Originally published in 2010 by Caffeine Nights, Broken Dreams was relaunched by Fahrenheit Press in October 2018. The first of Quantrill's novels featuring his down and out PI Joe Geraghty, of which two more were to follow - The Late Greats (2012) and The Crooked Beat (2013), Broken Dreams is a novel well worth your time.
Here is my original review:
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First of all, I don't like detective books. I've always found them to be either too predictable or so convoluted and pretentious, they've left me cold. Nick Quantrill's Broken Dreams, however, is none of these. In short, it is fantastic. That is not to say the plot isn't complex; it is. A tale of murder, missing persons, big business, and the regeneration of Quantrill's home city of Hull, all woven together so expertly and seamlessly as to leave this particular reader to finish the book in just over two days. And Quantrill's ability to create compelling characters - even the minor ones - and the crispness of his writing, with dialogue to match the great Elmore Leonard, merely adds to the superb realism of the piece.
The main character is Joe Geraghty, a normal bloke who happens to be a private investigator. Joe is fallable, vulnerable, one of life's good guys. The skill with which Quantrill pens him leads us very quickly to the very core of the man, and the murky underworld he inhabits. In his search for the truth behind the disappearance of a young woman and the murder of the wife of a local businessman, Joe is forced to confront not only local villain, Frank Salford, but the truth about the death of his wife in a house fire several years earlier. It is here that Broken Dreams leaps out of the very, very good into the realms of the outstanding.
Set against the backdrop of Quantrill's home city of Hull, the writer brings the city itself to life, the hopes and the need for regeneration, and the tragedy of the city's lost fishing industry. But this book moves beyond the city. It is the story of Joe Geraghty, and his relentless search for the truth, in whatever form he may find it.
If you like a cracking read, with characters so real you can hear them in your head, and a plot so clever you can't turn the pages fast enough, then give Broken Dreams a go.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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Broken Dreams is available direct from Fahrenheit Press in several versions via the following links:
EPub https://fahrenheit-press.myshopify.com/collections/epub-ebooks/products/nick-quantrill-broken-dreams-geraghty-1-ebook-epub-version
Paperback https://fahrenheit-press.myshopify.com/collections/paperbacks/products/nick-quantrill-broken-dreams-geraghty-1-paperback