Book Log 2020 #8: Broken Harbor by Tana French

Once again a member of the Dublin Murder Squad has to balance an active murder investigation with events from their past. Here it's "Scorcher" Kennedy, who is investigating the deaths of a man and his two children, while their wife/mother is in intensive care. It appears to be a case of the man snapping under financial strain - the family lives in a development that's half-finished, a casualty of the Great Recession - but as Kennedy and his rookie partner look into the case, they find that it's not so open and shut.

The past comes in the form of Kennedy's sister Dina, who is prompted by the new case to dredge up an incident from their past that Kennedy believed he had under wraps. 

If this feels familiar it's because most (if not all) of the books in the Dublin Murder Squad series have this sort of set-up, where the main character is investigating a case that dredges up part of their past and brings it into the present. In lesser hands this would get formulaic, but French brings enough difference (both in terms of the narrative and the main character's persona) that the recurring framework doesn't feel old.

I think I've pretty enthusiastically recommended the books in this series in the past, and do so again here.