This is McTiernan’s fourth mystery featuring Garda Detective Cormac Reilly, and I am so pleased to see his return.

In the previous books, Reilly has struggled to fit in, returning to Galway after years in the force in Dublin. He is a stickler for doing things by the book and he’s been a whistle blower, which is why, in this book, he’s being headhunted to run a team investigating police malpractice – not a job to earn him popularity.

While he’s considering this, he is called to a body discovered in a bog. Ireland has provided many interesting archaeological finds in the peat rich bogs, but the presence of modern underwear declares that this is not an ancient find.

The body is that of the headmaster at the local school, Thaddeus Grey, who disappeared two years ago. Found on the outskirts of town near his house, Grey was a loner who expected high standards of the students and could be a bit of a bully.

Cormac soon narrows his focus to three students who particularly bore the brunt of Grey’s unpleasantness, but when another body is found in similar circumstances, his bosses and the press are jumping on the idea that there’s a serial killer.

In a parallel story, Cormac’s ex-girlfriend from the previous novels, Emma, is desperately worried about her husband Finn who has gone missing in Paris. And there’s another plot thread involving an IT worker planning a lucrative fraud against the lottery company he works for.

Dervla McTiernan is a hugely talented author, but I have been mildly disappointed with her two previous standalone novels and am pleased to see a return to this great series. This is a clever and complex police procedural mystery with many intertwining threads, and I do sincerely hope to see Cormac again.

Reviewed by Lesley West

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer, Dervla McTiernan is the author of The Ruin, The Scholar, The Good Turn (together the ‘Cormac Reilly’ series), and her stand-alone novel, The Murder Rule, as well as her novellas, The Roommate, The Sisters, The Wrong One and The Fireground.

Dervla has won numerous awards, including two Barry Awards, a Davitt Award, a Ned Kelly Award and in International Thriller Writer Award.

Dervla spent 12 years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved from Ireland to Western Australia and turned her hand to writing. Dervla lives in Perth, with her husband, two children and far too many pets.

Visit Dervla McTiernan’s website