Broken Harbor by Tana French
Halloween night at our house. As with every year, we anxiously await trick or treaters, but over the years they have dwindled. And this year, none — even our favorite 5 (no I’m-almost-6!) year old didn’t get to stop by.
Our basket sat untouched by the front door .
Where was everyone? Down on the beach where the city closed the highway to traffic.
Safe and fun for all involved. No crossing streets, no cars. Tables set up by volunteers, parents, and local groups to serve treats (lots of treats) for the revelers. There were costume parades, pumpkin carving, and a photographer to capture it all. It’s the new, safer, and arguably better Halloween for everyone.
Full disclosure, we were loath to venture into the fray of sugar-frenzied kids and exhausted parents. So, I gathered these photos from our local Facebook page as evidence. (Click each to make larger – the family portrait is especially stunning.)
As night fell, we closed our curtains knowing our neighborhood little ones had a wonderful time. So what to do on a silent doorbell Halloween night? Settle in with a cup of tea and finish my book – and perhaps a Reeses (see lonely basket above).
Broken Harbor by Tana French
I’m a big fan of Tana French and am reading her Dublin Murder Squad series in order — I inhaled the first three and started Broken Harbor as my October, Halloween-ish read.
French is notorious for her debut novel, In The Woods (2007) which violated one of the key rules of the murder mystery genre (I won’t tell!). Her other books, The Likeness (2008) and Faithful Place (2010), have also distinguished themselves for their realistic (read gruesome) crime scenes, detailed, nuanced characters, and a loosely linked cast of detective protagonists.
Each of Ms. French’s installments take the point of view of a different member of the detective team. Broken Harbor is the fourth and there are two more in what is now commonly referred to as the Dublin Murder Squad series.
Broken Harbor tells a case from Mick “Scorcherˮ Kennedy’s view point. Kennedy is the big man of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays strictly by the books and has a relentless work ethic. Thatʼs how one of biggest cases of the year ends up in his hands. A horrific case; a report that an entire family of four — mother, father, daughter and son – have been found dead in Broken Harbor.
Broken Harbor is a half-abandoned, so-called, luxury housing development on the coast near Dublin. The developers fled during the economic crash, leaving behind empty and abandoned homes. A few families are hanging on, despite the crumbling foundations and shoddy workmanship. The Spain family, are now dead in what they had hoped would be their forever home.
Of course all is not what it seems. The first surprise is that the mother is still alive, but badly beaten and clinging to life with multiple stab wounds. The second wrinkle is that Kennedy is given a new rookie partner to work with, Richie Curran, who has managed to pull himself out of lower class squalor by his bootstraps to a hard-fought position on the Dublin Murder Squad. The third complicating factor is that Broken Harbor used to be known by the less lyrical name of Brianstown and is also the place where Kennedy’s own mentally imbalanced mother committed suicide by walking into the sea with his now-mentally ill youngest sister Dina.
How’s that for a plot set up? I found it hard to like Kennedy when he first appeared in Faithful Place, but here Ms. French gives him a complexity that I found compelling.
I’m the least fanciful guy around, but on nights when I wonder whether there was any point to my day, I think about this: the first thing we ever did, when we started turning into humans, was draw a line across the cave door and say: Wild stays out. What I do is what the first men did. They built walls to keep back the sea. They fought the wolves for the hearth fire.
Kennedy presses hard to solve this case pressuring his young rookie to exhaustion. But the interplay between them is engaging, as the older, more experienced detective guides the younger one down a path that may, or may not, be right one.
Although not really a character, the Broken Harbor housing development plays a major role. The economic crash that brought down so many dreams sets a haunting scene. The half-built development where many of the houses lie vacant or are inhabited by squatters, abandoned bulldozers and torn plastic-covered windows flapping in the breeze — the whole thing reads desolation and shattered hopes. The reader can feel the isolation and the hopelessness left behind. It’s easy to identify with a generation that played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do, only to find that they had been sold a bill of goods and that were now trapped.
Kennedy tells it like this:
In every way there is, murder is chaos. Our job is simple, when you get down to it: we stand against that, for order. I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would never even have crossed a kid’s mind to tell an adult to fuck off. There was plenty of bad there, I don’t forget that, but we all knew exactly where we stood and we didn’t break the rules lightly. If that sounds like small stuff to you, if it sounds boring or old-fashioned or uncool, think about this: people smiled at strangers, people said hello to neighbors, people left their doors unlocked and helped old women with their shopping bags, and the murder rate was scraping zero. Sometime since then, we started turning feral. Wild got into the air like a virus, and it’s spreading. Watch the packs of kids roaming inner-city estates, mindless and brakeless as baboons, looking for something or someone to wreck. Watch the businessmen shoving past pregnant women for a seat on the train, using their 4x4s to force smaller cars out of their way, purple-faced and outraged when the world dares to contradict them. Watch the teenagers throw screaming stamping tantrums when, for once, they can’t have it the second they want it. Everything that stops us being animals is eroding, washing away like sand, going and gone. The final step into feral is murder.
There are to things to reveal to you about this novel. Kennedy’s sister who is suffering from mental health issues is left to either stay with Kennedy or their older sister and often escaping unsupervised into the streets of Dublin. Why is there no mental healthcare offered to her? And — trigger warning, the murder of the two children is described in detail, not once, but several times.
One thing I’ve picked up from Ms. French’s books is that she is the queen of obfuscation — a connoisseur of finding the cracks in our so-called civilized lives and gleefully pointing them out. The reader has to come to grips with the fact that nothing ever works out – for anyone.
And as dark as that sounds, I found Broken Harbor rich with detail and complexity of motivation. A complex contradiction of madness and guilt, as well as loyalty and family relationships. The characters are real and flawed and beautiful. And the story is twisty, heartbreaking, and oh so human. The final confession was so well written that it made me choke-up and re-read it again.
And while this novel delivers a human villain, when all is said and done, it’s the recession of 2008 that is the ultimate offender and the reader sees how almost every character in the book was hurt as a result.
And, as with each of Ms. French’s series, I find myself highly invested in the future of the investigator almost more than the investigation itself — Broken Harbor is no different in that regard. I eagerly look forward to the next in line on my bookshelf.
A Better Man by Louise Penny
A Better Man is the latest installment in Ms. Penny’s bestselling mystery series. If by chance, you’ve been banished in Siberia and aren’t aware of this series, please drop everything and start with her first Still Life – you should read them in order.
Don’t start with this one as you’ll just get confused. A Better Man, uses many references from her previous novels.
It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the Surete’s homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his second-in-command, and son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. There’s massive flooding in Quebec and the mystery begins when a father reports his daughter missing. Sadly, the daughter is found dead in the flood waters and it becomes clear that she had been abused by her husband and was also pregnant. So, of course the main suspect is this abusive husband…but perhaps not.
Ms. Penny takes us through plot twists and sub plots, scattering suspects as we go along. There are surprising dynamics that lead to the crime(s) committed here — from the psychology of spousal abuse — to the Surete’s highly questionable manipulation of a suspect’s social media account.
I always look forward to the cozy time back in the village of Three Pines, where the characters (and the reader) can gather sustenance from the community. But we only get short respites in the village and its characters. Clara deals with harsh critique of her latest art — all brutally served up via social media. Ruth meddles where she shouldn’t and Myrna has a sweetheart.
I will take a short break here to quote the New York Times on this book:
“a constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves”
And there it is – A Better Man (like her previous two installments) is deeper and darker and for this reader that takes some getting used to.
Ms. Penny’s still writes beautifully and deftly takes the story in multiple directions, always building the tension. But it is darker world for Three Pines and our beloved characters.
Spousal abuse is only part of the dark story — Gamache’s past still haunts him and his career. Social media is used to hurt and maim. Global warming is causing unprecedented flooding. And is Gamache or Jean Guy the better man?
Yes, the series is turning darker, more brooding, but perhaps just more reflective of today’s societal influences. I still maintain that Ms. Penny delivers some of the best mystery writing out there.
And, true to form I found myself furiously caught up in A Better Man with much late night page turning.
Ms. Penny, I’m your biggest fan.
A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie
It’s a well known Book Barmy fact that Deborah Crombie writes one of my favorite mystery series. My gushing affection for her novels is documented in past posts HERE.
This rainy morning with a nice cup of tea, I finished the latest, just released series installment — A Bitter Feast.
As the book opens, Ms. Crombie takes the London-based police team of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James on an idyllic escape to the English Cotswolds. With their children and fellow police detective, Doug, all are invited to spend a restful weekend in the village of Lower Slaughter.
A village called Slaughter? Well played Ms. Crombie — what could possibly go wrong? Actually it’s a double entendre — Slaughter comes from the Old English word ‘slothre’ meaning muddy place. Just part of the wonderfully sly writing style Ms. Crombie brings to all her books.
A Bitter Feast starts off slowly with all the elements of a cozy mystery – a picturesque village, a warm English pub, and the lovely manor house to which Melody has invited her fellow police crowd to stay for the weekend. The manor house has a spectacular garden, the pub boasts a wonderful chef, and there’s a sense of tranquility around Duncan and Gemma’s getaway to the Cotswolds.
But, as to be expected when there’s an assembly of police officers — their restful holiday soon goes awry
But, here’s what separates A Bitter Feast (and all Ms. Crombie’s novels) from traditional cozy mysteries — her sly (there’s that word again) introduction of simple details that become vital later in the story. Only later does the reader realize that clues were being scattered while the characters stroll in the garden or are enjoying a delicious meal.
As always, Ms. Crombie’s characters are well-developed, as they have been over the course of the series. All my favorite characters are here, I know them well. But interestingly, Ms. Crombie puts both Duncan and Gemma somewhat in the background (after all they’re on holiday remember?) and lets others to take the lead in the investigations of the crimes befalling Lower Slaughter. Melody’s upper class background comes into full spotlight as we are introduced to her titled parents and manor house. Especially interesting was to see Duncan’s 15 year old Kit acting well beyond his years and stepping into adulthood.
After the somewhat bleak tone of her previous novel, A Bitter Feast has a more cheerful atmosphere — the murders and poisonings notwithstanding. No seriously, it was lovely to join everyone at cozy pub in the evenings, to partake in a charity luncheon on the magnificent grounds of the manor house, and to look on as children played with dogs on the lawns.
But don’t be seduced by the lovely setting with its quaint cottages and gardens. There is always a overshadowing — a quaint and cheerful cottage during the daylight becomes creepy and sinister at night. A meticulously maintained showstopper garden could be the source for a poisonous substance. Nothing is as is a idyllic as it seems.
The food — oh did I mention the food? The f
So entranced by the setting, I Googled Lower Slaughter and here’s a video of its beauty HERE.
A Bitter Feast is a purely wonderful, chunky book and well worth buying in hardcover right now. As is custom, Ms. Crombie and her publishers include a hand drawn map of the setting on the flyleaf (hardcover only – worth the price alone). Here’s just a sample:
Now comes the hard part – waiting for the next one.
Many thanks to Harper Collins for providing an advanced readers copy.
Library score…
I woke up to a beautiful morning, made even better by the notice that my latest hold was ready at my local library branch – Score! I was out the door, walking over as their doors opened.
Longtime Book Barmy followers may have noticed this is the first year I haven’t been able to preview Louise Penny’s latest installment.
Sadly, I am no longer one of Ms. Penny’s advanced readers. I was denied an early copy of this, her newest book, A Better Man.
I’m trying to be a grown up about this and must come to grips with the obvious — Ms. Penny’s books are immediate best-sellers without the support of my little Barmy book blog.
Husband gamely tried to cheer me up by pointing out that I did come up quickly on the long waiting list for the library book – but I’m still pouting ~~
You all understand — don’t you??
I’m sure to cheer up when I start reading A Better Man tonight…
p.s. It probably wouldn’t have killed me to actually purchase a copy
It’s Here!
Today’s the day – it’s finally here. As in previous years, I advised you to cancel your appointments, call in sick to work and to be at your local bookstore first thing this morning to buy the newest Louise Penny book — Kingdom of the Blind.
Didn’t do any of that? Oh well, you’ll just have to swing by your bookstore on your way home.
Let me tell you why I’m being so bossy insistent about this.
Ms. Penny is a mystery writer with a trio of talents – not seen in very many mystery series writers.
First, she has keen sense of humans, their frailties, their emotions, their kindnesses and their dreadfulness. Her characters are multi-dimensional and fully realized. Second, Ms. Penny creates an all enveloping sense of place – her settings are always fall-into-the-page realistic — from the cozy bistro in Three Pines to the dirty, drug infested back streets of Montreal. Combine this with her page-turning, yet complex multi-layered, mysteries, and well you’ve got one of the best mystery series being published.
While you can read any of her novels as a standalone, I do suggest you try and read them in order as some of the story lines do carry into the next and the characters become more developed and evolved. You can see her whole series of books in order on her website – HERE
Kingdom of the Blind picks up a few months after the last book (Glass Houses). Armand Gamache was suspended as head of the Sûreté du Québec having deliberately allowed some seized opioids to slip though his hands in order stop an insidious street drug operation. Amelia Choquet, one of his cadets has just been kicked out of the police academy due to her own drug use and is now thrust back onto to the seedy, drug infested back streets of Montreal. A coincidence? We wonder…
Meanwhile, wintry Three Pines remains the idyllic oasis for its residents and friends. But they have lost power and are buried in snow:
Reine-Marie, at the bistro:
Why do we live here? Oh heaven…do you have power?
Non. A generator.
Hooked up to the espresso machine?
And the oven and fridge, said Gabri.
But not the lights?
Priorities, said Olivier. Are you complaining?
Mon Dieu, no, she said.
Comfort foods that rarely fail in their one great task are abundant.
Gamache, psychologist and bookseller Myrna Landers, and a young builder have been called to an abandoned farmhouse just outside Three Pines to meet with a notary. Once there, they find out they have been named the liquidators (executors) of a mysterious woman’s will. The three adult children, who are the beneficiaries, have no idea why their mother chose these three unknown people to oversee her will. It turns out there is more to the story than anyone thought — a family story of a lost European inheritance dating back hundreds of years, embezzlement, and murder.
Ms. Penny is a master of plotting and just when you think you know where she’s going (and if you’re like me, you dumbly believe you have it figured out) the plot twists in an unexpected direction. This had me flipping pages as fast as I could read, and yet I made myself slow down to savor the writing.
All Ms. Penny’s novels have a theme woven into her mysteries and this one is about blindness or our blind spots. How humans see what they want to see. Masterfully we are given insights into what at first seemed one thing and is reveled to be something else entirely. A drug wasted transvestite has goodness underneath. A beloved godfather has a nasty streak. A trusted financial advisor should, or should not, be trusted.
Don’t worry devoted Ms. Penny fans, the cast of characters is still there from Three Pines and there’s a smattering of Ruth chuckles — but this installment is especially focused on Gamache and his second in command (and now son-in-law) Beauvoir. Both are contemplative and confronting major decisions that will inspire life changing events. One of which is revealed in the last chapter and will have you wanting whatever is up next in this wonderful series.
I’m going to leave it here, no spoilers and I’m really at a loss to review The Kingdom of the Blind in the fashion it deserves, so I will quote one of my favorite professional reviewers, Maureen Corrigan:
Any plot summary of Penny’s novels inevitably falls short of conveying the dark magic of this series. No other writer, no matter what genre they work in, writes like Penny.
Kingdom of the Blind – don’t say no — just buy it.
Many (many) thanks to Minotaur Books for providing an Advanced Readers Copy.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Little Stranger was a deliciously creepy Halloween read which kept me up well into several October nights — but I’m only now getting around to this review. Pretend it’s Halloween, which was only a few weeks ago.
It’s post-war Warwickshire, England and Dr. Faraday has been called to Hundreds Hall, the Ayres family mansion. The doctor was here before, as a child, accompanying his mother, a housemaid for the family. As a child he was entranced with the hall’s decorative wall panels and he secretly pried loose and pocketed a carved walnut.
Now it’s thirty years later and Hundreds Hall has lost former grandeur. In amongst leaky ceilings and musty carpets lives the Ayres family: Mrs. Ayres, a widow who longs for the old days of her family glory; her son, Roderick, a veteran who is still suffering both physically and mentally from the war, and his sister, Caroline, a young woman who desires a life of her own.
But the most important character is Hundreds Hall — the author spends pages (and pages) describing the crumbling and dilapidated mansion. This provides an eerie backdrop for presenting a family tormented by the past.
[When] I stepped into the hall the cheerlessness of it struck me at once. Some of the bulbs in the wall-lights had blown, and the staircase climbed into shadows. A few ancient radiators were bubbling and ticking away, but their heat was lost as soon as it rose. I went along the marble-floored passage and found the family gathered in the little parlour, their chairs drawn right up to the hearth in their efforts to keep warm.
The Ayres are stuck between the pre-war world and the post war one. But, as we discover, they are also stuck between this world and one inhabited by spirits and secrets.
Yes, the house is haunted — mysterious writing appears on the walls, there are unexplained small fires, unexpectedly locked rooms, and creepy noises through the antiquated pipes. Roderick succumbs to his demons (and the house’s) and is sent away to an institution. Carolyn struggles to maintain some sense of normalcy in the highly abnormal Hundreds Hall and Mrs. Ayres begins to go mad.
At the center is Dr. Faraday, attending each family member as best he can but also striving to get to the bottom of the frightening incidents at Hundreds Hall. Despite his lower class upbringing, Dr. Faraday not only becomes the family doctor, but also a trusted friend, and eventually, Caroline’s fiancée.
The prose beautifully builds a chilling atmosphere and a looming sense of dread. More eerie than scary. Slow and languid but at the same time, exciting and suspenseful. Although the novel could have benefited from some major editing, I was totally invested — reading on and on, even when I got slightly spooked — hearing things go bump in the night.
Some readers said there is no resolution – no ending. However, by re-reading several key scenes and the last few pages — I figured out who is the little stranger and had goosebumps along the way.
The Little Stranger is not at all like some of today’s merely adequately written thrillers, whose readers only require a ‘page turner’. This novel is slow, subtle, literate and requires a little more thought — a thinking reader’s thriller.
Once again, they’ve made a film from a book I’ve just read. It looks properly creepy and atmospheric.
Trailer HERE