From Tana French, author of the forthcoming novel The Hunter, a New York Times bestselling 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 “luxuryˮ 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 canʼt be explained: the half-dozen baby monitors pointed at holes smashed in the Spainsʼ walls, the files erased from the familyʼs computer, the story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder slipping past the houseʼs 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.
I liked this one more than [b:Faithful Place|7093952|Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3)|Tana French|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291165900s/7093952.jpg|7350661] but not as much as [b:In The Woods|237209|In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)|Tana French|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283565569s/237209.jpg|3088141] or [b:The Likeness|1914973|The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)|Tana French|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255897334s/1914973.jpg|6504351]. I have to admit that I flipped to the end to find out how it all ended before I reached the midway point of the book. Totally cheating, I know, but the amount of tension that the author built up was practically unbearable and I couldn't wait properly for it to be defused.
I've linked up Tana French and [a:Gillian Flynn|2383|Gillian Flynn|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg] a couple of other times in my reviews as being some damn good mystery writers. More than just writing good whodunnits, though, they're experts at getting inside peoples' heads and showing (not telling) through their writing just what makes them tick. It's eerie and uncanny just how good they are at this. I don't think there are any other authors that I've read that are on the same level as these two women. In Broken Harbor, for example, the conversations between Scorcher and Dina and the forum posts written by Pat, they felt real. They weren't just words on a page, they came alive out of the mind of an author who has such an ear for people.
So I'm not sure that I'll ever love anything as much as I loved In the Woods or The Likeness - and at this point, I'm thinking, "So what?" Because this is still damn fine stuff.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
5 August, 2012:
Finished reading
-
5 August, 2012:
Reviewed