Break & Enter [Paperback]

Colin Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2005

By appearances Peter Scattergood leads a privileged life: a post as Assistant District Attorney, a loving wife, and a townhouse in Philadelphia's exclusive Society Hill. Assigned to an explosive homicide case - the murder of the mayor's nephew and the young man's beautiful mistress - the power and prestige he's always craved seem within his grasp. But soon the illusion of success shatters. His wife walks out. The double-murder case casts a shadow of doubt on his most trusted peers. And, in a moment of weakness, Peter enters into an affair with a woman whose greatest skill is arousing suspicion. With everything spinning out of control, Peter is driven by rage into the blackest depths of corruption and perversity following a twisted obsession for justice that will force him to break the law he has sworn to uphold: to punish the innocent as well as the guilty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Peter Scattergood, a promising young Philadelphia assistant DA whose marriage is failing, investigates the double murder of the mayor's nephew and the nephew's girlfriend. PW called this an "exceptionally solid debut thriller. . . . Although Harrison's occasionally overwrought prose can take on a dizzying, almost hallucinogenic effect, he really knows how to spin a tale."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Written in the tradition of Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent ( LJ 6/1/87), Harrison's intelligent, relentlessy gripping first novel relates the struggles of an honest man awash in a sea of deceit and corruption. Already experiencing enormous psychological stress, assistant district attorney Peter Scattergood is assigned a high-profile double-murder case involving the mayor's nephew. As personal and professional strain increases, so does Peter's suspicion that the mayor is orchestrating a massive cover-up. Harrison's sharp plot mechanics exhibit none of the teething problems normally associated with debut suspense novels, and his ingenious use of a powerful, recurring subtext referred to in the book's title will please even the most discriminating reader. Vastly superior to Robert Ferrigno's recent The Horse Latitudes ( LJ 2/1/90). Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/89.
- Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks (April 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747574219
• ISBN-13: 978-0747574217
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,575,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book with a mediocre ending, November 25, 2002

By 

Brian "bds4348" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Break and Enter: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all but one of Colin Harrison's books. I love his blunt style, and I usually have a hard time putting the them down once I've started reading. I've often started reading, expecting to stop after 1/2 and hour, only to look up at the clock and realized its been well over an hour.

However, that being said, these books have all been ruined by a mediocre ending that leaves you saying, "Well, that was certainly anti-climactic."

Was it bad enough to put me off his other writing? Not at all. It didn't stop me from buying all of his books. It's just a small quibble.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sticking Pins In Dolls, May 5, 2002

By 

Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Break and Enter: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Devotees of Voodoo will be happy to note that Colin Harrison's new novel once again brings us a protagonist whom the author slowly destroys. Mr. Harrison uses up a whole quiver of needles while sticking them in his character of Peter Scattergood. Peter's an upstanding, decent assistant district attorney who is assigned a case involving the murder of the mayor's nephew. Peter investigates the murder, and comes up with more leads than the police. Is the criminal investigation the main plot of the story? Perhaps not. Peter's wife has left him and he is disconsolate; he needs to win her back. He tries unsuccessfully to mend the relationship, and, to our dismay, turns into a stalker. What a paradox as his legal ethics begin conflicting with the unethical behavior in his personal life. He becomes seriously deluded in his belief that his marriage will be saved.

Colin Harrison frequently presents us with extremely fallible humans. They tend to persist in following a bad turn along one of life's roads. Reason falls victim to rationalization. You want to slap Peter Scattergood in the face, and hear him say, "Thanks, I needed that." So once again we have a Harrison novel in which it is hard to identify with those who live in its pages. For those who do like CH, however, this is another rewarding read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "The process of becoming a lawyer was narrowing and honing him.", November 2, 2008

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Break and Enter: A Novel (Paperback)

This dense novel is layered with emotional baggage and a difficult case hampered by special interests and the manipulation of the legal system. Philadelphia ADA Peter Scattergood is finishing a murder case, achieving a pyrrhic victory for the parents of a slaughtered girl when he is approached with an offer he cannot refuse: the new mayor's nephew has been murdered and the mayor wants a swift resolution. Not yet suspicious of his boss's rationale for choosing him to head the legal aspect of the case, Scattergood is caught in a deep personal dilemma, his marriage fracturing under the demands of his career and a wife whose insecurities cause her to question the direction of their life together. At the crux of the novel is Peter's mental state, an increasing obsession with his wife, Janice, and the life he senses is slipping away permeating every facet of his anguished existence.

Given to overthinking, what is a powerful and precise legal mind doesn't serve Peter well in his marriage. Constantly assessing and reassessing motives and actions, Peter is hampered by an emotional gulf, unable to break free from habits that now inhibit his spontaneity. Losing himself in the details of his cases, Peter is unable to control his thoughts or actions, tracking Janice's whereabouts since she moved out of their home. Terrified that their time out will become a permanent estrangement, even a divorce, Scattergood cajoles Janice, hoping to worm his way back into her good graces. Meanwhile, the murder of the mayor's nephew takes on more ominous tones, a second murder, a questionable police response time and the early arrest of a suspect. The case has resolved too easily, Peter deeply troubled by the methodology of the detectives at the crime scene and a pervasive presence by his boss, Hoskins.

Following Janice, engaging a divorce attorney and attempting to uncover the specifics kept from him regarding the murders, Peter is bogged down by emotional despair, sluggish in his responses and childish in his desperate urgency to win Janice back. It is this unstable mental terrain that sets the tone in this engaging mystery, a quagmire of inappropriate actions and an increasingly stressful work environment- not to mention an ill-timed affair that wreaks more havoc on the embattled protagonist. A driven man struggling to retain his moral center, Peter finds himself humbled, the careful construct of his world crumbling under the assault of unexpected emotions and the manipulation of his case by others. A terribly flawed character, Scattergood is a man of the times, a character study of contemporary society, where the moral and the expedient do not always coexist. Luan Gaines/ 2008.