Sin of the Father

With this novel the two John Banvilles, himself and his alter ego, Benjamin Black, become one. Personalities from the Quirke novels, such as Inspector Hackett, now Chief-Inspector, and even Quirke himself make appearances. Themes from the same novels, such as the corrupt power of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland during the 1950s and 60s, are revisited.

Now this is interesting, as Banville has previously poured some scorn on the crime fiction genre and it is hard to know, at least initially how seriously to take the plot, the characterisation and even the style of this latest venture. With its references to potboilers of the period, to the fiction of Agatha Christie, with its red-herrings and caricatures of Irish personalities and life, its constant references to the theatricality of the plot, the reader is tempted to see the whole enterprise as an intellectual comedy. Its outsider detective, the only Protestant in the Irish police force, the shabby Irish country house with its colonel Blimp owner, its Flann O’Brien inspired publican, spouting lines from Samuel Beckett and the Old Testament, its hackneyed plot reveals (‘The body is in the Library’) all spark considerable amusement.

But there is a serious side too, and in Banville/Black novels it is not a new one, but as bleak as ever, and that is the corrupt abuse of children by Catholic priests and subsequent cover up. These themes, combined with a sinister portrait of the enormously powerful Archbishop McQuade, the scourge of Irish Protestants, circumscribe the comedy and bring the reader back to Earth with a shock.

As for the mystery, despite an unexpected twist at the end, it is not difficult to solve. The real mystery is why Banville has on this occasion decided to use his own name on the book’s cover.

This is an unusual book. Reads like a cozy mystery, but the subject matter is too dark for it to be that simple. The body of a priest lays in the library, but this is not the bloodless crime scene from other whodunits. The murder was violent and the body emasculated. Who would do that to a highly respected priest? We have a pool of suspects, as usual all hiding secrets. But these skeletons in the closet are dark and the characters not just quirky but unlikable. Strafford, the detective, is not completely sure that he wants to be a policeman and can’t help it when his personal feelings toward the suspects interfere with his investigation. I enjoyed the read, even if I felt the tone was off. It was the atmosphere that I liked the most. The oppressive snow, covering everything and making it beautiful while hiding the ugliness beneath. I wanted to like the characters, but never connected with them and I think this is on purpose. They are all complex and well-defined. The historical aspect is well developed, being set in Ireland shortly after its independence. The tensions still imbuing the dynamics amongst the characters in a dark way. The ending didn’t disappoint. Creepy and atmospheric, seems like the offspring of Agatha Christie and Lars Kepler.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Faber and Faber Ltd!

Another shocking, unexpected death and unbelievable revelations after the death of wife and mom. Reeling from the loss, dad takes his befrest son to New York from California. Once there they have to learn a new way to live and figure out what really happened to the wife.
Things get complicated, of course, and what we think might have gone on was in fact, something else entirely.
There is tension while we wait to see if she really is gone.
It turns out there is all sorts of awful things just below the surface - what to do?
The end is quite dramatic and intense.
Good story- some depth from the dad, nice extra touch.

<i>Snow</i> is a murder mystery that shines light on the Catholic Church’s need to reform its policy of hiding its misdeeds. Detective St. John Stratford is an unsettled character who is good at what he does but plagued by the feeling that he should be somewhere else. <i>Snow</i> is written by John Banville, a prolific Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter.

The story is set in 1957 and begins with the gruesome murder of a popular priest. The murder takes place in a dilapidated manor house (Ballyglass House), where the occupants live in a world that demands “dressing for dinner”. Fortunately, Detective Strafford comes from the same world so he is allowed to question all of the suspects without restraint. At the same time, he takes a room in the neighboring village where he learns even more about the manor house and its occupants. The weather is severe so Stratford suspects that the murderer is among the strange set of characters who live in the house.

Banville is a master of character description and development. Detective Strafford is very interesting because, although he is an excellent detective, he doesn’t appreciate his own talents.

<i> “His strongest drive was curiosity, the simple wish to know, to be let in on what was hidden by others. Everything to him had the aspect of a cipher. Life was a mundane mystery, the clues to solving of which were strewn all about … for all to see but for him alone to recognise.” </i>

Banville’s descriptions of people and places are unique and give the story a level of interest above and beyond the story itself.

<i> “He walked with a curious gait, like an orangutan that had something wrong with its knees … He smelled of soap and tobacco smoke, and horses.” </i>

I did find the story predictable. Because the victim was a priest, and the wounds were of a certain type, the motive and murderer were fairly obvious. There was a slight twist at the end but it did not vary enough from the theme to be a significant surprise.

I recommend this book to people because of Banville’s excellent writing style. It is highly entertaining. For those who like convoluted murder mysteries with a twist this book may not fill the need. I give it a 4 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review

'Snow' by John Banville proved to be one of those wonderful, ‘read in one sitting’ books that I dearly love. The story is set in December in 1957, in the fictional village of Ballyglass where the local Catholic priest has met a nasty end. The priest, Fr. Tom has not died in the village, oh no. He has been found dead in the library of the local “big house”. A wonderfully Agatha Christie sounding storyline.
DCI St. John (pronounced Sinjin) Strafford (with an ‘r’) has been dispatched from Dublin to investigate the murder as the local Garda cannot be trusted with such a high profile case. And so begins a case, where almost everyone seems to be pretending to be someone else, while the “powers that be”, otherwise known as the Archbishop, continually infer in the case. It’s no wonder that Strafford soon finds himself alone and under increasingly pressure.
I enjoyed the various characters that Strafford encountered from the complicated Osbourne family to the villagers, both sides revealing their prejudices, with every other sentence. There’s no doubt that Banville has accurately portrayed rural life in Ireland at this time – the civil war politics are still playing a role, while the stranglehold of the Catholic church is clearly evident as Strafford’s inquiry is played down. The majority of humour in the novel comes from these encounters.
There is an interlude from another character towards the end of the novel and if I hadn’t already guessed the solution then this section would prove to be a complete giveaway. As a result, I questioned the place of this monologue and wonder would it have been better dispersed throughout the novel instead? However, it did not take hugely from the overall storyline and there is a splendid mix of ingredients from politics, murder, sex and religion leading to an increasingly tense atmosphere as Banville sets the stage for the finale.

DI St. John Strafford – not Stafford as almost all characters in the novel think – is called to what is essentially a big house murder. But the victim is a local parish priest and the location is Ballyglass House, seat of the Protestant Osborne family. It is 1957 and the control of the church has never been stronger, plus the weather is awful. A few days to Christmas, the snow is barely passable and yet somehow DI Strafford must make sense of what he’s being told (ie, what truths and untruths) and convince this tight knit community to explain what’s really going on. Beautifully written, it was like being transported to a golden age detective fiction with clever characters that you feel something towards. I loved it.

I read this book in one day so it definitely kept my attention. It’s just that the subject matter was not quite what I was expecting. It got a bit raw for me. I was expecting a locked door manor house mystery, but as many have pointed out, the mutilated priest was a strong clue of what was afoot.

Inspector Stratford is called to look into the murder of a priest in the middle of a snow storm. He takes Sergeant Jenkins along and there is the stereotypical body in the library. Stratford himself cannot help feeling like he is on the set of a play when he meets the Osborne family and cook, all of a type.

He takes a room in the town where he meets many of the people in the village and learns more about the murdered man. Was the murdered priest as beloved as Colonel Osborne said?

I liked the style of writing, setting and character descriptions, but I would only recommend this to a friend with a warning about the subject matter. Thanks so much to Net galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

An atmospheric mystery; very of it's time. I thoroughly enjoyed this latest offering from John Banville. We are introduced to detective Strafford at the scene of a crime, the details of which, I would imagine, would have been quite shocking in this time.
Each character within the story was well developed. I could 'see' the incongruent detective, with his social awkwardness, going about his business, trying to solve this crime. I could also imagine all of the characters up at the house and throughout the community. Each had their own part to play and their own story to tell and Banville delivered this within a timely pace.

I was engaged with Snow from the first page and my interest was held throughout.
I enjoyed this book and I would read another book from this author.

A library should be full of books, high back leather chairs and a roaring fire. It should not the resting place of the bloodied corpse of the local parish priest.

Set in 1950’s Ireland, Snow takes us back to a slightly more innocent time. But don’t confuse that with people behaving themselves. DI St John (pronounced Sinjin) Strafford is called to Ballyglass to investigate the death of the local Catholic priest. His body has been found in the library of Ballyglass House, seat of the Osborne family, the nature of his death is gruesome.

Straight away Strafford encounters the almost numb Osborne family, when death occurs he is used to people being emotional, they are not, they are a strange bunch. The lady of the house is drugged up to the eyeballs, the son and daughter are definitely sociopaths and the father is your stereotypical lord of the manor.

As heavy snow falls around Ballyglass, Strafford digs in to the life of the priest, a picture builds of what the man was capable of and then at that point you realise just about anyone could have killed him.

Religion does play a part in this book, the victim is Catholic and the detective is a Protestant, the tensions that go with this pairing are evident throughout the book notably the Catholic Church making sure what they want published in the papers is what they want to see, not the actual truth.

Snow is a good whodunnit, the setting is worthy of an Agatha Christie novel and the identity of the killer is kept close to the authors chest until the end.

A very enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A dead body in the library Of a country home in Ireland is a tantalising Challenge for Dublin DI St John Strafford, but sounds a little too staged. He’s right. Banville eludes to the ‘staged’ nature of events and characters throughout the book but rather than see this as playful homage to the likes of Christie, it feels like too much of a stretch to suspend our belief.

Everything feels a little obvious. When we finally get the monologue from the dead man explaining himself, it’s too late. We twigged to this earlier on. Instead of these serious issues being engaged with, I felt were offered only stereotypes and ‘obvious’ conclusions.

What a pity. This story has some great ingredients; politics, religion, sexuality in Ireland during a time of both change and conservatism. I expected from Banville a more sophisticated narrative weaving these issues through the events and characters.

I have to say that I was disappointed with this novel. Perhaps it was because the story took place in 1957, which in some ways was a more innocent time than where we sit in 2020. The plot is about a priest who is found murdered and disfigured in an old Irish home in a small village. Present at the time were the homeowner, Colonel Osborne, his wife, his daughter, his son, and their cook. The murder is being investigated by St. John (pronounced Sinjin) Strafford. It was obvious to me from the very beginning what the motive for the murder was and who the possible suspects would be. It was just all to easy and obvious.

The book was well written, and John Banville is clearly a prolific author, but I was just underwhelmed. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Given the profession of the murder victim and the nature of his injuries, there was little doubt in my mind where this story was going so I just settled in for the journey and hoped to enjoy some great writing. Apart from some lovely snow-covered landscape and some memorable descriptions of characters - as Inspector Strafford notes, they seem like actors in costume ready to walk on stage and description is confined mainly to their looks, we learn little of their inner selves - I found it all a tad underwhelming. The main message I took away is that the Catholic Church in Ireland in the last century has much to answer for and I knew that already. Not a book I would particularly recommend.

3.5 stars

Being greeted with the words "there's a body in the library" I am immediately expecting a classic country house murder.
To some extent I got that.
A strange family,non more strange than the second wife,who seemed to fit in and out of bring bonkers.
Other cast of characters that made you believe ANY of them could be guilty.
This was a slow burner of a book,and all the more charming for being so.
I think the motive for murder was fairly predictable,and the killer not too much of a surprise.

A very enjoyable read.

A big thank-you to John Banville, Faber and Faber and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
The story starts as one of the most famous detective story and with a wink from Mr Banville who creates his very own story with the snow and cold in the foreground. Detective Inspector St John Strafford is engimatic, withdrawn and a Protestant delegated to an Irish manor house to investigate the death of a Catholic priest.
His aristocratic background allows him to recognize in Ballyglass House the world from which he escaped but which still holds a steady grip on him. Strafford is not a character begging to be liked but somehow I did take a shine to him, possibly due to his isolation ... Strafford is a lonely man, keeping the distance and trying to do his duty finding the culprit. He is not easily influenced by men of power whose intention is to hide the real motive behind the death of the man of cloth. The motive is easy to guess and in my opinion the murder is just an excuse for Mr Banville to present the situation Ireland in the middle of the 20th century with regard to the Catholic Church and the position of the Protestants. The novel is not a treaty on the complicated relations but a rather insighful glance at the ways the world was run in those days in Ireland.

'The body is in the library,’ Colonel Osborne said. ‘Come this way.’

I love this as a set-up in this book. It immediately puts you in a Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers frame of mind. A country house murder, with a small cast of potential murderers, and a steady detective to piece it all together. The detective in question is St John Strafford. He has been sent from Dublin to Co. Wexford following the discovery of the corpse of a highly respected parish priest at Ballyglass House – the home of the aristocratic Osborne family. He is sent , in part because it is a world he understands, and in part to facilitate the keeping of a lid on events. He has been chosen to play his part. He is not the only one, as he observes the Osborne family also seem to be playing parts "She too, like everybody else Strafford has so far encountered at Ballyglass House, had the look of a character actor hired that morning"

What follows, in some ways, could seem a cliched Irish novel: a book about the tensions between protestant and catholic, the state and the church, and the behaviour of those within the church. It is not a book that would likely have been published in Ireland during the period it is set. In fact , in some ways you could argue, the resolution to the crime is almost beside the point in this book. And again, with a writer such as Banville and his use of language : "The sky was loaded with a swag of mauve-tinted clouds, and the air was the colour of tarnished pewter" you almost don't care either. However, I did want to know and I was swept along by Detective Inspector Strafford's progress.

But then.

Towards the end we get an interlude from another character in the book, which serves to tell us who the killer likely may be. But, it also felt strangely out of place – to me, at least. It took me out of the book, even whilst its exposition heavy snow covered boots were stomping away with their background information. It didn't feel like it had earned the right to be there. Had the book been more readily interspersed with this other voice from the off it might have worked, but as executed here, I think if fails. This is a shame because I was totally onboard with the book up until that point. Spoilt this being a very good novel.

I was also quite surprised to see Snow released under Banville's own name considering that he has issued a collection of thrillers - — most featuring the character of his Irish pathologist Quirke - under his pseudonym Benjamin Black. Indeed it was only earlier this years that he published "The Secret Guests" where we first encountered St John Strafford. With my cynic hat on you'd almost think that the presence of Lee Child on this year's Booker judging panel made the publishers go ' a thriller could get a nod' this year. After all, Banville is a previous winner - Banville's 14th novel, The Sea, won the prize back in 2005. But, I'm sure that is a coincidence.

"It's a library" he muttered incredulously to Hendricks, "it's an actual fucking library, and there's a body in it!"

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC to read and review.

The body of a priest is found in a library. Castrated.

Great mistery with heavy and sinister theme. On occasion it was hard to read.

Nevertheless a good read.

John Banville's mysteries used to be published under the pen name Benjamin Black. As all his other books, this one you cannot put down until the very last page! As the main protagonist, St. John Strafford (with an r), examines the circumstances of a gruesome murder in an Irish manor, we get to explore the Irish countryside and its many characters. John Banville's sense of detail makes this read far more rewarding than your average whodunnit. I read it in one go and have not regretted the time spent. A definite keeper.

John Banville is a master of the classic mystery and SNOW is no exception. From its opening pages, the reader is lured into a spider's web of deception. A treat--rich in character and surprises.

Exceptional Storytelling.....
Exceptional storytelling from John Banville. The death of a parish priest brings Detective Inspector St. John Strafford to County Wexford to investigate. Creating a taut sense of tension and apprehension from the start that simply does not let go, the tale unfolds, characters are impeccably drawn, sense of time and place perfection. Dark and ultimately disturbing. Superb.

Classic whodunit with a twist.
This novel in set in Ireland in the 1950's and a priest has been murdered. Detective Inspector Strafford has to work his way though issues of class and religion to get to the bottom of this case.
There are twists and turns along the way that keep you gripped.
The setting if a snow covered town adds to the mystery and intrigue.
The characters are delightfully illustrated and are visual to the reader.
Themes of secrets and coverups run throughout this well written book.
Recommended to fans of a classic mystery but this is also so much more.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.