Broken Harbor by Tana French is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series. With this work, French once again displays she is a master of police procedurals. She has created another tale of complex characters that draws the reader into the compelling plot.
French established herself at the outset as a great writer of crime fiction. The first book in the series, In the Woods, won several awards, including the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author. French, who now resides in Ireland and has also lived in Italy and Malawi, excels at writing about the “broken hero.” Her books feature an imperfect protagonist: a homicide detective with a checkered past — thought to be safely buried away, but brought to the surface by the case at hand.
In Broken Harbor, French has improved her game by introducing us to Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, a murder detective who always gets his man. Kennedy, along with his rookie partner, are assigned a high-profile triple murder that takes Kennedy to the estate of Briantstown, formerly known as “Broken Harbor.” The place holds powerful memories for Kennedy — memories that are disturbing enough on their own, let alone in light of the recent murder of Patrick Spain and his two children, and the attempted murder of Spain’s wife, Jenny.
The appeal of Broken Harbor, as with French’s other books, is the expert way in which she manages to weave the detective’s tortured past into the present horror he or she is facing. French not only takes the reader through the process of solving the murder, but also exposes how this particular case will tear the protagonist apart from the inside out. Kennedy’s search for the truth will force him to come to terms with both his past and his present, while also making him question his future.
As Kennedy and his partner work the case, they encounter more questions than answers. French’s stories sometimes have a touch of the supernatural to them, lending them a sense that things aren’t always what they appear to be. In Broken Harbor, the unreliability of the narrator draws the reader into the search for that missing piece of the case.
The stories French creates make her books difficult to put down. As the detectives dive into the lives of the victims in order to solve the case, it is easy to forget they are dead. French’s characterizations and plot construction propel the reader on a nonstop whirlwind to the last page of the book. Don’t expect that conclusion to be a happy one, where everything is wrapped up with a neat little bow as our hero rides off into the sunset, however. Much like real life, French’s books don’t end that way.
If you are looking for a crime novel that has amazing character development, will pull you in, make you question the protagonist’s point of view, and make you think about the ending long after you put it down, then Broken Harbor is the book for you.