Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

This is the second book in the series, and even though I haven't read the first book, this one read nicely as a standalone. This was a thrilling read and I can't wait for the next one. Recommended.

A little slow to start but then this book picks up pace and bam - an intriguing tale of murder that is intertwined with the detective’s personal life.

With twists and turns, this is an excellent book

This is the second Cormac Reilly novel from Dervla McTiernan and I loved it just as much as “The Ruin”. Keeps you gripped with all the twists and turns and I was fully invested with Cormac all the way through. One of my favourite detectives! Cannot wait for the third instalment - 5*****

Another great read from Dervla McTiernan! Cormacs girlfriend Emma stumbles across a dead body late at night on her way into her office. The ID on the body is belonging to Carline Darcy, granddaughter of a very rich and influential man. But is it her? Is Emma guilty of something? Why does Cormac feel they are being blocked from making enquiries?
This is another great read from McTiernan. Cormac and his colleagues are great characters but are also human and have their own stories and troubles.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Sergeant Callie O’Halloran is on the edge of exhaustion with working all hours since her promotion. Her home life is suffering and the Henderson case, one of several she’s working on, seems to be losing momentum despite giving it most of her attention. Cormac Reilly is still being assigned to cold cases after a year at the Galway police station and Callie can’t understand why the powers that be aren’t utilising such a good detective. She says as much to her superior, Superintendent Murphy, pleading Cormac’s case and her own, although it doesn’t turn out quite as she hoped.

Cormac transferred to Galway from Dublin when his partner, Dr Emma Sweeney, had been head hunted, securing a position with Darcy Therapeutics as a research scientist. They both felt the need for a new start although Cormac’s time with the Galway Gardaí hasn’t been, and still isn’t, what he would call satisfying. At least now he is getting ongoing cases, thanks to Callie’s intervention.

When Cormac receives a phone call from a distraught Emma late one evening, Cormac catches a case he really shouldn’t be investigating. Emma discovers the victim of a hit and run by chance as she is on her way to the lab. According to ID found on the body it seems the dead woman is Carline Darcy, the granddaughter of John Darcy, head of Darcy Pharmaceuticals.

Things aren’t quite what they seem initially, as the ID found turns out not to belong to the victim, and the injuries sustained make it difficult to make an identification. A case involving the Darcy family is high profile and Cormac is told in no uncertain terms he has to tread very lightly, unless he has strong evidence.

All sorts of factors come into play during the course of the story, including the issue of internal police politics, secrets, lies and deception, corruption in the corporate world and the privileged existence of the rich.

The characterisations of minor players, one in particular, are succinct and give an immediate sense of their personalities. The key characters, including Cormac, Callie, and Peter Fisher, are extremely well developed and realistic. Cormac has moral standards without being self-righteous and won’t stop until he gets at the truth. There’s still more to learn about Emma—this case impacts on both her and Cormac and Dervla McTiernan gives a nice balance between professional and personal relationships. An atmospheric, well thought through plot, interesting police procedural and several twists make The Scholar a worthy successor to The Ruin. I really enjoyed it.

I loved The Ruin, the first book in the Cormac Reilly series. This is the second book in the series and I absolutely loved it! I couldn't put this book down and finished it in two sittings. The characters are so well developed, the plot is tight, well thought out and ideally paced. I thought I had it all figured out towards the end but I didn't! It's great to have another crime fiction series set in Ireland. Irish crime fiction writers, especially female authors, are really top notch at the moment and it's great to see this and see them get the recognition that they deserve. I will be hotly anticipating and waiting patiently for Dervla McTiernan's next instalment of this great series.

My thanks to Little Brown & NetGalley

Dervla McTiernan started off strong with her excellent debut novel, The Ruin, and it’s fair to say she’s cemented her position as one of the most exciting new crime writers with the equally as strong The Scholar.

DS Cormac Reilly returns for a second outing. He’s on his way home when he gets a call from her girlfriend Emma, who’s just come across a girl’s body. Seemingly the victim of a hit and run, Cormac sets about trying to find the killer but soon finds himself entangled in a complicated case with politics and power at play. Carline Darcy is strongly linked to the case but is also the granddaughter of John Darcy, the wealthy owner of a influential pharmaceutical company. With bigger forces at play, Cormac has to solve the case while playing politics and juggling his own delicately balanced personal life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a brilliantly written crime story with an original plot and excellent characters. The sub plot with Cormac and Emma’s relationship was really interesting to read. The back story gave it some real depth and a plot development later in the book took it to another level. Cormac’s character stops just short of being your classic rebellious police officer and it was refreshing to read a character using his smarts to stay involved in the case. The main plot was really clever too. It took some really twists and turns with and ending I certainly didn’t see coming. I have to admit I was sorry to finish this book. Dervla McTiernan is a fantastic crime writer and I’m genuinely excited to see what she comes up with next.

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

The book starts with a flash back to 2006, where a young girl called Carline Darcey hears of the death of her (very rich) father in a skiing accident on the television news.  Horrified at the thought of going back to live with her mother she heads off to the home of her millionaire grandfather to ask if she can instead live with him.

2014 Galway.  Detective Cormac Reily, whom we meet in the first novel, gets an alarming phone call from his girlfriend Emma.  Emma is working at the lab of Darcy Therapeutics.  On her way into work one evening she finds the body of a young woman.  Clearly dead, it looks like a horrific hit and run accident.  It appears, from the lab pass found in the woman's back pocket, that she is Carline Darcy, now working at the lab for her studies at university.  But as Cormac deliberates whether or not to take on the case, he finds Carline in her apartment alive and well.

I really enjoyed The Ruin, the 1st book in the Cormac Reily series so was pleased to get approval from Netgalley for this 2nd book.  Again another great believable page turner, with characters that you want to believe in and get to know.  Even the lesser characters are dealt with with the same amount of care and attention to detail making the reader care about all aspects of the story line.

I liked the relationships Cormac has with his fellow co workers, both good and not so good.  Everyone has a purpose to the story along with a nice story line of their own.  Like The Ruin there is no padding out with unnecessary description or relevant parts of the story as each chapter has a great content and pace, keeping the reader interested and wanting to read on.

A great police procedural/crime story novel and a great character in Cormac.  This series will now be a automatic read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed The Ruin and wasn't disappointed with this second book. I enjoyed the storyline and got to know the characters. Am looking forward to a third.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the second book by Dervla McTiernan,and also the second in the Detective Cormac Reilly series. It was an extremely clever, interesting story and the storyline included Emma, Cormac’s partner. It showed how the pharmaceutical industry is a cutthroat business, in this story the two main victims were two young woman with their whole future in front of them who were killed for what they knew.
The story was totally engrossing and the police officers depicted in the book all had their own flaws and problems highlighted, but in the end were able to work as a team to bring some justice to the family of the first murdered girl.
I look forward to reading more books in the series.
Highly recommended.

When on a late evening scientist Emma finds a young woman dead on the university premises, it looks like a hit and run without any connection to the place. But then, the police find out that she had the ID of another student with her and also wore her clothes. Carline Darcy, first presumed the victim, reacts very harshly to the police showing up at her apartment, but her behaviour makes her even more suspicious, especially since Carline comes from a very rich family owning the institute close to which the body of the still unidentified woman was found. As Cormac Reilly and his team investigate, more and more evidence pops up linking the rich girl to the murder. But also the scientist who found the victim is doubtful – wasn’t she connected to another murder just a couple of months before? And what about the fact that Emma is the leading sergeant’s partner?

Dervla McTiernan’s thriller is a highly complex police investigation that I thoroughly enjoyed to read. It moves at a high pace and on every new page, new evidence appears that leads to another thread that you could follow. To fully understand to extent of the case, it takes some time and you as a reader investigate along the police all the time. The fact that sergeant Reilly himself is personally involved gives it all a bit of an extra that made the whole story even more interesting.

There are two aspects in the novel that I found wonderfully elaborated. First of all, the ways dysfunctional families find their own modus operandi in which they proceed and which can never be penetrated by somebody from outside. It was mainly in a side plot that this a deeply developed, but it was also true for the protagonist’s family, just with a slight shift of interest. The second was the question of how far people are willing to go for success and recognition. These are highly valued in our times and often the main feature to define a person. If you cannot compete, you are nothing. With this attitude, to we dig our own graves in putting people under so much pressure that they cannot see a way out?

All in all, very gripping and real page-turner.

I really enjoyed Dervla's superb debut novel The Ruin last year so I was eager to follow Sgt Cormac Reilly onto his next case. For me this story wasn't quite as engaging as The Ruin and I thought I had it all figured out fairly easily early on as it plodded along but in the last third of this book the story really redeemed itself with twists a plenty which all lead to a satisfying conclusion. Dervla's books are well written, well plotted and very believable and I would definitely recommend her to any fans of police procedurals and I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment in Reilly's case book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because I found the blurb interesting but I never read any other book by this author.
I had no expectations and was really happy to discover an amazing and enthralling book.
This is not an easy review because I started the book and, DANG, it was 2 am and I was at 50% so I can surely say this is a page turner that will keep you hooked from the first pages till the end. This also means I was so engrossed by the plot that I didn't take time to note character development or style of writing.
I was enjoying the great reading experience and having a lot of fun.
I can surely say the plot is fascinating and this is one of the best police procedural I read in years.
I loved the cast of characters, I think they're well written and fleshed out. I appreciated the descriptions of the dysfunctional families and the high tech research environment.
I look forward to reading other books in this series and will surely get the previous installment.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all opinions are mine.

The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan is the second book in a series featuring DS Cormac Reilly and whilst I had not read the first book I definitely enjoyed The Scholar.

The book is well written with strong characterisation and a story that picks up pace throughout until the conclusion.

There is sufficient backstory for you to enjoy The Scholar as a standalone book without any detraction from the main story

Overall thoroughly recommended

Dervla McTiernan’s ‘The Scholar’ builds on the promise of her first novel ‘The Ruin’. Garda Cormac O’Reilly, still viewed with suspicion by some of his colleagues in Galway, has something of a supporter in Carrie O’Halloran who recognises that Cormac’s talents are being wasted on cold cases and sees an opportunity to share some of her workload. But, as O’Reilly familiarises himself with the investigation into a man who appears to have tried to murder his wife and children, he takes a frantic call from his girlfriend, Emma, who has found a body in the road outside the university in which she works, the body of a young woman carrying the ID of the granddaughter of one of Galway’s richest businessmen.
The plot is suitably serpentine, the pace intense, but it is the cast of characters that make this such a joy to read. The key players are well-drawn, not just Cormac O’Reilly, but also Emma Sweeney, Carrie O’Halloran, Peter Fisher - these are ‘real’ people, not clichés; there are no rogue cops with drink problems here. The dialogue is realistic and we see the investigation processes at work, but ‘The Scholar’ is so much more than just a good police procedural. The suspense is extreme at times and the book is never less than satisfying. And, along the way, McTiernan asks questions about the ‘profits at all costs’ nature of Big Pharma.
I am so glad that ‘The Ruin’ was not a one-off and look forward to the next in the series.

I enjoyed the first Cormac Reilly novel, “The Ruin,” so was pleased to receive the second in the series for review.

Reilly is still side-lined with cold cases, while girlfriend, Emma, continues her research work as a scientist. However, things are about to change for both of them. Cormac’s colleague, Carrie O’Halloran is exhausted and demands her boss drop his attitude towards Cormac, using him to run current cases; meaning that not only does he take on some of her workload, but also picks up a new case, when Emma finds a hit and run victim on campus, where she works.

The young woman, hit by a car, has an identity card in her pocket, for Carline Darcy, the granddaughter of pharmaceutical giant, John Darcy. However, when Cormac goes to her plush, un-student like apartment, she is very much alive. The victim turns out to be a student who dropped out, to work as a waitress. However, it soon turns out that she had a hidden life and that Carline Darcy is hiding her knowledge of events and of Della Lambert.

This is a series which has a lot of promise, but is still finding its feet. Cormac is a likeable character, who does his best to protect Emma, who, of course, has her own past demons to deal with. However, her involvement means that Cormac should have handed over the case. Meanwhile, he still faces issues at work, not only with his boss, but also with Moira Hanley; a lazy, disgruntled police officer, who is apt to indulge in gossip and rumour spreading.

Generally, this is an above average crime novel, which needs to move away from the issues of Cormac and Emma and focus more on the crimes. This worked best when the focus was on the issues of entitlement, family dysfunction, and the protection of wealth and power, as Cormac ignores warnings to involve Carline Darcy and looks at the links between her and the dead girl. Some of the characters are just a little too stereotypical and lacking depth, but, overall, a good read and a series which I feel will grow better with time. I received a copy of the book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I was so excited when this book landed in my inbox. I loved her first book The Ruin and was really hoping for more of the same. It started off well then gradually went off the boil. It took far too long finding who the killer was and too much time worrying about the girl friend. I really struggled to finish this book, saying that I am sure other readers will rave about it just not me.
I would like the author, Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for giving an honest review.

I was a huge fan of ‘The Ruin’ and Dervla’s Second novel did not disappoint. Again I was sucked right in to Cormac’s world, beautiful setting for the story. Mctiernan writes so well and I was completely absorbed in this story. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. Highly recommended