldn't work today, making BROKEN HARBOR as much historical fiction as it is a mystery.
No matter how you feel about Mick or Ms. French's approach to mental health, BROKEN HARBOR provides some excellent thought points on the meaning of justice and whether it is or should be as black and white as the law spells out. It also focuses the reader on the long-lived dangers of unattended trauma. While I will admit to feeling just a bit of Schadenfreude at Mick's unraveling, I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery and its talking points even more. show less
A very sad book. Very interesting how the case comes together (and falls apart), but I was glad to be finished with it, as it left me with such a feeling of pathos. All of the main characters are so alone: Dina and her mother in their respective madnesses, Pat in his spiraling lunacy, Jenny in her attempt to keep her family together and safe, Fiona in her acceptness of what she in the end must do, Richie in his knowledge of what really happened, Conor in his love for the Spains and his "relationship" with them from afar, Scorcher in his life in general. I feel Scorcher actually saved his soul a bit in the end, when he bent his rules with the "new" evidence; whereas he felt he was betraying his code of ethics, I think he was joining show more Richie in being human, empathizing, going for the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter. Tana French is a wonderful writer, and she had me totally immersed in this story of desperate times and souls. I have read all of her books, and still love The Likeness most, but Broken Harbor has truly depressed me. Jenny's hospital bed recounting of how things happened is heartbreaking. And Scorcher, for all his rigidity has a philosopher's soul. "...love transformed under all those tons of pressure into something diamond-hard that slice flesh and bone." (p. 420 hardcopy) Need to go read some Janet Evanovitch or the like!! show less
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Author Information
27+ Works 41,578 Members
Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin, and has worked in theatre, film and voiceover. Her first novel, In the Woods, won the 2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Her other books include The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, and The Secret Place. The show more Trespasser and The Witch Elm made the New York Times bestseller list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Broken Harbour
- Original title
- Broken Harbor
- Alternate titles
- Broken Harbor
- Original publication date
- 2012
- People/Characters
- Detective Michael "Scorcher" Kennedy; Detective Richie Curran; Conor Brennan; Jennifer Spain; Patrick Spain; Dina Kennedy (show all 10); Fiona Rafferty; Larry Boyle; Niall Gogan; Sinéad Gogan
- Important places
- Dublin, Ireland
- Dedication
- For Darley, magician and gentleman
- First words
- Let's get one thing straight: I was the perfect man for this case.
- Quotations
- Most victims went looking for exactly what they got … If you try to sell smack on some other scumbag’s turf, or if you go ahead and marry Prince Charming after he puts you in the ICU four times running, or if you stab som... (show all)e guy because his brother stabbed your friend for stabbing his cousin, then ... you’re just begging for exactly what you’re eventually going to get. ... you would be amazed at how seldom murder has to break into people’s lives. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it gets there because they open the door and invite it in.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I lay still, looking into the dark and feeling her hair wet against my cheek, waiting for the dawn.
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
- 247
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- (3.94)
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- 12 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 52
- ASINs
- 26