There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

A well done Gothic featuring a couple hoping to save their marriage and their adolescent daughter. It's creepy and twisty- a good read.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me and I was unable to finish it. I did not feel like it knew exactly what it was.

I don’t know why J Robert Lennon isn’t more famous, why he isn’t winning literary awards all over. It is excellent news that George Saunders won the Booker Prize this week for Lincoln in the Bardo - I said in my blogpost in March that I expected it to be one of the best books I read this year. Lennon is right up there in the same class, but, roughly speaking, no-one has heard of him – particularly in the UK.

The three books I have read by him – Familiar, Happyland and this one – couldn’t be more different from each other, but all are hugely entertaining books that are also literary works of art, with high aims easily attained. HOW is this man not more celebrated and widely-read?

Broken River starts with a distanced third person narrative of a kind that drives me mad normally – various events are described via an amorphous Observer: no-one has a name or anything other than a description. (I have flung books across the room for this crime before now). But Lennon manages to be un-annoying, and eventually the story proper gets under way. Karl, Eleanor and Irina move into a remote house in the woods in upstate New York: a terrible crime occurred here not long ago, and no-one else wants to buy it. The family is trying for a new start after various emotional problems. Are they aware of the crime? – do they care, are they trying to find out about it…? There are some surprising answers.

And the crime really was recent: there are some participants who might be still around. The book is amazingly tense, as well as very funny and clever and full of spot-on observations, and the climax is not for the faint of heart. Usually when ‘literary’ authors turn to crime, their efforts are not actually that good compared with those known as ‘genre writers’, but this book is an exception. Lennon has an incredible lightness of touch as he skims from one style to another, introducing convincing family scenes, peripheral characters sketched perfectly in a few lines, and small scenes of other kinds of lives.

Normally while I’m reading a book I will be highlighting great quotes, good phrases or sentences or words, but in this case there were so many I had to stop, the whole book is quotable.
Irina was sitting at the kitchen table wearing headphones, but, cleverly, the headphones were not plugged into anything. This is a trick Irina would play around her parents as well, if her parents made any effort whatsoever to conceal what they said to each other.
Two nicely-written sentences that tell you a lot about the whole family.

Karl shows his daughter a trick with a large block of ice, a rack and a bathtub: it seems interesting but possibly irrelevant, but when you think about it later it resonates throughout the whole book, and I have kept thinking about it ever since finishing Broken River.
Gravity will push the ice block through the grate; enthalpy will fuse it back together… Her father probably intended this experiment to illustrate some philosophical principle, or maybe some commonplace of human behaviour… She can’t remember. Today, though, it tells her that there is a force that keeps intact things intact… Some rough magic.
The book bears a faint resemblance to Tony & Susan, the cult novel by Austin Wright, recently made into the film Nocturnal Animals by Tom Ford, and the subject of a cross-blogging experiment by Chrissie Poulson and me. This book is about a hundred times better.

I hope J Robert Lennon writes more and more books…

The hipsterish photos are of a member of my family, and used with his gracious permission.  Thank you Robin Jack, and you are neither heavy in the middle, nor 35.

Odd kind of tale. Started off like some Capote expose: killers strike in suburban idyll. Then turns into misery lit on breakdown of marriage, then weird meta-narrator enters to comment on the lives of the pathetic human race. Like I said; odd.

This was an intense read. I loved the plots and how the story unfolded. I literally didn't want to put this book down and found I kept going back to it every chance I had!

This book has all the elements of a good crime novel, a double murder in the first few pages, a survivor of this crime, the potentiality of hidden loot and a psychopathic baddie who is intent on recovering it. Yet this thriller by J. Robert Lennon has other elements to it that transcends the crime genre and encompasses elements of family drama, gothic horror and indeed with reference to the part of the unseen narrator elements of surrealism which will no doubt be pleasing to those who like Twin Peaks.

As stated, the novel begins twelve years in the past with a double murder in the grounds of an old house near the upstart New York town of Broken River. There is a survivor to this tragedy, a young girl called Samantha Geary who as the novel returns to the present day would now be seventeen but whose whereabouts are not known.

After twelve years of standing empty the house is renovated and occupied by a somewhat dysfunctional family from New York City. Karl and Eleanor are trying to save their marriage and the story of their relationship adds an extra layer to the unsolved murder that previously took place at their home. Their daughter Irina is one of the central characters and her belief that she has met in the street Samantha Geary living now under an assumed name is the catalyst for all that ensues. (Is it really the real Samantha Geary will not be revealed until the end).

How the past effects the present and the moral choices that need to be made are covered and it becomes as the story reaches its bloody climax a real page turner, the body count in the final chapters is not insignificant. Also like a lot of current American writing there is also a feeling of how moral decay is mirrored by the actual decay of small town America with the closed businesses and the run down environment. Perhaps the word Broken in the title is synonymous with this.

I would certainly recommend this book to someone who is looking for a little more from a crime story.

Broken River is a fairly broken sort of small town. It has a closed down cinema and a few stores: the only part that is really thriving is the local prison. Its main claim to fame is the brutal murder, many years previously of a couple living in an isolated house on the edge of town. The story follows the family who move into the house – a writer, her unfaithful sculptor husband and their precocious 12 year-old daughter – the men responsible for the original shooting and, slightly oddly, an entity referred to as the Observer. This means the book is a blend of thriller, a contemporary family saga and something a bit stranger but it does it very well. The Observer character could have been a distraction but it actually tied together the various groups of characters pretty well as well as allowing us to shift our focus between groups.

This is an interesting book and it is certainly a change from the run of psychological thrillers. In fact, since many of the characters follow the same website which delves into unsolved crimes, it is possibly more interested in the psychology of those who are fascinated by murder.

Broken River is a complex crime novel set in a very strange world. It is entirely compelling and engaging making it near impossible to put down. Equal parts psychological thriller, horror, crime fiction, family drama. You are thrown into this world that could belong in a Coen Brothers movie. The house is a piece of intrigue that borders on comparisons to Amityville Horror, though this story is very much it's own. The plot has a lot going on, but it all comes together in quite a brilliant way. I was drawn in the entire time. If you're looking for a creepy read that'll keep your interest, look no further. Check out Broken River today!

This is both a crime novel and a satire on the writing process with 'The Observer' that may go over some people's heads if they are not familiar with the craft of plot and narrative. I found many laugh out loud moments with 'The Observer' although initially it really put me off until I got into the swing of it. The actual crime part of the novel was less successful with an array of interesting characters but none of any depth and the mystery not particularly compelling because of this. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the originality of the format, the humour, and some of the more odd characters.

This is a novel that carries a subtle air of atmospheric menace in its compelling narrative. It begins with a house in a town, Broken River, in upstate New York, where two brutal murders take place, and a spectral presence observes, whilst a young child hides. The killers are never caught but the cursed house proves to be unsaleable. More than a decade later, the house is finally sold at a bargain price. Karl, a sculptor and serial philanderer, his wife, Eleanor, a writer, and their precocious twelve year old daughter, Irina, move in. Relocating is Eleanor's attempt to keep their marriage intact. All is being observed in all its human frailties and limitations as numerous threads converge into a devastating and inevitable conclusion triggered by secrets, lies, and the human inability to foretell the consequences of actions. This is a novel that is literary noir, part mystery, and part a philosophical reflection on family and individual decision making.

Karl continues meeting Rachel, the woman Eleanor insisted he break up with. A breast cancer survivor, Eleanor takes care of the chores that keep the family together, and is responsible for taking care of Irina, who is writing a novel. Eleanor is struggling to write her latest novel and secretly investigates the murders that occurred in the house, posting on the website, Cybersleuths, as smoking jacket. Irina, who is privy to the mess that is her parents marriage, is also secretly drawn to delve into the historical murders, drawn particularly to Samantha Geary, the child, who is now seventeen, but whose whereabouts are not known. Irina projects her delusions on Sam, a twenty year old woman who has just moved to Broken River to be with brother, Daniel, soon to be released from prison. The killers are drawn back to the house and Broken River as a chain of events leads once again to murder and mayhem. Amidst all this we have the observer, who has moved from simply seeing to becoming aware of cause and effect, compelled to make judgements.

This is an intelligent examination of family, lies and secrets, and a headlong collision of the present with the past. It is a thoughtful meditation of individual human shortcomings and lack of self awareness, and the useful device of having the observer paint the bigger picture of the law of unintended consequences. If you are looking for something different to read, I can strongly recommend this thought provoking novel. A great read. Thanks to Serpent's Tail for an ARC.

A strong four for this compelling, literate yet very readable mixture of coming-of-age drama and crime piece. A couple with a twelve-year-old daughter move into a house they get cheaply, due to it being the location of an unsolved double-murder years before. Both mother and daughter, in their own innocent ways, conspire to keep interest in the case alive (the husband doesn't as he's too fond of being a knob), and unfortunately for them the fact it's a cold case doesn't mean the original perpetrators have forgotten about it. Perhaps there's too much here in the end – from the literary allusions caused by writer mum, a unique narrative construct based on the floating camera styled view we see things through, and too many links with petty drugs and dealers to easily follow – but it's a pretty fine read all told. I think we lost the daughter by the end as a character, but for a great portion of this novel it's really distinctive stuff.

A house in the woods is the scene of a double murder which is witnessed by the victims' daughter. The house is abandoned and over the years it is used by teenagers and drug users until a New York couple decide to live there, in an attempt to fix their marriage after the husbands' serial philandering causes the wife to put her foot down.

The wife and child of the new family are both intrigued by the house's history and start digging on the internet. They both join a cyber sleuth forum, however neither knows that the other has joined, and their collective probing and gathering of evidence sets into motion a chain of events which veered from the tragicomedic to the horrifying.

As a thriller this books stands up well; a great story, an interesting cast of characters from the useless hit man to the likable mistress and a satisfying ending.

However - and it is a big however - what on earth was 'The Observer' about? There is an almost spirit-like character which has stayed in the house watching since the murder, once the new family moves in it decides to follow them around. This seemed an interesting literary device at the beginning of the book, but then 'The Observer' seemed to have read a bit too much Jean-Paul Satre and become almost existentialist in its musings. After a while I skimmed over these pages of twaddle and guff, and enjoyed the rest of the book.

Whilst I enjoyed the plot and the characters, I really struggled with 'The Observer' and I finished the book wishing that 'The Observer' had remained hidden as it did not add anything to my reading experience.

What an intense read which I found to be honest a little bit creepy

I started reading this late at night when everyone in the house was sleeping, that was a mistake on my part.
It was eerie and dark. The house is a character in it's own right and it keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.
A very exciting read full of rich writing and brooding story lines.
Check all your windows and doors are locked before you get too comfy.

Review: BROKEN RIVER by

BROKEN RIVER is a deeply complex, multi-layered novel of literate noir: a novel encompassing mental disorder, crime, marital collapse, crime, coming-of-age, illusion and delusion (other-directed and self-indicted), psychopathy, narcissism, cancer, drug use, creativity, an isolated unappealing house that is at the center of all these variegated threads. There is also an entity, the Observer, which inexplicably comes into being the night of the "first" crime, and which finally a dozen years later, comes into FULK realization of itself and its nature as a witness of humanity.

Karl and Eleanor are giving their marriage one last shot. Karl has a problem with monogamy. They have decided on a fresh start in upstate New York. They and their 12 year old daughter, Irena move to the town of Broken River. The house is old and has been empty for years, ever since the scene of a brutal double murder. The crime was never solved. With not much to do in Broken River, Karl soon reverts to his old behavior and begins cheating on his wife again. Eleanor and Irena spend their time researching the house and it’s dark and bloody past. But in doing so they unleash something dark and terrible. This is a first rate Gothic