The Cormac Reilly
1 primary work • 4 total works
Book 3
The heart-stopping new book in the Cormac Reilly series, by the bestselling author of THE RUIN and THE SCHOLAR.
When Peter Fisher is called to the scene of a supposed prank call, his annoyance turns to terror when he realises this is no joke. A young boy says he witnessed a little girl being bundled into the boot of a car, and Peter believes him.
DI Cormac Reilly and Peter search frantically for answers, but find obstacles put in their way by the one person who should be helping them: Superintendent Bryan Murphy. Frustrated and severely short-staffed, Peter and Cormac are pushed to breaking point, resulting in a fatal mistake.
Cormac is suspended from duty and Peter is banished to a tiny town on the West Coast of Ireland, where's he's tasked with doing the paperwork in a murder investigation that's supposed to have been resolved. But something isn't adding up, including the mysterious appearance of a young woman and her nine-year-old daughter, who hasn't spoke a word in months . . .
'Dervla McTiernan has rocked the crime fiction world with good reason. Taut, tense and darkly addictive. A treat for lovers of fine crime writing.' - Candice Fox
Being brilliant has never been this dangerous ...
When Dr Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit and run outside Galway University late one evening, she calls her partner, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. A security card in the dead woman's pocket identifies her as Carline Darcy, a gifted student and heir apparent to Irish pharmaceutical giant Darcy Therapeutics. The multi-billion-dollar company, founded by her grandfather, has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy - it has funded Emma's own ground-breaking research. The enquiry into Carline's death promises to be high profile and high pressure.
As Cormac investigates, evidence mounts that the death is linked to a Darcy laboratory and, increasingly, to Emma herself. Cormac is sure she couldn't be involved, but as his running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question his own objectivity. Could his loyalty to Emma have led him to overlook evidence? Has it made him a liability?
PRAISE FOR THE SCHOLAR
'Atmospheric and beautifully paced, with nuanced characters and a gripping plot - The Scholar has it all.' - Chris Hammer
'This is top-notch crime writing - fast, clever, surprising, and psychologically acute. I can only wish Dervla could write as fast as I can read!' - Kate Forsyth
'The Scholar is a gripping follow-up to McTiernan's debut crime novel The Ruin, featuring the enigmatic DS Cormac Reilly ... The Scholar is a tightly plotted, fast-paced read with enough twists to keep you guessing right to the end.' - Better Homes & Gardens
'Another thrilling tale that delivers on all the promise of McTiernan's debut - not to be missed.' - Readings Monthly
'The Ruin is spectacularly good. So CONFIDENT ... excellently written and, at times, heartachingly sad' Marian Keyes
'Corruption, clandestine cover-ups and criminal conspiracy ... as moving as it is fast-paced' Val McDermid
'Dervla McTiernan's first novel outclasses some of the genre's stalwarts making her a crime writer to watch ... fans of Ian Rankin and Tana French will feel right at home' Bookseller + Publisher (4.5 stars)
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.