Broadchurch by Erin Kelly, Chris Chibnall

Category: 50 Books

broadchurch I have not watched the series on BBC, but I really wanted to read this book because Erin Kelly is an amazing writer, and I really wanted to see what she’d do with a novelization of such a visual medium like TV.

No surprise, she nails it.

The mystery takes place in a small town called Broadchurch, where everyone knows everyone. 11 year-old Danny Lattimer’s body is found on the beach beneath some cliffs. The town is absolutely crushed by this murder. The lead detectives, Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller are at odds on how to solve the crime because Hardy is new in town and thinks everyone is a suspect, and Ellie, whose son was Danny’s best friend,  has lived here her whole life and finds it difficult to imagine that anyone in the town could have done such a horrible thing as murder a child.

The first half of the book is a slow burn of getting to know all the characters in the face of the terrible murder. It very much reminded me of the TV show The Killing, with the grief-stricken parents and the way the whole town becomes suspect of each other.

The second half of the book moves more quickly when the main suspects get cleared, and once again the mystery picks up. The end of the book is like a wave of cold water to the face. It is absolutely gut-wrenching. The emotions and heartbreak are practically tangible, and by the end I felt like I’d been dragged through a key hole.

This book is available September 16. If you like moody mysteries put this book in your face.

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