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Broken Harbour

Dublin Murder Squad: 4. Winner of the LA Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction Book of the Year

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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 . . .


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

Critic Reviews

I've been enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen to read Tana French. She is, without a doubt, my favorite new mystery writer. Her novels are poignant, compelling, beautifully written and wonderfully atmospheric. Just start reading the first page. You'll see what I mean.
The half finished housing estate with jerry-built boxes is eerily reminiscent of a J. G. Ballard dystopian setting - 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.
The most breathtakingly brilliant and close-to-perfect thriller I've read for a long time.
Tana French is one of those rare novelists who combine a gift for dialogue and characterisation, with suspense, intrigue and fabulous plotting. And she's a beautiful writer, to boot. A real treat.
Edgar-winner French's eloquently slow-burning fourth Dublin murder squad novel shows her at the top of her game . . . French excels at drawing out complex character dynamics
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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