- I’m a huge fan of Tana French.
I also recommend:
- The Killing Season by Priscilla Royal
- The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
Summary from GoodReads:
“Scorcher” Kennedy, the brash cop from Tana French’s bestsellingFaithful 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.
My Review:
Tana French is my go-to gal for mystery, suspense, solid characters, and fantastic story-telling. In Broken Harbor she returns, once again, to tell a gritty, hard story and this time she’s focused on “Scorcher” Kennedy and his rookie partner, Richie.
Scorcher made an appearance in French’s last book, Faithful Place, but you are not required to read her previous books to jump into this one – which is one of the strengths of this series. Each book focuses on a character that is thoroughly explored … but not only is that character development happening, a murder is being investigated as well.
Broken Harbor deals with a particularly brutal case. A family of four was targeted and Scorcher and Richie have their work cut out for them. I got what I’ve come to expect from Tana French, twisting and turning, terse dialogue, unexpected developments, and … something very strange. What I love most about French is that she doesn’t feel the need to answer every question – she understands that some things the imagination should be free to do with as it will, and mine is still running in circles around some of the developments of the case Scorcher was up against.
In a world where we are inundated with books by “big names” churning out a book every 3 months or so (it seems), it’s refreshing to pick up a book like this and know that there will be a quality story inside. And coming from me – someone who really doesn’t read a lot of mystery any longer, that’s big praise.
Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!
The Windy Pages | Because I Love to Hear Myself Type | Cool Books
