The Ruin Book Review @Duffythewriter

About The Ruin

Cormac Reilly is about to reopen the case that took him twenty years to forget … The most addictive crime fiction debut of 2018.

Galway 1993: Young Garda Cormac Reilly is called to a scene he will never forget. Two silent, neglected children – fifteen-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack – are waiting for him at a crumbling country house. Upstairs, their mother lies dead.

Twenty years later, a body surfaces in the icy black waters of the River Corrib. At first, it looks like an open-and-shut case, but then doubt is cast on the investigation’s findings – and the integrity of the police. Cormac is thrown back into the cold case that has haunted him his entire career – what links the two deaths, two decades apart? As he navigates his way through police politics and the ghosts of the past, Detective Reilly uncovers shocking secrets and finds himself questioning who among his colleagues he can trust.

What really did happen in that house where he first met Maude and Jack? The Ruin draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland and asks who will protect you when the authorities can’t – or won’t.

Duffy’s Thoughts On The Ruin

For a debut novel, this one is a cracker. The opening chapter is unsettling and gripping as these two sad, neglected children are discovered by young Garda Cormac Reilly. That scene stays with you right through the next 370 pages as we skip forward twenty years and Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly is forced to look back on a case that has haunted him.

The writing is so detailed. You feel the clawing heat in tiny kitchens, the smell of fried pub food and the cluttered, tired houses of characters who appear to lead you one way, and the then another. I had no idea what really happened in that house until the reveals came, and I burned through The Ruin to get there. I won’t leave spoilers here, but one of the minor characters in this book is actually one of the most clever and the thought of them ‘sitting spider-like’ in their house will stay with me for a good while.

The plot is quite complex, so don’t even think about skipping a paragraph, or a chapter to get to the end, you’ll end up missing something big. The Ruin will be VERY popular and is a must-read for all lovers of crime fiction. I, for one, can’t wait to read the next in the Cormac Reilly series coming in 2019!

Thank you to Beauty & Lace Book Club and Harper Collins for a chance to read and review The Ruin

5 stars. Flawless.

Our March 1 – Order your copy in Aus here  and worldwide here 

The Ruin Dervla McTiernan