Broken Harbour

By: Tana French

Narrated by: Hugh Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2012 Tana French (P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton

Critic reviews

"I've been enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen to read Tana French. Her novels are poignant, compelling, beautifully written and wonderfully atmospheric. Just start reading the first page. You'll see what I mean." (Harlan Coben)

"Every holiday needs a good crime novel and French's skilful thrillers are tailor-made to terrify." ( The Guardian)

"The queen of Irish fiction ... This is a writer working at the height of her powers. As always with Tana French, you can expect humour, pathos and well-observed social commentary, but above all, a cracking story that keeps you guessing until the end." ( The Sunday Independant)

"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." ( Daily Mail)

"The first thing that Ms. French does so well in Faithful Place is to inhabit fully a scrappy, shrewd, privately heartbroken middle-aged man. The second is to capture the Mackey family's long-brewing resentments in a way that's utterly realistic on many levels. Sibling rivalries, class conflicts, old grudges, adolescent flirtations and memories of childhood violence are all deftly embedded in this novel, as is the richly idiomatic Dublinese." ( New York Times)

"Nothing short of a masterpiece. French's first three thrillers were all brilliant but this is by far her best and reaches a level of spine-chilling, gripping moreishness that will leave readers open-mouthed with admiration. If I encounter a better novel than Broken Harbour before French publishes her fifth, I'll eat a milliner's shop full of hats." ( Sophie Hannah, Daily Express)

Best thriller for ages

Where does Broken Harbour rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Probably the best mystery/thriller I have listened to.

What did you like best about this story?

The narrator was excellent - his characterisation impeccable. It was easy to believe you were listening to an extensive cast.

Which character – as performed by Hugh Lee – was your favorite?

DI Kennedy - Scorcher.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A modern Irish tragedy.

A masterful reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Darned gripping yarn that gets the cognitive skills chugging. Romantic Ireland might be dead and gone but it leaves in its wake a great whodunit.

What did you like best about this story?

Hugh Lee's performance.

Have you listened to any of Hugh Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No idea who Hugh Lee is but this guy is an absolutely terrific reader. He's a one-man cast of regional, social, and gender accents. I wish I could read out loud like this.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Sly story in crafty times.

Any additional comments?

Get Hugh Lee to do more readings.

I really liked this book!

What did you love best about Broken Harbour?

The story was most unusual and I could really picture the suburban environment and characters as the narrator was very consistent with his voices and characterisations.
I like all the loose ends to be tied up in a book, and in this case there were a few left 'hanging' however that has given me food for thought...so not such a bad thing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Richie Curran - empathy empathy empathy...read it and find out why!

What does Hugh Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His Irish accents were really spot on...I particularly liked the voice of the nosey neighbour.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Really enjoyable all round.

Gripping story and amazing performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I already have! This series in general is notable for the amazing character studies, and Lee's reading truly makes it come to life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The narrator. Lee truly brought out all his humanity.

Have you listened to any of Hugh Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't, but I have already started looking at other pieces he's done.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It terrified me, it captivated me, it saddened me deeply-- all in the best possible way.

waste of time, minus stars would be appropriate

Worst book EVER! I really wish I had not wasted my life on this. A book of really disgusting people, every single one of them.

Her worst in the series, by far, I’m so annoyed I spent my credit on this crap. I have loved the earlier books in the series, so I was fooled into getting this one too. Mistake!

First, this is way too long. There are parts that made me scream with frustration; will you just get on with it already! Like, a writer is NOT supposed to write entire loooong conversations word-for-word!!!!!! The big revelation finale -conversation lasts for hours, LITERALLY, and that is just so completely insane! Someone should have stopped the writer!
Many times, I just lost interest and book played like background noise. And by the end of the book, I had already lost all interest in what happens to all these annoying stupid people. I actually hoped for all kinds of bad things! Actually I don’t really even know how the book ended, even if I did listen it to the end, bc I was beyond caring at that point.

Main character is impossible to like in his self righteousness, and that is kind of a problem when book is this long! He is exactly the kind of man I hate and avoid. Also the ”crazy sister” Dina is such a horrible character that I started to hate my life every time she was on stage!
And seriously, wanting to ”keep things in the family” and not putting a very VERY sick person into proper care is horrible, selfish and irresponsible, not noble.

Ireland seems a very apalling place to live, I mean in every book of Tana French, some fatherless little boys ”have to be the man in the house too early” (yikes!) and thus have later ”issues”. And there are soooo many things wrong with all that on so many levels, that I’m not even going to start!
And everyone seems to be like ”let’s not talk to anyone about anything/ we will keep our problems within the family and need no help so f..k off/ I shall protect my family by not telling them anything (bc I’m better than them, too)”. Ireland seems to have really serious communication issues.

I also hated the narrator, but I hated the characters so much more, that at times I almost forgot how bad he was.

On the plus side, the moral dilemma about a crime and a proper punishment was really interesting. Also that conversation was wayyyy too long, of course.

Stay away from this.

Did not like th narrator

Love the story, but narrator was a bit annoying when narrating all female characters with the same voice...

Very good book

Amazing Performance!
Story- good, heavy- could be a few hours shorter without loosing its quality
New the answer from the beginning but the book isnt just about looking who is guilty and who isnt

A mixture of realistic and unrealistic

As much as I like the flowery descriptions, sometimes they really slow down the story and turn the very realistic characters into a mockery of themselves. I kept thinking: WHO TALKS LIKE THAT? Whenever a character described what happened. I did like this story. It was the best of the four novels I had read. The others didn’t have much story going on. This did feel like a haunted house novel in a way. It was entertaining, butt I am not sure if the author’s work is entirely my cup of tea.

Over 20 hours - perfect for the pandemic!

This is an excellent book, I wouldn’t give it anything less than five stars, but if you’re looking for a book to fall asleep too, this might not be the perfect fit. The voice work is excellent, just a little too invigorating to ensure a solid night of sleep. I ended up looking at the ceiling many nights, waking up to stressed out voices...combined with Tana French’s moody scenes, this book guaranteed sleepy morning.

Not her best..

Overall this book could have been great. Except it’s at least 4 hours too long!
The self-pitying ramblings would have been fine but the same things are said/thought over and over and over till you almost know them by heart. And really, NOT putting your really sick sister in a hospital just because you feel bad is just cruel!