An engaging mystery where the criminals are evil and the victims are human and their pain and loss is felt. I’ll be interested to read more of the series. The audiobook was beautifully read by Aoife McMahon. ( )

What’s an avid reader to do when he’s run out of Tana French novels? Why, pick up another crime novel set in Ireland, of course.

Dervla McTiernan was born and raised in Cork in Ireland, where she practiced for a while as a corporate lawyer. She moved to Australia during the financial crisis of 2008-9 and now lives in Western Australia.

The Rúin is her first novel, and a very worthy one. Not yet quite up to the standard of Tana French, but well on the way. I look forward to her subsequent work.

About the title, she says: “In Irish, Rúin means something hidden, a mystery, or a secret, but the word also has a long history as a term of endearment.” Make of that what you will. ( )

If you’re looking for an excellent mystery with suspense, betrayal, and corruption, I highly recommend The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan. It’s the first installment of the Cormac Reilly Mystery series.

Twenty years ago, Detective Cormac Reilly is new to the squad and called to a home for a domestic disturbance. He finds Hilaria Blake dead in her bed, leaving her two children alone. Present day, Aisling is a 25-year-old medical student with high ambitions to become a surgeon. Her live-in boyfriend, Jack, is found dead in a local river. Jack’s sister, Maude, returns to Ireland after being gone for many years, and is convinced that Jack was murdered.

Detective Reilly, new to the detective squad in Galway, is assigned a cold case from 20 years ago involving the suspicious death of Jack and Maude’s mother. Reilly is having difficulty fitting in with his peers and begins privately questioning the integrity of the squad. Detectives in the squad begin urging Reilly to arrest Maude in connection to the death of their mother. Reilly isn’t sure what’s going on, but he knows to trust his instinct.

I enjoyed how the story slowly unfolded. The back story of Reilly’s character and why he transferred from the detective squad in Dublin to Galway, gradually came into full picture. It’s nice to be left a trail of breadcrumbs by the author. This approach keeps the story interesting and the pages turning. Or the minutes ticking away if you’re listening to the audiobook. There are several threads of the story and learning how characters and events weaved together was awesome. The ending of the book leaves me eager to pick up the next installment, The Scholar.

I purchased the audiobook of The Ruin from Audible. I loved the beautiful narration by Aoife McMahon. I could listen to her all day!

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog ( )

Writing a multi year, multi crime mystery thriller is incredibly difficult. There are so many ends here and there that need tying in, characters that misbehave and show up where they shouldn’t, challenges in keeping the story arc racing forward as it should.
Dervla McTiernan handles all of this with grace in “The Ruin”- a gripping story of abuse and foster homes and the damage done by people in charge. It’s a very pertinent book. Cormac Reilly is a believable detective- he has his past regrets but he seems human, not wounded. In this story, a case he handled back at the start of his career comes back to him- but why? As the bodies pile up and the members of his team cut him out, he is left to dig about with old fashioned detective work. Soon unexpected allies join him and are able to pressure the case toward a terrifying climax.

I loved the closeness of the small town scene, the feeling of past sins going unpunished, the horrible people that hide under veneers of civilization. The main good characters are multidimensional and interesting; the bad guys have depth and history. I’m going to have to read more of McTiernan’s books!! ( )

I loved this book. I was hooked from the first page and could not put it down until I was done. Highly reccommended and amazing that this was a first book. ( )