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Book Summary and Reviews of The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

The Ruin

by Dervla McTiernan

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  • Jul 2018, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's been twenty years since Cormac Reilly discovered the body of Hilaria Blake in her crumbling Georgian home. But he's never forgotten the two children she left behind...

When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget - until Jack's sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it.

Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of a seemingly accidental overdose twenty years ago - the overdose of Jack and Maude's drug and alcohol addled mother. Detective Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything...

This unsettling small-town noir draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland, where corruption, desperation, and crime run rife. A gritty look at trust and betrayal where the written law isn't the only one, The Ruin asks who will protect you when the authorities can't - or won't.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Powerful ... McTiernan neatly ties [the threads of the novel] all together in the suspenseful conclusion. McTiernan...is a writer to watch." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. With police drama reminiscent of Tana French's "Dublin Murder Squad" series and parallels to the close-to-home, quieter suspense of Ruth Ware's The Lying Game, McTiernan pens an intricate story of impossible decisions, family bonds, and police politics. Avid mystery readers will be enthralled with this intricate, mysterious, and edgy debut." - Library journal

"Compelling, unexpected twists and a hold-your breath standoff. ... Hand this one to readers of Tana French and to police-procedural fans." - Booklist

"A gripping mystery set in Galway that spans 20 years. It's a complicated page-turning story that touches on corruption, clandestine cover-ups, and criminal conspiracy. .... A story that's as moving as it is fast-paced." - The Daily Mail (UK)

"[A] deliciously complicated police procedural ...Fans of Tana French will love McTiernan's expertly plotted, complex web of secrets that refuse to stay hidden." - Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King's Daughter

"The Ruin is dark and compelling, with the satisfaction of a police procedural and the atmosphere of a gothic mystery. I was gripped by it, and by the complicated, resourceful characters of Aisling and Maude." - Flynn Berry, author of Under the Harrow

This information about The Ruin was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cloggie Downunder

brilliant crime fiction
The Ruin is the first novel in the Cormac Reilly series by Irish-born Australian author, Dervla McTiernan. A month after his transfer from an elite Dublin unit to Mill Street Garda Station in Galway, and Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly is still being lumbered with cold cases to review, instead of any “real” work. But then the supposed suicide by drowning of twenty-five-year-old Jack Blake sees him assigned a very familiar cold case: one he was never able to close.

In February 1993, as a green young Constable, Reilly was sent to the dower house at Kilmore for a probable domestic dispute. What he found was the Blake family: Hilaria Blake, dead from a heroin overdose, five-year-old Jack malnourished and bruised, and fifteen-year-old Maude trying to care for him. Twenty years later, Cormac still vividly remembers the tiny battered boy and his attentive sister, who vanished that day to not be seen again.

Cormac is as surprised as anyone to learn that Maude Blake has turned up, and is apparently questioning the suicide ruling, with some compelling proof. Nor does his grieving girlfriend, Aisling Conroy agree that Jack was at all likely to take his own life. But this is not the case that Cormac will be working.

He is directed to re-examine Hilaria Blakes death, and soon his colleague from his training days turns up testimony implicating Maude in her mother’s death. It becomes clear that several of his colleagues have agendas to which he is not privy, and it becomes difficult to know whom he can trust.

McTiernan’s debut novel is filled with twists and turns and red herrings. Sexual predators, physical abusers, religious paedophiles, rapists and corrupt cops all feature in a plot that builds to a heart-thumping climax. This is brilliant crime fiction and more of Cormac Reilly will definitely be welcome.

V J Kirk

A fantastic read
I've just finished reading 'The Ruin'. It had me hooked, right from the start. The plot was complex and beautifully paced - hard to believe this was a first publication. The characters were completely believable, so much so that I found myself acutely wanting Cormac to escape unscathed. I can't wait to read the next one!

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Author Information

Dervla McTiernan

Dervla McTiernan was born in Ireland and now lives with her family in Australia, where she works for the Mental Health Commission. The Ruin is her first novel.

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