Broken Harbor

A Novel

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Stephen Hogan

Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

From Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher, a New York Times best-selling novel that “proves anew that [Tana French] is one of the most talented crime writers alive” (The Washington Post).

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.” (The New York Times)

Mick “Scorcherˮ Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and thatʼs how the biggest case of the year ends up in his hands.

On one of the half-abandoned "luxury" developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks itʼs going to be an easy solve, but too many small things can't be explained: the half dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spains' walls, the files erased from the familyʼs computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder slipping past the house's locks. And this neighborhood - once called Broken Harbor - holds memories for Scorcher and his troubled sister, Dina: childhood memories that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control.

©2012 Tana French (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“French ...[is] drawn not just to the who but also to the why - those bigger mysteries about the human weaknesses that drive somebody to such inhuman brutality. What really gives Broken Harbor its nerve-rattling force is her exploration of events leading up to the murders, rendered just as vividly as the detectives’ scramble to solve them.” [Entertainment Weekly (A- rating)]

“Broken Harbour is a novel, of course, but it's also a headline...it's good to see contemporary literature engaging a crisis that has had such an impact on the lives of so many. This is, in fact, what good literature does. It makes us look at our world and perhaps forces us to see what we have chosen to ignore.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Ms. French creates haunting, damaged characters who have been hit hard by some cataclysm...This may sound like a routine police procedural. But like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, this summer’s other dagger-sharp display of mind games, Broken Harbor is something more... she has irresistibly sly ways of toying with readers’ expectations.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

Do they give Oscars for narration?

Stick with if, even if you hate Scorcher at first... you WILL warm up to the smug bloke.

I’ve been binge listening and reading the Dublin Murder series... although, this is the only book I’ve listened to in entirety (not interchanging with library checkout). The narration is THAT GOOD!

This is one of the only male narrators that I’ve listened to who can do female voices without being awkward.

Crap ending

I after investing in the entire story which was really good, the ending was really a let down!!!! No complete resolution! Very disappointing

Tana French Does it again...

I particularly enjoy how Tana French hints to her next character focus in the book in previously in the series. Here ”Scorcher”, a determined, emotionally locked up murder detective is the main character. I really enjoyed his hardness and the way French works in his soft cracks with his mentally ill sister and desire to have a connection with a partner. He is an interesting, well developed character.
The story was intriguing. There were just enough characters to make it so. It was not a real hard core ”who dun it”, but more of a ’why’.
This is not an audiobook that you can listen to lighthearted in my opinion. It's on you have to pay attention to because each word is relevant.
I loved Stephen Hogans narration. He is always a bonus for me. He narrates all inflections and both men and women beautifully. He makes it easy to get into each character.
Overall great story. Steady pace. Excellent chapter development. I'd love to learn more about Scorcher and his sister, their lives. And the narration was a joy.

Ms. French Has A Problem With Endings

I loved this story and Ms. French's powerful description, not only of physical objects, but of people and what makes them tick and what haunts them, their strengths and weaknesses, but this is not the first story that I've listened to with baited breath waiting to find out what happens and be left wondering what the hell????? After 20 hours of investment, I'm left with using my own imagination to guess at what happened the next day. It leaves something to be desired. If I had to depend on my own imagination it would be me writing the books and making the money, but she is a truly magnificent writer. She just needs to take hold of the story and give us the whole thing in her own words. This was truly one of the best stories, but I loved her others as well.

Not the best!

This slipped into the horror genre with too much detail and psychosis. Great performance but not up to the earlier work I devoured with enthusiasm. This was a bit of a slog.

Better than good, but not as good as the others

Beautiful writing, unexpected twist to the mystery, but this has been my least favorite of the first 4 Dublin Murder Squad Books. I didn’t find Detective Kennedy to be very likeable, though he does go through some personal growth and becomes a little more relatable by the end. I will also say that it’s probably also the most realistic of the stories - so If the inplausibility of some of the other stories bothered you, you may like this better. It may be that the biggest issue for me here was the reader. He has a great voice, but the recording seemed to have a lot of jarring volume changes - some obviously purposely as det Kennedy speaks in asides a lot, but much of it sounded like moving around behind the microphone. I also found it difficult to follow conversations between characters because it seemed like the voice changes sometimes got lost along the way and one voice would continue into the first line by another character then suddenly switch to the correct voice midsentance.

Not the Best of the series

This episode focuses on Scorcher Kennedy- already not the most likable of characters from the outset. The plot twists are more expected, which would be fine if there was more of a character arch but Scorcher just doesn’t move as easily as some of French’s other characters. The narrator does well
with the men- he seems to have a good handle on Scorcher himself, however, he does a really poor job with the women. All of them come off nails-on-chalkboard-shrill and adolescently snippy. It’s a shame - especially for Dina who, as written, has some complexity but comes off as a spoiled child as read.

Too sad

My least favorite Tana French book. Moves well and characters were compelling. Just too depressing. Female character voices were grating.

Can’t even love it enough ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Took me about 3 months after purchasing to circle back around to this one. Narration turned me off in the beginning. But I was wrong, he is so good, the story is SO GOOD, and I love that it was nice, long & complicated.

Broken Harbor and Broken Ending

I've listened to other books from this series and I agree with other reviews that the ends are not always satisfying in these books. BUT that said the descriptions and stories are very intriguing.