If you enjoy police procedural novels, you should read this.
If you enjoy a good mystery, you should read this.
If you enjoy a book with likeable, believable characters....you guessed it! Read this book!!😀

Found this book compelling, full of twists and turns, that keep you gripped
Looking forward to more cases from. Cormac Reilly.

Thank you netgalley, the publisher and Dervla McTierran for allowing me to read and review this book.

Rúin is old Irish for secret, and this is a book full of secrets. Our protagonist is Cormac Reilly, a D.I. in the Gardaí. Cormac has been stationed in Dublin and doing very well but has just moved to Galway in order to be with his partner, Emma, who has just taken on an important new job.

He isn’t settling in too well, though. The rest of the station staff aren’t exactly wowed by the new broom from Dublin and the only person he knows at work is being ignored by everyone. To top it off, all his work so far is on cold cases – hardly the glory bit of the job.

When he was a Dublin rookie, Cormac was sent out to a call at the Dower House in the small village of Kilmore. What he saw there has haunted him ever since. Scenes of neglect and abuse, drugs and alcohol use and 2 young children; Maude who is 15 and Jack is 5 years old. Their mother, Hilaria Blake lies dead upstairs of a heroin overdose.

Cormac took the children to the hospital but Maude later disappeared, never to be found and Jack went into the foster care system. It’s the case that has stayed with him, never to be forgotten.

Jack grows up to be an engineer and when he is found drowned, the police accept it as suicide but his sister, Maud, recently returned from Australia, thinks differently. Maud talks Jack’s partner Aisling into helping her investigate his death.

Out of the blue, Cormac is asked to look into the death of Hilaria Blake as a cold case and soon finds himself under pressure to look at Maud as a suspect.

Something is clearly rotten, but it’s hard for Cormac to know who he can trust. As the past and present begin to throw up their secrets, Cormac will find he is is the object of gossip and speculation and that this may be the case that will bring his career to a grinding halt.

This is a really cracking start to a new series. I was immersed in McTiernan’s well developed storytelling. Her plot is complex and multi-layered and her characterisation excellent.

The story takes a while to give up its background, but once it does, the pace and tension really get the heart racing. Cormac is a great character and I can’t wait for more from him.

Verdict: Great characters, a heart–stopping and sometimes heart-breaking read.

I read The Ruin over a few days. It took me a while as I found the pace of the book to be somewhat slow going. However I recommend you stick with it as all will be revealed in the end.

A good debut thriller that I’m sure many people will enjoy. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and the author for the chance to review.

I received an early copy of this book in return for my independent honest review.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable crime thriller that features Cormac Reilly who recently relocated back to Galway where he started his police career.
Someone who he had helped twenty years earlier is the centre of a current investigation.
I found the writing style very easy to follow and fast paced, the plot soon sucked me in. It is compelling and you quickly want to find out why the incidents of the past are related to present day.
The characters are well developed and interesting.
This is a compelling read for anyone who enjoys crime thrillers that are fast paced, gritty with a satisfying ending.
I am looking forward to more cases with Cognac Reilly.

Cormac Rilley #1

It's been twenty years since Cormac Rilley discovered the body of Hilaria Blakein her crumbling Georgian home. But he's never forgotten the two children she left behind.

1993, Cormac Rilley was a young Garda called to the scene of a suspected domestic. He finds two young children, Maude who's fifteen and Jack who was just five years old. In the bedroom he finds the body of a woman with a needle still stuck in her arm. Twenty years later, Cormac is working in Galway. He is working on cold cases, one he had worked on before. Maude had disappeared after her mother died., but Jack had eventually been adopted. He went on to become work as an engineer and was in a relationship. But then Jack commits suicide.

This is a really good debut novel. The writing flows easily across the pages. I always like when novel are set in Ireland. The setting are always beautiful. This plot echoes of the past and present current events. There is also something going on at the police station. The story covers historical child abuse and police corruption. The characters are believable and an ending that satisfactory. A great start to a new series.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and the author Dervla McTiernan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A good police procedural that kicks of hard from the word go. I enjoyed getting to know the core character Cormac Reilly and I've no doubt that his backstory will start to become more apparent in subsequent books in this series. The story is multi-layered and features lots of characters which left me a little confused at times trying to keep up with them all, but overall a very well-executed debut.

Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review.

There must be something special in the water over in Ireland, as that's the only way to explain the consistenly excellent crime fiction the country produces. The Ruin is a fantastic book and if this is the first in a series then we're all in for a real treat.

Cormac Reilly is a wet behind the ears Garda who gets a welfare call to an isolated house in the country. When he arrives he finds a teenage girl and her young brother and then, shockingly, their alcoholic mother lying dead in the bed. The case stays with Cormac throughout his career and when he returns from Dublin, now a successful detective, he finds there's unfinished business with this haunting case. This is a gripping book from the offset. As well as Cormac, the story is told from the point of view of trainee surgeon Aisling, who's personal tragedy dovetails with Cormac's case. It's an often used device which works really well in this book. They're both likeable characters who the reader naturally roots for and the way the story jumps between the pair of the them neatly shows the frustrations on both sides of an investigation.

I enjoyed this book immensely. There really are some excellent new crime writers coming through and Dervla McTiernan is definitely a name I'll be keeping a close eye on in future. With a few series coming to an end, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't check out this new one.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

The book is told from the perspective of Garda Cormac Reilly, and I liked him as a character. I don’t normally read this genre, so I was really comparing him to Cormoran Strike from JK Rowling’s series, and I much preferred Reilly. He felt like a real character, and he was genuine in his motives throughout the novel. I think one of the strengths of the book was that the characters felt quite believable, and it felt like you were reading about an investigation actually taking place.

I also really liked the character of Aisling, and I felt a lot of sympathy for her in the novel. Of course she has just lost her partner so it’s to be expected, but McTiernan writes her well enough that you actually want to give her a hug through the pages.

This novel is quite slow-paced. Although I got used to that, I had gone in thinking it was going to be a thriller and I think I would have preferred it had I known from the outset it was a slow burning crime novel, rather than a faster thriller read. I did enjoy the plot however, and I was kept guessing until the reveal.

I think the ending of the novel was quite interesting, as you got to know the motive of the killer, and I think this novel would translate really well to a TV series because the climax was really tense.

I gave this book 4/5 on Goodreads. I’d recommend this book if you like crime novels. I’m never very good at guessing the answer in mysteries, and this book was no exception.

As a young policeman in Ireland Cormac is called to a death in a falling down country house. Twenty years later he is back and investigating this death, should it be murder. The apparent suicide of the boy who was living in the house twenty years interweaves into the story. Corruption and cover up. I really enjoyed this book and would really recommend.

The Ruin is an excellent story, well written. It has great characters, an authentic setting, and a wonderful twisty plot. I look forward to reading more by Dervla McTiernan. Highly recommended..

Twenty years ago Cormac Reilly is called to what he thinks is a domestic. When he arrives at the run down house he discovers Maude, 15 years old, and her younger brother Jack, 5 years old. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms is the body of their mother with a needle still stuck in her arm. He takes the two children to the hospital, where Maude then disappears without a trace.

Fast forward 20 years and Jack’s body is discovered in a river after an apparent suicide, but was that what really happened ? Maude returns to Ireland to find out what really happened to her brother but Cornac is assigned to re-investigate Maude’s Mother’s death and is under pressure to arrest Maude for her murder. Did Maude really kill her mother ? And why did she disappear all those years ago ?

This is a great detective based book with lots of twists and turns. If you like police procedural storylines you will thoroughly enjoy this book. It’s a fast moving book with enough twists to keep you guessing. I look forward to reading more in this series.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

This was not a quick read, but it was nevertheless really enjoyable, if you can 'enjoy' such a tragic tale - deaths 20 years apart but inextricably linked and set against a dark societal background.

An enjoyable read with a very well thought out plot. The characters were interesting but I did feel a lot of the time that I just didn’t find out enough about them. This book seemed almost like the middle bit of a much longer story still to be written.
I would look for this author again and I do generally enjoy books set in Ireland for some unknown reason.

It took me awhile to get into this but I enjoyed it eventually. It focuses on a 20 year old crime, the first ever job Cormac was called to as a Garda.

I liked the characters, there was a lot of focus on the care system in Ireland which was interesting. The first in a series of books.

I'm struggling to say much without giving away plot spoilers!

I really enjoyed this, it definately lived up to the hype I'd heard around it. It's has a great plot and pace and was incredibly engaging and atmospheric. A really great character in Cormac as well. Will be recommending!

A first novel, first in a series and a great one to start your new Irish fiction obsession with. A Garda agent who’s moved from Dublin to Galway is working cases but finds that one which has troubled him for more than 20 years is once again back on the table.

Things have changed so Cormac is able to start a bit of digging. Trouble is when you start digging, that hole gets bigger and things buried come to the surface. It’s a nicely slow burner of a novel which gets you all fired up as to what is going to come to the fore, who knew what, what really happened is chipped away bit by bit. A man carving a block of concrete sees bit chipped off all the time, the shape of something taking place but it’s not until the chipping has stopped, until you stand back, that you really see what’s been carved up...and that’s quite the work of art!

Great characters populate Galway. Cormac and Emma (why did he move from Dublin?) to Jack and Aisling. Wanted to be part of that police team in Galway Garda station to be honest.

There’s a lot going on in this novel - Irish intrigue and the history of the church. Plus a very interesting use of the power of the internet.

Bring on book two!

Oooh this was a good one.
Surprised to find it's a debut,it has the feel of a book a few numbers into a series... hints stoped on storylines to be explored later I'm sure.
A cop moved back to home turf,a twenty year old case and a suicide... all mixed together... with an atmosphere in the police station that leaves nobody trusting anyone else.
Something was definitely up.
The actual 20 year old crime gives pause for thought,could you/would you sentence someone had they murdered their mother..... or expect them to continue living in neglect and be abused.
A great start to a series. Definitely reading next one

The date is 1993, the place is County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. A young Irish policeman, Cormac Reilly, is sent out on his own to investigate a "minor domestic".
He's almost convinced that the call-out is a joke being played on him by his colleagues, but he's wrong.

Entering an old run-down house, he encounters a 15-year-old girl, Maude and her much younger brother, Jack. Their mother, Hilaria Blake, lies in bed, dead of an apparent heroin overdose. It seems clear 5-year old Jack has been subject to serious abuse and Cormac takes the children to hospital. Within minutes of their arrival, the sister disappears while the boy is later taken into foster care.

The story moves forward 20 years and we are introduced to Aisling, a young doctor who is working to become a surgeon. Then the discovery that she is pregnant changes everything as she and her partner, Jack, must decide whether or not to keep the child.
Jack is keen for Aisling to have the baby, while she realises it will destroy her chances of a career.
Everything changes when Jack is found drowned in what appears to be a suicide.

Meanwhile, Cormac has sacrificed his job with an elite anti-terrorism squad based in Dublin and moved to Galway with his partner, Emma, a biologist whose research work means she is rarely at home. Cormac seemingly mistrusted by his new colleagues is left with a list of cold cases to investigate; one of them the death of Maude and Jack's mother back in 1993. Only his long-time colleague and friend, Danny, seems willing to help with his inquiries.

On hearing of her brother's alleged suicide, Jack's sister Maude has returned from Australia and together with Aisling uncovers inconsistencies in the police investigation of Jack's death. Maude is convinced her brother has been murdered. Just as Cormac's attempts to make further inquiries into the death of Maude's mother in 1993 were blocked, so it seems that, in 2013, both the Irish police and the Irish church are still trying to prevent the truth coming out. Matters take a turn for the worse when Maude is charged with the murder of her long dead mother.
Initially, the pace of the book is somewhat slow. What keeps the suspense going is the link between the two "accidental" deaths 20 years apart. Not your typical Irish crime novel and well worth investigating.

My thanks to the publisher Sphere and Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

2.5 stars

The story starts with an incredible hook, of a rookie police officer being called in to the Blakes’ remote home and discovering the terrible conditions the two children are in. However, I felt the storytelling faltered once past those opening scenes. I found it difficult to keep focused on the different story lines, and especially the various characters and their relationship “politics”. While some of the story lines intersected (no surprises), one didn’t, and I’m not sure what the point was.

I must clarify, the writing was good; it was the narrative I found hard to focus on. There was a lot of telling, making the story staccato, especially the interplay between the different police officers. I enjoyed the Aisling parts much more. I wonder if the author already has a series arc planned out, which resulted in too much disjointed information in this first book. But this only means the series will get better.

(Review. copy from NetGalley)