The Ruin

The Ruin is by Irish/Aussie Dervla McTiernan, a new-to-me author that I borrowed from one of my public libraries. 

The Gist: DI Cormac Reilly takes a role with the Galway Garda that is seen as a step down for the DI who had recently worked in an elite task force in Dublin. With local politics and trying to fit in with the established Garda, Cormac has a lot on his plate and is frustrated that he's only being given cold cases - suspecting that his superiors want to set him up for failure. 

When he's given a cold case that he worked on 20 years prior - a heroin overdose of a young mother - he starts to make connections with a current suspected suicide case who turns out to be the son of the woman who overdosed two decades before. A strange coincidence? Or is Cormac being given busy work to keep him from making any connections between the two cases?

My Take: I do love a police procedural and one set in Ireland? Delightful! Cormac was an interesting main character - the strong, silent type and I loved that he made the move for his partner's new job. But he didn't feel like the main character and for an elite detective, he missed a lot of clues and seemed to bow down to those under him instead of having a take charge manner that comes with experience. 

This character-driven police procedural has an ominous feel with some truly dark subject matter that introduces serious social issues but doesn't discuss them in much depth. With a feeling of a bit too much going on, a main character who could use a bit more oomph and an easily predictable culprit, this was a decent start to a new-to-me series, but I expected a bit more. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Genre: Suspense

Series: Cormac Reilly 1

Type and Source: ebook from public library

Publisher: Penguin Books

First Published: March 1, 2018

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Book Description from GoodReads: 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.