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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

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

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 reinvestigation 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

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 21, 2018
      McTiernan’s powerful first novel has the authentic feel of its Irish setting. In 1993, police detective Cormac Reilly is called to a house in Kilmore, County Mayo, where he finds 15-year-old Maude Blake and her five-year-old brother, Jack, alive; in an upstairs bedroom lies the body of their alcoholic mother, dead of a drug overdose. In 2013, Jack’s body turns up in a Galway river after an anonymous caller claims he saw Jack jump in. Jack’s girlfriend, Aisling Conroy, is sadly willing to accept the obvious conclusion that it was suicide. But Maude, newly back from Australia, is convinced it was murder. Based on new information, Cormac investigates the now 20-year-old death of the mother, while Maude and Aisling try to figure out what actually happened to Jack, since the police seem unwilling to. Various other threads in the tightly woven plot lead to rape, child molestation, drug dealing, police corruption, and more murders. McTiernan neatly ties them all together in the suspenseful conclusion. McTiernan, born in Ireland but now living in Australia, is a writer to watch. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Cold case detective Cormac Reilly has moved back to Galway, Ireland, where he grew up. Narrator Aoife McMahon delivers Cormac's low-key, hard-working style of detective work in an easy-listening manner in this multilayered police procedural. Characters such as Jack Blake, the victim; his partner, Aisling Conroy, a surgical resident who believes Jack was murdered; and Jack's sister, Maude, are well developed and realistic. This debut novel has a compelling storyline deepened by McMahon's Irish-accented voice, perfect pacing, and riveting attention to details. Building tension seems to come naturally to McMahon; his precise pauses add to the emotional impact. McTiernan's well-written story and McMahon's top-notch narration make this a compelling listen. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Books+Publishing

      January 25, 2018
      The Ruin is as much a morality tale as it is an incendiary page-turner. This superior, haunting novel of murder, deception and ethical dilemma is set in Galway, on Ireland’s west coast, and introduces Cormac Reilly into the fold of tough, outsider detectives who take crime in their city as a personal affront. And this case is particularly resonant for D I Reilly. Twenty years ago, during his first week on the job, he responded to a call at a decaying country house and found two young, mistreated children abandoned downstairs—15-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack—while upstairs their mother, Hilaria, lay dead from a heroin overdose. Jack was funnelled into foster care, Maude disappeared and Reilly moved on. Now, Jack is dead—the victim of a suicide—and Maude has reappeared in Galway. Jack’s girlfriend suspects foul play and begins a private investigation while Reilly, amid chaotic departmental politics, reopens the decades-old investigation into Hilaria’s death. For a debut, The Ruin is remarkably sure-footed, every scene building to a fine crescendo of tension, ratcheting perfectly for the explosive conclusion. Dervla McTiernan’s first novel far outclasses some of the genre’s stalwarts, marking her as a crime writer to watch, and Cormac Reilly a cop to follow to hell and back. Fans of Ian Rankin and Tana French will feel right at home. Simon McDonald is a bookseller at Potts Point Bookshop

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  • English

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