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Broken Harbour

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Broken Harbour

By: Tana French
Narrated by: Hugh Lee
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About this listen

In Broken Harbour, a ghost estate outside Dublin - half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned - two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder squad's star detective. At first he and his rookie partner, Richie, think this is a simple one: Pat Spain was a casualty of the recession, so he killed his children, tried to kill his wife Jenny, and finished off with himself. But there are too many inexplicable details and the evidence is pointing in two directions at once. Scorcher's personal life is tugging for his attention. Seeing the case on the news has sent 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 Harbour, back when they were children. The neat compartments of his life are breaking down, and the sudden tangle of work and family is putting both at risk.

©2012 Tana French (P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton Modern Detectives Mystery Fiction Suspense

Critic Reviews

"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)
"Every holiday needs a good crime novel and French's skilful thrillers are tailor-made to terrify." ( The Guardian)
"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." ( The Sunday Independant)
"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)
"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)
"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)
All stars
Most relevant
Narrator was excellent, the story conveyed so beautifully and eloquently it felt like a magnificent play from a cast not a narration by a single gifted person. The lead character was cleverly portrayed as a flawed hero, the story twisted and turned every thrilling chapter.

Amazing

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Keeps you on the edge, twists & turns ensure you listen all hours.... Really good!

Phew ... what a story...

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What did you like most about Broken Harbour?

The psychological thrill was just enough to keep me absorbed without being too scary. And Hugh Lee's narration was superb ... all those characters represented in a different voice, accent or tone, and all easily identified by his performance.

What other book might you compare Broken Harbour to, and why?

Iain Rankin's " Rhebus" series and Peter Robinson's DCI Banks series. Similar crimes to solve coupled with the difficulty of a detective's ability to have a "normal" life

Have you listened to any of Hugh Lee’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No but I want to try more - especially Tana French's series

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just glad I don't have stuff like that in my life!

A Great Listen - couldn't put it down.

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I loved e very second of it. A great performance and masterful storytelling, only sad it ended.

Fantastic.

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Excellent performance from the narrator - varied Irish accents, all executed perfectly.

The book references infanticide, and has very realistic depictions of mental illness - just FYI if these things are a trigger.

Another fantastic book from Tana French - I'm off to get the next one in the series.

Very clever mystery

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Narration very well done with multiple voices that are consistent. Pity about the blasphemy. Necessary?

Long book but draws you in.

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If you could sum up Broken Harbour in three words, what would they be?

Kept me guessing

Who was your favorite character and why?

All the characters were complex and interesting and flawed, I didn't have a favourite.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

When the story of the creature in the ceiling and walls evolved, when the detectives discovered the internet chat conversations, I kept wondering what the thing was. I still don't know whether it was real or not.

Any additional comments?

Great pace, great listen. I loved the range of accents the author used. It was intriguing from the start to the end.

Kept me guessing

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I loved this book. I found it completely absorbing and couldn’t stop listening. Great narration too.

A great read

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The book is essentially about the way the lead detective and his rookie partner negotiate the investigation and draw their conclusions. Class points of view and personal history influence the conclusions they draw and provide the intellectual structure of the novel. The debate is about how the crash in Ireland influenced the lives of individuals. At times I skipped over these long passages of dialogue - "OK we get it". That is the reason for my "needs an edit" headline for the review. Coping with Mental Illness ia a stone theme in the fabric of the novel.

I had met Scorcher in Faithful Place but this character didn't seem to project the same elements as in Broken Harbour. He seemed completely different. Granted the view of Scorcher in Faithful Place was vague compared to the detail and inner world of that drawn in Broken Harbour but Scorcher was unrecognisable as the character from Faithful Place which leaves me wondering why make it the same character at all.

The big disappointment though was the ending which seemed to just disappear into Broken Harbour's sea spray. It's hard to keep going on a novel when all of the characters are unlikeable. That is how I found the majority of them, excluding the rooky detective. We as readers need to at least feel we understand them. I didn't really feel that. Maybe it was the performance, the delivery - I don't know.

Needs an edit.

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This story was interesting. I rather enjoyed it. Some areas went on a bit long.

Interesting

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