Book Review-Broken Harbor

Everyone has their favorite authors, those writers for whose next work you watch carefully.  Because I buy all the fiction for the Library, I get to know about those new titles months in advance.
Tana French is one of those authors that I watch for.  She is writing a series of books based on the detectives of the Murder Squad of Dublin, Ireland.  Each book takes a different detective to explore. Her latest book, Broken Harbour, was worth the wait.  In this installment, it is Scorcher Kennedy that is profiled.  He is not well liked on the squad, but he had a reputation for solving crimes.  His reputation was tarnished in a previous book, so he is eager at the beginning of this one to solve the murder/suicide case that he is given.  He is also mentoring a new detective.  Throw into the mix a crazy sister and a childhood trauma and the scene is set.
The murder/suicide takes place at a new housing development that never really got off the ground before the recession hit.  The houses are shoddily built and many in the development are only partially finished.   We learn that the murdered family was having financial difficulties, so the case looks open and shut except for some oddities, like baby monitors places in unusual locations, and large holes punched in the walls.  Kennedy and his partner, Ritchie, try to pin the clues down, but nothing seems to fit.  The area the development is in was the scene of a tragic accident involving Kennedy and his family.  His youngest sister is still, apparently, traumatized by the event.  French weaves the two stories together and explores the psychological effects of both events on Kennedy.
This is a great book.  Highly recommended.

Broken Harbor By French, Tana 2012-07 - Viking Books 9780670023653 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title With her signature blend of police procedural and psychological thriller, French's fourth book of the Dublin murder squad goes full throttle with a heinous crime, creating her most complicated detective character and her best book yet. …More

Other books by the same author.

In the Woods By French, Tana 2007-05 - Viking Books 9780670038602 Check Our Catalog 2008 Edgar Award Winner - Best First Novel By An American Author 2008 Anthony Award Winner for Best First Novel For readers who like their hard-boiled police procedurals with an international flare ("USA Today"), this thriller marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense. …More

The Likeness By French, Tana 2008-08 - Viking Books 9780670018864 Check Our Catalog French presents the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the "New York Times"-bestselling psychological thriller "In the Woods." …More

Faithful Place By French, Tana 2011-06 - Penguin Books 9780143119494 Check Our Catalog The "expertly rendered, gripping new novel" (Janet Maslin, "The New York Times")-from the bestselling author of "In the Woods" and "The Likeness." Tana French's "In the Woods" and "The Likeness" captivated readers by introducing them to her unique, character-driven style. Her singular skill at creating richly drawn, complex worlds makes her novels not mere whodunits but brilliant and satisfying novels about memory, identity, loss, and what defines us as humans. With "Faithful Place," the highly praised third novel about the Dublin Murder squad, French takes readers into the mind of Frank Mackey, the hotheaded mastermind of "The Likeness," as he wrestles with his own past and the family, the lover, and the neighborhood he thought he'd left behind for good. …More

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Bloodland By Glynn, Alan 2012-01 - Picador USA 9780312621285 Check Our Catalog A helicopter crash off the coast of Ireland sends unexpected ripples through the international community in this intricate new thriller from the author of "Winterland" and "Limitless." …More

Death in Summer By Black, Benjamin Author Black 2011-07 - Henry Holt & Company 9780805090925 Check Our Catalog On a sweltering summer afternoon, newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell is discovered with his head blown off by a shotgun blast. But is it suicide or murder? For help with the investigation, Detective Inspector Hackett calls in his old friend Quirke, who has unusual access to Dublin's elite. …More

Deed of Murder By Harrison, Cora 2011-11 - Severn House Publishers 9780727880710 Check Our Catalog "The enthralling new Burren mystery . . . ""April 1511, Ireland." Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is celebrating the christening of her son when she notices that three of her law students have disappeared from the party. The next morning, one of them is found dead on a lone mountain pass with suspicious wounds. He was carrying an important legal document that has now disappeared. But why did he choose to deliver it during the night, and what of the two other missing students? Mara must uncover the truth - and it at first seems that the stolen deed holds all the answers . . . …More

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