|« Back to Article|
Taut thriller set in Ireland
By Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel : August 16, 2012 : Updated: August 17, 2012 9:46am
Contemporary Ireland and the country’s history as seen through the eyes of a Dublin homicide department fuel each of Edgar-winner Tana French’s four novels. In the fascinating, but unwieldy, “Broken Harbor,” French looks at the precarious financial situation that has seen Ireland move from a booming economy to a floundering one in just a few years.
By Tana French
Contemporary Ireland and the country's history as seen through the eyes of a Dublin homicide department fuel each of Edgar-winner Tana French's four novels.
In the fascinating, but unwieldy, “Broken Harbor,” French looks at the precarious financial situation that has seen Ireland move from a booming economy to a floundering one in just a few years.
French keeps her series fresh by focusing on a different member of the police squad in each of her novels.
“Broken Harbor” belongs to Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, an arrogant, headline-grabbing cop who also has the highest “solve rates” in his department.
He and Detective Richie Curran, his new, inexperienced partner, are assigned the case of a family of four attacked in their home in Brianstown. Only Jennifer Spain has barely survived the assault.
Patrick and Jennifer Spain were high school sweethearts who seemed to have the perfect marriage, the perfect children. Jenny especially was obsessed with having everything “right.”
But Patrick had lost his job several months ago and the family was nearly broke.
Also a victim of the economy, Brianstown is a magnet for squatters and thrill-seeking teens.
A series of seeming benign break-ins in which nothing is stolen but possessions are moved have left many uneasy.
Mick remembers Brianstown when it was called Broken Harbor, a quiet seaside village that was the site of a family tragedy in his childhood.
French's flair for a sense of how characters are influenced by their location and her elegant prose shine in “Broken Harbor.”
The emptiness of Brianstown becomes the modern equivalent of the spooky mansion, complete with things that go bump in the night. But several scenes are too long and lose their impact. A more tightly written “Broken Harbor” would have resulted in a stronger novel.
Still, as she did in her other novels, French expertly shows the importance of connecting with each other, and how fragile those bonds can be.