I really enjoyed this book, set in Ireland, with it's interesting characters, although I really disliked Aisling! There were so many characters, the plot was good but I found the minor characters were a bit mixed up. The ending was a bit of a surprise. I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to lovers of crime thrillers. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This story was a little slow to get going but once it did, I was fully invested. It's a tense and compelling crime thriller that I am glad I finally got to. I will be seeking out the next book in the DI Cormac Reilly series.

This is the first book in the DI Cormac Reilly series. I’ve read so many detective series over the years that some of them just blend into one. However this book didn’t feel like that and I was gripped by the story right from the start. Highly recommend.

What an addictive read which had me thinking of when it is a suitable time for a reread right after I had finished it. Dervla writes in such a way that grips her audience and the storyline was mind blowing. I loved it right until the bitter end. Brilliant.

A gripping crime novel perfectly paced with true to life characters. I couldn't put it down! - the plot is clever, unpredictable and ultimately satisfying. I can't wait to read more of Cormac Reilly's adventures.

Thank-you Sphere & Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I do love a good detective novel and this one is full of action, mystery and suspense.

Opening 20 years previous, new on the job Garda Cormac Reilly is called to a domestic disturbance. When he arrives he finds 2 skinny children, Maude age 15 and Jack age 5. The mother is dead upstairs in bed with a needle sticking out of her arm. The children appear to have been fending for themselves for quite a while and show signs of being abused.

Fast forward 20 years later and Jack is now an adult and his body has been found in the River Corrib. Are the 2 events linked? Did what happen in Jack's past cause him to kill himself or is there more to this than first meets the eye?

Of course, there is. There always is. It wouldn't be much of a mystery if there wasn't!

We follow Detective Cormac Reilly who has recently transferred to Galway station and is being dumped on left right and centre with cold cases. When he is passed his own case from 20 years ago to investigate he gets drawn back into the past to a case that has haunted him for many years.


The story is also told from Jack's girlfriend Aisling's point of view. At first, she believes Jack has committed suicide until Maude, Jack's sister appears and starts digging deeper, asking questions and insisting the police treat the case as a murder.

This was a fascinating, well-written police procedural novel with a strong plot and plenty of twists. There is a lot going on throughout the book and a lot of different characters. At one point I did find it a little confusing. So many names were being thrown at me it was hard to keep track of who everyone was. However, towards the end it all starts to link together and the reveals that follow are shocking.

I liked the character Cormac Reilly. He clearly has a few secrets in his past but also seems like a genuinely good guy who wants to help people and tries to play by the rules. There does seem to be a few secrets in his past but as this is the first book in the Cormac Reilly series perhaps they will be revealed in future books.

This is a very strong debut novel from Dervla McTiernan and I am looking forward to reading some more of her work soon.

I have tried to read this a few times since I downloaded it, liking to keep going with a book that I have committed to reviewing but sadly I just couldn't get going with this one despite starting it three time.

Just not for me.

Twisted plot you wont see the turns coming. Beautiful setting and wonderful style of writing. Definitely worth a read.

A cleaver and fantastic police murder mystery that had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It was fast paced read that could be devoured in one sitting (had I had the time).

I started this but just wasn't feeling it. There was nothing inherently wrong with it I just wasn't feeling it at the time, however having been really excited about this book beforehand I would like to try again sometime.

Ruin is the debut crime/thriller in what promises to be an exciting series. The notion of interlocking a cold case with a current one kept me intrigued and I wanted to know how past events triggered present ones. The overall plot was believable and unfolded at a steady pace.
My only criticism would be that I would’ve liked more background on Cormac Rilley. Considering this is the first book, I felt that we were expected to know more than what was given in the story. If we had been given more information, then I think I would’ve felt more connected to him as a character. However, overall this is a well-written, exciting debut.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The first part of the Cormac Reilly series, this sets up the character, his history and lets us know what to expect without sacrificing an iota of the plot. You know what Imean - so many detective novels seem to be written these days to be part of a series that occasionally the plot is lost to the building of the main character. But this story dedicates itself to the mystery rather than the detective, and yet, in the end, we have a strong sense of who Cormac is and crucially wasn't to learn more.

The story begins in 1993 with Cormac as a young Garda, called to a ramshackle house, where two children wait silently, their mother dead upstairs. Twenty years later he learns the fate of this two children and finds himself pulled into a world of cover-ups and secrets too long hidden. On his own in a new job he has no one he can trust and nothing to rely on apart from his own determination.

A dark and affecting tale that captures the darker side of Ireland this is a great start to a new series, I'm looking forward to more.

“In Irish, Rúin means something hidden, a mystery, or a secret, but the word also has a long history as a term of endearment.”

“Twenty years before, he’d walked away from the Blake case, and it had come back to haunt him.”

February 1993: Called out to a “minor domestic incident” at a remote, decrepit old house, the last thing young police officer Cormac Reilly expects to find is a woman dead of a heroin overdose, and two frightened children - five-year-old Jack and his protective fifteen-year-old sister, Maude. After taking the children to safety Cormac has nothing further to do with the case, but he’s never forgotten them.

Twenty years later in 2013, Cormac, now a Detective Sergeant, has returned to Galway - transferring from Dublin due to his girlfriend’s career (and isn’t that a nice change?) - where he’s not being made particularly welcome by some of his new colleagues. Not only that, there’s a distinct whiff of corruption in certain quarters.

Meanwhile, young doctor Aisling Conroy is reeling from the unexpected suicide of her boyfriend Jack... and the reappearance of the sister Jack hasn’t seen for twenty years. Maude is certain Jack didn’t kill himself, and she’s on a mission to prove it.

I had The Ruin on my “shelf” for ages before getting around to reading it, but I wish it hadn’t taken me so long because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do love a good police procedural and Cormac is a great addition to the ranks of fictional detectives. The plot is gripping, surprising, at times distressing and ultimately very moving - but Dervla McTiernan never goes for the easy resolution. Something which I would’ve put money on happening at the end then didn’t, and I found that quite refreshing.

The Ruin is the first in a series (yay!) but doesn’t feel like it at times; with unexpanded-upon references to Cormac’s past cases and how he met his girlfriend Emma, I had to double check I wasn’t missing out on some continuity. Presumably, we will learn more in future instalments - the relationship with Emma is only briefly touched upon, but I feel sure there’s more to come. Cormac himself is a great and very likeable character, and there are also some excellent female characters - Aisling, Maude and Cormac’s fellow garda Carrie O’Halloran (I liked her a lot).

I’m now very much looking forward to The Scholar, out next year!

You know those books that are neither good, nor bad? Just kind of meh... The Ruin was like that for me. A pretty straightforward mystery, set in Ireland. Manipulating two timelines, the author weaved two cases together, and connected them with a detective who was involved in both.

DI Cormac Reilly is an all right dude, but nothing particularly stands about him, apart from his relationship status, which is pretty normal, considering most fictional detectives are not very lucky in this department. Cormac has a girlfriend though with whom they actually like each other, so that was refreshing.

Office life on the other hand is not easy for our detective. His colleagues are a bunch of good-for-nothing assholes who waste a lot of time on office intrigue and badmouthing each other, rather than actual police work.

There was a seemingly random story line with a teacher who was apparently involved in some shady shit back in the 80's and then moved to the US, but I seriously can't tell how they figured this out, or how it mattered to their case. I must have zoned out at some point.

I do remember the weirdest things though. Like how it rained a lot, and all the women kept washing their hair all the time.

If you don't like reading about child abuse and horrible things being done to youngsters, you probably want to skip this.

So happy to be given a whole budget to replenish our senior shelves in the school library. The books in there are far from appealing at the moment and I have been delighted to find books here that will intrigue, captivate and engross my senior students.

This is a fantastic read with characters they will be able to connect with, a pacy narrative and an ending that will provide plenty to talk about. I will also be using extracts from it with our senior creative writing class as there is so much to admire here.

It's great to read a book that does not feel formulaic and gives some credit to their reader's intelligence too. Young people are very fussy about the books they choose to read and in this time-precious day and age it really has to be something above and beyond the ordinary to get them to put down their devices and get their noses stuck in a book.

I think this is one book that will capture their imagination and keep them turning the pages until the end. This is definitely going onto my 'must-buy' list and I really look forward to seeing what the young people themselves think of this dark, engrossing and beautifully- written novel.

I requested this book because I saw it was recommended by Val McDermid, so I wasn't surprised to find it a well-plotted, multi-layered read with well-rounded characters. I very much like the character of DI Cormac Reilly, a good policeman who plays by the rules, honest and upright and am delighted to see there is another book in the series due out in February 2019. I can't wait!
Reilly is investigating cold cases while he settles in in Galway but becomes involved in an active enquiry. He doesn't seem to be accepted by the existing officers and is not sure why. He is making enquiries while being hampered by his own colleagues. Intriguing tale well told.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Dervla McTiernan/Little Brown for a digital copy of this excellent title. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Ruin is a fantastic crime murder mystery story with multiple fascinating plot threads that the brilliantly drawn characters get to weave in and out of. Each and every character adds intriguing suspicion, hidden agendas and background, to the story. The plotting is very clever and delicate layers of deceit from suspects, family and the police, ensure this is a spellbinding read from the first page to last.

As a rookie cop in 1993, Garda Cormac Reilly attended a remote house on a call of domestic violence to find a dead mother, from an apparent drug overdose, and two children, 15-year-old Maude Blake and her 5-year-old brother Jack, both malnourished and both with bruising. Jack is so bad that Cormac takes him to the hospital in Galway along with his sister. Maude absconds and even a distressed Cormac manages to let the thoughts of her, and Jack left alone and placed into foster care, drift from his mind.

In 2013, Garda Cormac Reilly returns with his partner Emma, to Galway after a stellar Detective Sergeant career in Dublin, to a situation where his boss has placed him on cold cases. Within the police station, Dervla McTiernan creates an enthralling atmosphere of internal politics, mistrust and suspicion of police corruption everywhere. Cormac feels it difficult to navigate and even his old friends are keeping secrets. A suicide is called in on St Patrick's Day and the person is identified as Jack. Maude returns from Australia for the first time in 20 years and with Jack’s pregnant partner Aisling, they question the evidence that relates to the supposed suicide and the glaring holes in the evidence. The police seem totally disinterested in pursuing any alternatives to suicide. Shortly after Cormac is handed a cold case, to investigate the death of Jack and Maude’s mother from 1993. Cormac knows he's a pawn in some greater game but is determined to conduct himself appropriately and not jump to decisions hastily. Dervla has written such an enthralling plot that is just mesmerising in its twisting possibilities.

I could connect with all the characters and empathise with particular ones and the dilemmas some face is deeply moving. The dialogue between them is flawless and Dervla has managed to use it sensibly where it's needed and has kept slang out for the benefit of a wider audience. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I first received this book from Little Brown Book Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.

When Garda Cormac Reilly was a green young man in Galway he was called to decrepit house to find two half starved neglected children and the dead body of their mother. The mother had obviously been very ill, but she was found with signs of heroin use.

Twenty years later Cormac has returned to Galway for personal reasons after a glittering career in Dublin. He is unsure of his colleagues & his new role. He is unprepared for the reappearance of those two neglected children. Jack, the then three year old, is found dead. At first it is judged a suicide, but his partner Aisling refuses to believe this, as does Maude, Jacks sister who reappears soon after Jack's death.

Cormac doesn't know what to think,but he suspects that some of those he works with are not all they seem.

This was a terrific, fast paced police procedural. I really liked the characters & am looking forward to hearing more of Cormac Reilly- this is a great start to a new series.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this terrific book.

This is fantastic and better still it’s the start of a new series too. After leaving Dublin for GalwayCormac finds a case he worked on 20 years previous as a rookie Garda comes back to hunt him. There is definitely a story why he moved and it’s not the easiest of transitions either.....
I can’t wait to read the next one.
Brilliant plots, great characters who you just know have way more to give.
#TheRuin#Neutrally

I enjoyed this, and good to see a new detective on the block.

Cormac Reilly is working cold cases, when he's called upon to re-examine one of his first investigations as a new recruit - the drug overdose of Hilaria Blake, who left behind two abused children, Maude and Jack. Maude disappeared within days of Hilaria's death, and Jack began a new life as an adoptee.

20 years on, Maude has reappeared and Jack is dead. Reilly is not meant to be working the case to do with Jack's death, but inevitably the jigsaw pieces are all linked, and it's not only Reilly who is dealing with the past.

Clever and intriguing, where the story is as much about the characters as the events. Looking forward to the next one.