Broken Harbor: A Novel

Book Description

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review Amazon Best Books of the Month, July 2012: In Tana French's fourth novel, detective Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy and his rookie partner, Richie, are sent to a half-constructed, abandoned housing development called Broken Harbor to investigate the brutal murder of the Spain family. They expect an open-and-shut case, but it quickly gets complicated when Jenny Spain is found barely alive and the family's circumstances come to light: hidden baby monitors, a strained mortgage brought on by the housing crisis, and the increasingly erratic signs of people in crisis. The tension of the investigation is intensified by the eerily abandoned estate and a creepy lead suspect. French fans will appreciate this new look at Scorcher, who was a minor character in Faithful Place; he shines as the successful but jaded detective with a troubled past. All told, French delivers a layered psychological thriller and satisfying whodunnit. She spins a masterly plot rife with tension and a haunting mood that rivals the best of the Gothic writers. --Heather Dileepan

Review 'The queen of Irish fiction... This is a writer working at the height of her powers. As always with Tana French, you can expect humour, pathos and well-observed social commentary, but above all, a cracking story that keeps you guessing until the end' -- Sunday Independent 20120708 'Broken Harbour is a complex, well crafted psychological thriller as well as an exemplary dissection of the plight of the disappointed and desperate human wreckage washed up in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. As always, French's carefully wrought prose is a delight... A hugely impressive and intelligent book, with writing to savour. It confirms French as the First Lady of Irish Crime.' -- Irish Independent 20120630 'Gripping' -- Image magazine 20120601 'Establishing atmosphere is one of French's many strengths. Gradually, an emotionally jolting story of love, obsession and madness is played out to incredible effect. Since her first novel, In The Woods, was larded with awards in 2007 French has garnered a huge legion of fans and they will be thrilled with this, her fourth and possibly best novel.' -- Daily Mail 20120614 Praise for Tana French --: 20120614 'I've been enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen to read Tana French. Her novels are poignant, compelling, beautifully written and wonderfully atmospheric. Just start reading the first page. You'll see what I mean.' -- Harlan Coben 20120614 'Every holiday needs a good crime novel and French's skilful thrillers are tailor-made to terrify' -- Guardian 20120614 'A gripping, literate thriller laced with black humour' -- Irish Times 20120614 'If you're only going to buy one thriller this year, let it be Tana French's Faithful Place. Searing, utterly Dub, and very funny... Tana French, Dublin author of international hits... is a wonder. Just don't plan anything if you pick this up; you won't be able to put it down.' -- Evening Herald (Dublin) 20120614 'Gripping. Tana French's third novel hooks the reader from the outset; the characters are masterfully drawn, and the author's ear for Dublin dialogue is pitch-perfect.' -- Irish Independent 20120614 'The first thing that Ms. French does so well in Faithful Place is to inhabit fully a scrappy, shrewd, privately heartbroken middle-aged man. The second is to capture the Mackey family's long-brewing resentments in a way that's utterly realistic on many levels. Sibling rivalries, class conflicts, old grudges, adolescent flirtations and memories of childhood violence are all deftly embedded in this novel, as is the richly idiomatic Dublinese.' -- New York Times 20120614 'Ambitious and extraordinary' -- Washington Post 20120614 'Crime fiction at its best' -- InStyle magazine 20120614 'One of the most startling debuts I have seen any writer make: polished, assured, ferociously intelligent, at once very original and effortlessly engaged with the conventions of crime fiction' -- Sydney Morning Herald 20120614 'Nothing short of a masterpiece. French's first three thrillers were all brilliant but this is by far her best and reaches a level of spine-chilling, gripping moreishness that will leave readers open-mouthed with admiration. If I encounter a better novel than Broken Harbour before French publishes her fifth, I'll eat a milliner's shop full of hats.' -- Sophie Hannah, Daily Express 20120617