I just finished Tana French's Broken Harbor and after the first third of the book, I thought this was a really promising and interesting novel.
By the time I got to the end, I was pretty irritated and do not want to read any of the author's books again, and I cannot recommend this book to anyone at all.
The book is a "mystery" about the death of a family in a house in a remote seaside community in Ireland. There is one surviving member of the attack on the family. I will reveal no spoilers.
My first clue that I would not like the book is that the plot did not advance in any way about 30% in. The police investigators were still at the house, still in the first initial hours of investigation through a good bit of the book. Ostensibly the author was building character during that time, but unfortunately the character-building came apart at the seams in the latter part of the book when people acted completely out of character and inexplicably to get to the final very contrived events of the book.
What was worse is that there are characters in the book, whom the investigators encounter, who have mental illnesses. The author either didn't care or was sloppy about trying to explain what exactly was going on with the characters' illnesses. The particular symptoms and causes (if they could be established) would have been relevant to character development. Not a psychiatrist, but from my reading and knowing of others, psychological illnesses don't really work they way French portrayed them. I don't know what kind of research the author did, but man.
askye, that kind of speculation is pointless when
Targaryens
are involved, as illustrated by
Oleanna's speech in the last TV episode.
le nubian, that seems to be how that author works. I was reading reviews for
In the Woods,
and it also appears to be a "mystery" in that
APPARENTLY THEY NEVER ACTUALLY SOLVE THE MURDER.
LOL, I thought i was soooo clever to come up with that same theory of Jon Snow's parentage on my own. Along with, like, 98% of other readers. It totally makes, sense, what pinged with me was the Lyanna, according to everyone's version of the story except Robert's, didn't like Robert, didn't want to marry him, and very much liked Rhaegar, so why not run off with him? Plus the dying "on a bed of blood" (what makes a bed bloody more than childbirth? Not much) and the fact that Ned never reveals *what* she made him promise. Just "promise me". And it conveniently gives Dany a 2nd Targaryan male along with Griff for her triple Targaryan invasion. Tho wouldn't Jaime Lannister be a lovely possibility...especially if Jon actually does die after the events of the final book and isn't reborn in smoke like it seems he's gonna be.
Tom I haven't watched the series, except for the first episode and haven't really followed it.
Le nubian,
I just recently read all of French's books, and liked them, but
Broken Harbour
was probably my least favourite. I would say she is more interested in examining the lives and motivations of the detectives. I think the crimes come a close second. And I think at least one of the characters that I think you're talking about as having a mental illness is there to mainly to serve
to enhance the main characters manpain. I agree her character rang false.
If you didn't like this books, I'm pretty sure you won't like her others.
Polter, that's not quite right,
they solve the murder at that is the basis of the plot, but a mystery that is background for the main character is never resolved.
Sue,
I don't disagree with you, but the detective's
mother was clearly bipolar and/or clinically depressed and coincidentally, his baby sister had hallucinations at an
early age? That's kind of
unheard of to happen that early, and when it does, I am not sure she would be all that functional as an
adult. Anyway, why not explore
genetic components to the mental illness in the family and concerns that the detective himself may have considered (and perhaps dismissed) having a serious illness himself?
I don't understand how they could go down that road, and not completely flush it out in that instance.
Yes, thanks for the link!
Le Nub, I had kind of forgot
about the mother already.
I think she was trying
to tie the sister's craziness to the trauma of her mother trying to take her with her when she committed suicide and may not have thought making a genetic link.
I'm not sure what she intended. His
sister's illness was all over the place. I think it was more poetic license than anything else.
