The Book:
Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols
Published April 30, 2024 by Celadon Books
Date read: April 6, 2024
More April 2024 releases here.
Granite Harbor spoilers can be found below, but they’re hidden under a spoiler tag so you’re safe to keep scrolling if you’d just like to read my review.
The Characters:
Alex and his daughter Sophie
Isabel and her son Ethan
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
In scenic Granite Harbor, life has continued on―quiet and serene―for decades. That is until a local teenager is found brutally murdered in the Settlement, the town’s historic archaeological site. Alex Brangwen, adjusting to life as a single father with a failed career as a novelist, is the town’s sole detective. This is his first murder case and, as both a parent and detective, Alex knows the people of Granite Harbor are looking to him to catch the killer and temper the fear that has descended over the town.
Isabel, a single mother attempting to support her family while healing from her own demons, finds herself in the middle of the case when she begins working at the Settlement. Her son, Ethan, and Alex’s daughter, Sophie, were best friends with the victim. When a second body is found, both parents are terrified that their child may be next. As Alex and Isabel race to find the killer in their midst, the town’s secrets―past and present―begin bubbling to the surface, threatening to unravel the tight-knit community.
Granite Harbor Spoilers
The Reveal:
The killer was Chester, one of the men who worked at the Settlement. He didn’t have anything in particular against Shane, Ethan, and Jared–he just wanted to consume their essence to be better at sex with Nancy.
The toad thing came from the groundskeeper Ivan, who took Chester in as a boy. He taught him that if he put this road inside an animal and then consumed its pus, he’d be consuming the essence of the animal and would become one with it. The second part of the ritual was trussing up the body. When Ivan got old and weak and was about to die, Chester did it to him too. He also killed his old bully.
He killed Shane first and then Jared. He had kidnapped Ethan (and Sophie was collateral damage) and cut his stomach open when Nancy came over and interrupted him. He tied her up to finish what he was doing. Ethan’s mother Isabel was something of a clairvoyant, so she was able to tell Alex the cop where Chester had taken their kids. Isabel and Alex went to rescue them, but Chester overpowered Alex. Morgana saved the day by showing up and shooting Chester.
The Ending:
Ethan recovered. While he was bed bound, he finished his restoration and then sold it to a museum for $25k. He was offered a job by the museum. He and Sophie bonded over their trauma and became even closer.
I hope these Granite Harbor spoilers were helpful!
The Review:
Thank you to Celadon Books for this gifted copy to share in my local Little Free Library, and to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
When a teen is found brutally murdered, the single local cop is way out of his depth. In fact, he only became a law enforcement officer for the pay and benefits–his actual career is as a writer.
Unfortunately, I guessed the killer as soon as he was introduced. If you’re a seasoned thriller reader, you’re likely to pinpoint him immediately as well. There are also some psychic scenes that were interesting to read, but you know how I feel about using paranormal elements to solve the thriller: the writing feels a bit lazy when the only reason they find the killer is because the psychic said so.
A handful of the book takes place on a Colonial Williamsburg/Old Sturbridge Village kind of reenactment site. This was a setting I haven’t read before in a thriller, and I thought it worked quite well.
One word of caution, there is some mistreatment of animals within the story. If this bothers you, you can skip Chapter 34 to miss the worst of it. The detailed descriptions of toads and coyotes being harmed could have been skipped, in my opinion.
I thoroughly enjoyed the hopeful ending that the book had. While this book wasn’t necessarily a win for me, I would give Peter Nichols another chance in the future.
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