Book Review: The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (Cormac Reilly #3)

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan

“Sometimes to fix the law you have to break it”

Blurb

The unputdownable new novel from the bestselling author of The Ruin and The Scholar.

Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl’s silence – three unconnected things that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.

For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn’t far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan

My Review

The Good Turn is the ripping third novel of the Irish Detective Cormac Rielly series by Dervla McTiernan.

My favourite  brooding Irish detective with a heart of gold, Cormac Reilly, is still facing serious issues caused by bitter office politics and corruption in the police force. While Cormac is fighting for his own job, young Garda Peter Fisher is forced to leave Galway  amid controversy and work in the sleepy town of Roundstone with his  father.

What I love about the entire Cormac Reilly series is the focus on the office politics, the relationships between the police officers, and the people they deal with. Of course they do use modern technology to help them solve crimes, but most of the focus is on the people and their interactions; most of the crimes are solved by asking the right questions and good old fashioned detective work.

Like the rest of the series, The Good Turn is a character driven novel. I found myself falling in love with the people of Roundstone and, as always, hoping that Cormac would manage to solve the crime and live to fight another day, but not being sure how he was going to pull that off this time until the very end. I also like the way that Cormac is always a major player in the novels, but he can also play a bit of background role at times, so that the reader can become immersed in the other character’s lives.

5 stars!

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan

 

Details

Author: Dervla McTiernan

Published: February 24th 2020 by HarperCollins – AU

Source: Publisher

Read: Paperback, 400 pages, February 2020

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The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan coming soon in 2020

I can’t wait to read the next installment of Dervla McTiernan’s Detective Cormac Reilly mystery series, The Good Turn. Coming to a bookshop near you in 2020!

‘With her third novel Dervla McTiernan confirms she’s a born storyteller’
Val McDermid

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan book cover

Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction, with both The Rúin and The Scholar garnering critical acclaim around the world and over 130,000 copies of McTiernan’s books sold in in Australia and New Zealand alone.

In 2020, McTiernan returns with her third Detective Cormac Reilly mystery, The Good Turn. Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl’s silence – three unconnected events that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter
Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone. For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn’t far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dervla McTiernan 

Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel, The Rúin, was published in 2018 and went on to become a huge international success, receiving rave reviews from both critics and readers. The Rúin, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel and the Barry Award for Best Paperback Original. It was shortlisted in two categories for the 2018 Irish Book Awards, for the 2019 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards, and longlisted for the 2019 Indie Awards. Screen rights for The Rúin have been snapped up by Colin Farrell’s production company and Hopscotch. Dervla’s second novel, The Scholar, debuted straight into the Nielsen Bookscan Top 5 on release in 2019, confirming her place as one of Australia’s best crime writers. Detective Cormac Reilly and his team have become firm favourites amongst readers and the crime fiction community, with Val McDermid, Don Winslow, Candice Fox, Jane Casey and Chris Hammer all devoted fans of McTiernan’s writing.

Dervla was born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family of seven. She studied corporate law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the Law Society of Ireland, and practiced as a lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis, she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now lives with her husband and two children. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla now writes full-time.

For more information, please visit https://dervlamctiernan.com/

Instagram: @dervlamctiernan

Facebook and Twitter: @DervlaMcTiernan

Book Review: THE SCHOLAR by Dervla McTiernan @DervlaMcTiernan

I have been in a bit of a blogging slump lately. Luckily, I have had the brilliantly atmospheric second novel of the Cormac Reilly crime thriller series THE SCHOLAR by Derva McTiernan to drag me out of my reading and blogging slump!

THE SCHOLAR by Dervla McTiernan

“Being brilliant has never been so dangerous”

Paperback: 377 pages

Published: February 18th 2019 by HarperCollins – AU

ISBN: 1460754220 (ISBN13: 9781460754221)

Series: Cormac Reilly #2

Source: HarperCollins Publishers Australia

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“When DS Cormac Reilly’s girlfriend Emma stumbles across the victim of a hit and run early one morning, he is first on the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID, that of Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland’s most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics 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 investigation 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 how well does he really know her? After all, this isn’t the first time Emma’s been accused of murder…”

THE SCHOLAR picks up the life of Irish detective Cormac Reilly not long after the ending of the runaway best selling THE RÚIN. Since then, he has moved to Galway with his girlfriend Emma so that she can take up a prestigious job at the Irish pharmaceutical giant Darcey Therapeutics.

Cormac has taken a step backwards in his policing duties which suits him quite well. Despite the boredom and petty office politics he is dealing with, he is quite enjoying living a peaceful life with Emma…until she is accused of committing an unthinkable crime that he is working on. Cormac is forced to question his loyalty to the woman he loves and his own ethics when his work on the case comes under scrutiny.

The setting of Galway University as the scene of the crime was perfectly done and really added to the tense and atmospheric feel of the novel. I love the book cover design, which includes a dark and menacing image of Galway University.

THE SCHOLAR is a page-turning crime thriller that will have you wondering what the truth really is until the very end. We’ve come to know Cormac and Emma so well that it feels like such a huge betrayal when the evidence against Emma begins to mount up and it seems as though Cormac has used his position to protect her. This is a testament to Dervla McTiernan’s excellent character development skills.

I can’t wait to read more about Cormac Reilly. 5 stars!