10-08-2012, 01:17 PM
Oh, Ms French, how I do love thee? Her books keep getting better. I might have to go back and reread the others to see how they connect with each other. All the books are based on the Dublin Police Force but they are all told from different characters perspectives.
Broken Harbor is the tale of a young couple and their children murdered in a a new housing estate north of Dublin. The place is now called Brianstown but the Detective in charge of the case used to spend summers there back when it was called Broken Harbor. Slipshod housing developers have abandoned the estate where the couple live due to the cratering of the Irish economy. So, the house of the murder is one of the few that was fully completed and occupied before the developers skipped town on what was supposed to be an upscale housing development.
The whole story is set against the Irish crash. Millions of home were built in the boom times, millions more than there were people to live in them. But the money was cheap to get so developers took all they could and left when things went bad.
It starts out as the old experienced cop breaking in the rookie detective on his first big murder case. Kennedy, the experienced cop is always going on about the rules that make a good detective. And Curran, the young cop is trying to follow along but has a little rebellion in him. You would think this was going to be a straight up procedural as we watch the two detectives fight to solve the case. Not so much. There is a lot of darkness in Kennedy's past which stems from his time as a teenager in Broken Harbor and those early experiences keep echoing agains the case he is trying to solve.
Nothing is ever pretty or simple in Tana French's Ireland. But she gets right to the heart of the weakness of the Irish character. One of the big themes is never let on that things are worse than they are. Always put on a brave face. It reminds me the lace curtain Irish in Boston. Sure, you were living in a slum, but at least people on the outside looking in will notice what nice curtains you have in the windows. I think even Emily Bronte told Tana French to lighten up.
The whole case goes sour in the end because basically everyone is crazy. But it is well written and a good exploration of the Irish Psyche told against the backdrop of the Irish economic downturn. That makes it sound like a page turner, doesn't it. How about. It's good. Go read it.
Broken Harbor is the tale of a young couple and their children murdered in a a new housing estate north of Dublin. The place is now called Brianstown but the Detective in charge of the case used to spend summers there back when it was called Broken Harbor. Slipshod housing developers have abandoned the estate where the couple live due to the cratering of the Irish economy. So, the house of the murder is one of the few that was fully completed and occupied before the developers skipped town on what was supposed to be an upscale housing development.
The whole story is set against the Irish crash. Millions of home were built in the boom times, millions more than there were people to live in them. But the money was cheap to get so developers took all they could and left when things went bad.
It starts out as the old experienced cop breaking in the rookie detective on his first big murder case. Kennedy, the experienced cop is always going on about the rules that make a good detective. And Curran, the young cop is trying to follow along but has a little rebellion in him. You would think this was going to be a straight up procedural as we watch the two detectives fight to solve the case. Not so much. There is a lot of darkness in Kennedy's past which stems from his time as a teenager in Broken Harbor and those early experiences keep echoing agains the case he is trying to solve.
Nothing is ever pretty or simple in Tana French's Ireland. But she gets right to the heart of the weakness of the Irish character. One of the big themes is never let on that things are worse than they are. Always put on a brave face. It reminds me the lace curtain Irish in Boston. Sure, you were living in a slum, but at least people on the outside looking in will notice what nice curtains you have in the windows. I think even Emily Bronte told Tana French to lighten up.
The whole case goes sour in the end because basically everyone is crazy. But it is well written and a good exploration of the Irish Psyche told against the backdrop of the Irish economic downturn. That makes it sound like a page turner, doesn't it. How about. It's good. Go read it.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit