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.
DI Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of an 'accidental' overdose twenty years ago - of Jack and Maude's drug- and alcohol-addled mother. Cormac is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything...
The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan
You’ve heard a fair bit of buzz about this novel? There’s an excellent reason for that! THE RUIN is a ripper of a read and remarkably polished for a debut novel. Additionally, it is impressive as series entries face a much harder task in engaging instantly the fickle minds of crime readers. The series read is (happily) prolific in the crime fiction sphere. There is a huge demand for police procedurals in particular and this rides largely on the strength of that immediacy of engagement with the cast of characters. The reader needs to be sold as quickly as possible, and this is achieved here in THE RUIN with gratifying ease.
THE RUIN is so confidently written with fully rounded characters that we are assured of some great reading from this series in the future. Cormac Reilly is a refreshing change from the rumpled, often archaic male protagonist that we are used to seeing leading our fictional crime investigations. It does feel like the days of encountering that kind of protagonist might be over. The novel does seems a bit over populated perspective wise at times but the dual lead of Aisling and Cormac gives a good balance to the investigation and its corresponding impact on the bereaved left behind.
Launching into this book you might think there had been a series predecessor as it is well threaded with lots of scope for possible future plot points to come. Looking forward to catching up with the cast of THE RUIN soon! Congratulations to us all, here is the newest addition to our stable of favourite crime authors.
The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan
Twenty years ago Cormac Reilly was a fresh faced, rookie cop, who thought he had been sent to a standard domestic problem. In a rundown old house that took forever to find, what he ended up discovering comes back to haunt him all these years later. Fifteen-year-old Maud Blake and her five-year-old brother Jack are in the house with the body of their alcoholic mother, dead from an apparent overdose. After taking the children straight to hospital Reilly discovers that Jack has been the victim of abuse, while Maud vanishes into the night. Twenty years on, Reilly's moved to Galway from Dublin, put on cold cases for his sins, and handed the re-investigation of Hilaria Blake's supposed overdose when Jack seemingly suicides and Maud reappears.
Complicated story then, handled with considerable aplomb. The narrative switches between Reilly and Jack's girlfriend Aisling. Maud's unannounced return to Ireland after many years living in Australia gives Aisling a difficult but necessary ally in doubting the police's all too rapid conclusion, but Maud's presence is also the catalyst for the re-investigation of her mother's own overdose. All these layers and wheels within wheels work well, each of these characters are seamlessly and cleverly worked into the present and the past; into their shared positions of catalyst, questioner, cause and outcome. Even Reilly is provided with traces of a back-story, his return to Galway, complications in his personal life, and reasons for his colleagues to mistrust him. Done as hints and pointers, Reilly's story is part of THE RUIN but it's not everything. The balance between his story, and the story of a family of 3, now 1, and the reasons why is, rightly, the focus.
Obviously there is plenty of social history here and THE RUIN does not pull back from addressing the history of child sex abuse, the role of churches and authorities, under-resourced social workers, and good and not so good policing. This isn't a novel that goes into detail about the actual abuse, but it doesn't leave anything to the imagination when it comes to the causes, complicity, or even consequences. There are scars aplenty and not everything ends with justice being served.
THE RUIN is set in McTiernan's original country of Ireland and it's one stonkingly good debut novel. Populated by excellent characters, dripping with intrigue and menace, and heralding heaps of long and very enjoyable series potential.
The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan
In the past six months I’ve been catching up with a number of authors and novels which I’ve let slip past in the last few years. Included amongst these authors is Dervla McTiernan who’s debut novel, The Rūin, was released last year. Set in Galway, Ireland it’s the story of two possible murders, one in the present day, the other twenty years in the past. Directly linking the two events are Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly, who as a fresh Garda attended the latter scene, and is now stationed in Galway where the second possible murder takes place, and Maud and Jack Blake who were 15 and years old respectively when Reilly found them in the house with their dead mother. After that night Maud disappeared and Jack was taken into care and eventually adopted. His apparent suicide is the second murder of the novel. When Maud reappears demanding an investigation into her brother’s death Reilly is asked to investigate their mother’s death. There is one final main character in The Rūin, Aisling Conroy who is Jack’s partner.
Although The Rūin is primarily told through the eyes of Cormac Reilly, there are times when the novel is seen from the perspective of Aisling and to a lesser extent Maud. What makes this multiple points of view even more interesting is that in some way or other each of them is an outsider. Reilly has recently transferred to Galway from Dublin and feels a great deal of resentment from his fellow officers, Aisling is training to be a surgeon, a male dominated occupation, and Maud who’s been away for twenty years.
There is a great deal to enjoy about The Rūin. The novel is well paced and the eventual revelations carry a great deal of emotional weight. There is also plenty of groundwork laid for the continuation of Cormac Reilly as a lead character and I’m planning to read and review The Scholar, Dervla McTiernan’s second novel which has just been released, in the next couple of months.