Broken Harbor

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After having read and loved all of Tana French’s previous novels, I was looking forward to reading “Broken Harbour” with very high expectations, which can be a dangerous thing. However, French does not disappoint – this is a brilliantly crafted psychological thriller with enough twists and turns to keep even the most seasoned readers of the genre guessing right until the end. As in previous novels, it delves into the deepest darkest corners of the human psyche, what makes us break and what drives us to kill.

Chief detective Mick (Scorcher) Kennedy, who readers of “Faithful Place” will be familiar with, is on the case of the brutal murder of a family of four in their own home in Brianstown, a new but sloppy and dilapidated development in a remote coastal settlement previously known as Broken Harbour. Like all of French’s main characters, Scorcher has many problems and demons of his own, and a tragic family secret which links him to Broken Harbour. From the start, this personal connection forms a constant presence in his investigation and sets the emotional tone of the novel, which at times seems almost mystical, such as the woods in French’s novel “In the Woods”. It is due to French’s gifted storytelling and her vivid descriptions that I could almost see, smell and feel Brianstown whilst reading this book, and felt the shivers it sent down my back.

What provokes such a brutal attack on a young couple and their two small children? This is the one question haunting Scorcher throughout the investigation, as subjects are considered and dismissed and the detectives try to put together the clues which may form a picture of the last days of the Spain family’s life. I enjoyed the way French drew the reader into the police investigation, revealing each piece of evidence as it was discovered and letting me be a fly on the wall in the interviews conducted. Describing even the small, tedious aspects of the investigation brought a sense of reality and being in the moment, and made me feel emotionally connected to the case. Layer by layer assumptions are stripped away as the investigation delves into the victims’ lives, revealing a family in crisis. And although the list of subjects is small, and one may be tempted to predict the outcome, the overarching question of “why” always remained until the very end.

From the outset, Scorcher’s investigation is far from straight forward. The brutality of the murder, for one. In Scorcher’s own words: “It takes a while to wrap your head around a scene like that, the first time. Your inner world snaps itself away from the outside one, for protection: your eyes are wide open, but all that reaches your mind is streaks of red and an error message.” Who would hate the Spains enough to create such a scene of destruction? Even once a suspect is in custody and it looks as if the case has been solved, too many unanswered questions remain, prompting Scorcher and his rookie partner Richie Curran to keep digging into this case. For example, why would a respectable family man keep a lethal animal trap in his attic, and wire security cameras to various strange places in the victims’ house? Who is the intruder Jenny Spain mentioned to her sister weeks before the murder? In the somewhat spooky setting of the development’s wasteland and its pervasive sense of hopelessness and despair, these questions haunt Scorcher and his partner throughout the investigation.

With heartfelt clarity, French tackles the issue of the dark secrets in the very heart of family life, and what makes us break. Like in “Faithful Place”, family dynamics very much form the center of the story, not only for Scorcher but also the victims, linking them in ways which could compromise the whole investigation. It is difficult to comment on the other aspects of this book that really touched me without spoilers, so I will not mention them here.

“Broken Harbour” is a masterfully crafted thriller which kept me reading until the early hours of the morning, unable to put the book away until I finally had answers. Fans of French’s previous novels will not be disappointed, and for those who have not read any of French’s work yet – what is stopping you? I recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good murder/mystery, but make sure you have plenty of time on your hands before opening the first page. Whilst I now have to wait for Tana French to write her next book …..