Istumbled across Dervla McTiernan’s The Ruin early in 2018 and adored it. It’s a clever, complex and surprisingly humane police procedural and I was somewhat smitten with Garda Cormac Reilly, and so was excited to read the author’s latest effort.

A young woman is found dead in the dark car park of a university, the victim of a hit-and-run. The person to find her is none other than Cormac’s girlfriend, Dr Emma Sweeny, who works in a privately funded laboratory on the campus. In her panic, she calls Cormac, including him in an investigation that he would otherwise may not have been assigned. The dead girl is carrying an ID card that identifies her as Carline Darcy, a pharmacology student on campus and member of the prominent and extremely wealth Darcy Pharmaceuticals family – the same company that coincidentally funds Emma’s groundbreaking work.

As the murder is investigated, all manner of questions arise about Carline Darcy, about the way the super secretive and incredibly lucrative pharmaceutical industry operates, about the power of money and its influence in all areas of society, and finally, about Emma Sweeny herself. Emma’s job is the reason Cormac lives and works in Galway, but there are secrets in her past that are slowly revealed to the reader.

It is not necessary to read The Ruin to enjoy this clever book, but there is a fleshing out of characters and stories begun in that novel that is very satisfying. What I so enjoyed about this book is the attention to detail, and the remarkably normal and real characters that make up a team and achieve an outcome.

Dervla McTiernan is a talented and insightful writer, and I find myself immediately waiting for her next release.

Reviewed by Lesley West