CWA Dagger Award - The Scholar

I really, really enjoyed The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan's first Galway-set police procedural so was excited to read her follow up novel, continuing a year after the events in The Ruin. Luckily it didn't disappoint. Cormac Reilly is still struggling with his move to Galway and is still stuck on cold cases whilst newly promoted Carrie O'Halloran barely sees her kids or husband, she is so overworked. A request for help sees Carrie handing over several cases to Reilly, and he is also given a very hot potato of a case, a hit and run involving the grand daughter of powerful billionaire John Darcy, a case his vulnerable girlfriend is embroiled in. Reilly's instinct to protect Emma, his girlfriend, wars with his own ambitions and instincts, as she is pulled deeper and deeper into the case.

McTiernan brings Galway to life, a small, rainy city with its influx of students and tourists, where gentrification and the echoes of the crash cause tensions amidst escalating costs. We get to know the other members of Reilly's department better, their ambitions and loyalties, strengths and weaknesses, as he slowly makes allies - and enemies who are more than happy to see him crash and burn as the case moves ever close to home. Like the Ruin we are given enough information to work out some of the answers, and yet the denouement is still a surprise thanks to careful plotting and great tension maintained throughout the book.

The Scholar maintains the high standard set by The Ruin. I'm already looking forward to the third in the series.

An excellent novel with a fascinating depiction of characters. I very much enjoyed this wonderful story and highly recommend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Ruin and so had high expectations of this and was not disappointed. The book started in February 2006 when Carline Darcy’s father was killed in an avalanche and following this incident we were introduced to one of the coldest characters to ever grace a page of a book, the owner of Darcy Pharmaceuticals, John Darcy. Darcy sponsored the research laboratory where Cormac Reilly’s girlfriend Emma worked in Galway.

Fast forward then to Galway in April and May 2014 and Cormac was working on cold cases, DS Carrie O’Halloran was grossly overworked on current ones and she asked for Cormac’s help. The novel centred around two cases the principal one that investigated a hit and run near Emma’s lab, in fact Emma discovered the body and the second that of Rob Henderson who tried to murder his family. Both cases were really interesting but the most fascinating one centred around the hit and run as it drew in Carline and John Darcy. The story was full of twists, packed with really good characters, the storyline flowed extremely well and it was an excellent, thrilling and compelling read. It was a complex book as it covered a number of areas but so well written that it was easy to follow the plot. I liked the way the book ended with some uncertainty too.

I think one of Dervla McTiernan’s greatest strengths is the ability to create such good characters. Cormac and Emma obviously but we had several other really good ones. Carrie was so likeable, trying to balance the needs of a demanding job with family life. She was prepared to stand up for herself which she did on several occasions but she developed trust in Cormac. I also liked Peter Fisher who though obviously ambitious was also perceptive, he listened and he had real initiative. Moira Hanley though not likeable at all was easy to picture as she glowered in the corner. Will we find out what Murphy’s game is in future books?

Cormac, Carrie and Fisher. My new favourite police team. Great storyline; tragic yet engrossing. Really enjoying this new series by Dervla McTiernan. Looking forward to reading book three.

I just love books with a setting in Ireland, and I happen to work at a university ;-) so I was attracted to this title.
I'm not disappointed and were it not for the fact that the story is sometimes a bit too slow for my liking, I would have given it 5 stars.
I appreaciate that this book can be read without having read the first book in the series. There is just enough information to relate to the main character Cormac Reilly and what happened to him in the first book. And how he came to meet Emma.

Thanks to Netgalley for my digital review copy.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to #netgalley and Harper Collins for this opportunity.

Wow. This was my first Dervla McTiernan book and I’m officially a fan. The Scholar was fast paced, intelligent, and original. McTiernan also spent more time on the “whys” and by that I mean not only the why of the central crime, but the reasons behind all of the characters actions, allowing the reader to glimpse each person’s comments internal world and thus understand each of their motivations. Many “psychological” thrillers are too focused on shocking the reader or created a villain with an unexpected psychosis, but McTiernan is a better writer than that and her book is actually more interesting for her choices. I didn’t feel I was missing critical information having not read the previous book in this series, which helped as well. Bonus points for a book set by NUIG, which Gabe me nostalgia as a former student there.

I loved the Ruin and I also loved this!!! I couldn’t put it down!!! I can’t wait for the next book from this author!!! Brilliant book! Five stars from me!!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Dervla McTiernan for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

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.

This was my first read by Dervla McTiernan having been recommended her by a friend. SOLD! I loved it, scientist Emma is on her way to the Lab located at Galway University when she discovers the body of a young woman, panicked, she phones her boyfriend, Det Cormac Reilly. It looks like a case of simple hit and run, however, upon closer examination by Reilly, all is not what it seems and the ID on the body determines that the body of the young girl is that of Carline Darcy, granddaughter of the owner of multi billion euro pharmaceutical company who owns the Lab at Galway. They must thread carefully in detangling all the strings to this case.

This story was full of twists and really drew you in, I loved the characters and the storyline, I lived in Galway for years and it was nostalgic reading all the places, road names etc and I was able to identify the exact locations which I really enjoyed. This author is being added to my list and I am going back now to read the Ruin.

The second book in this series & again it did not disappoint. From the beginning it is heartwarming to know that I was going to enjoy this easily read story, engage with the characters & be held together until the final chapters. The best though about this was when completed there were 2 more chapters to engage with for the next novel. Just wonderful to know there is more in store for these characters set in ireland.

When DS Cormac Reilly gets a late night phone call from his girlfriend he has no idea it will lead to him being first on the scene of a murder that he wouldn’t normally be investigating. The dead girl is carrying the ID if Carline Darcy, heir to Ireland’s biggest pharmaceutical company. It soon becomes clear that there is much more going on here that DS Reilly first thought, and that Emma might be closer to the death than he is comfortable with. With his colleagues becoming increasingly suspicious the race is on for Cormac to find out what is really going on, and prove Emma is innocent once and for all.

This is the first book I’ve read by Dervla McTiernan, but it certainly won’t be the last. I was sucked into the story immediately, and read the whole thing in less than 24 hours.

The plot kicks off almost immediately, with Emma discovering the body within the first few chapters. The pace is kept up right throughout the book, and McTiernan does a great job of depicting the pressure that the detectives are under to get results.

Cormac Reilly is a genuinely likeable character. He’s a hardworking detective who is smart, knows how to read people and put them at ease, and knows how to get results. I liked that he wasn’t the stereotypical damaged police officer we often see, and that he wasn’t the sort of character that breaks the rules as he sees fit in order to get what he wants. It was a refreshing change, and it worked well. There was a few supporting characters that I liked too, mainly Fisher and O’Halloran, and am looking forward to reading more about them in other books in the series.

Although I had an inkling about some of the aspects of the story, I hadn’t worked out who the killer was or how things all pieced together. This isn’t the sort of book that has major plot twists as such, but the story unwinds bit by bit, so it feels like the reader is putting things together at the same time as the police. It works really well, and it’s not until the last chapter where the full picture is revealed.

I really enjoyed this book, and have already added books 1 and 3 to my reading list. For anyone who likes police procedurals this is a must read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Sphere and Little Brown Book Group UK for an arc in exchange for an honest review

This is the second book in the Cormac Reilly series and I really enjoyed it.
Reilly is working cold cases but when DS Carrie O’Halloran asks that he is assigned some current cases, he gets more than he bargained for.
Cormac receives a call from his partner Dr Emma Sweeney who is working at Darcy Laboratories and discovers the body of young woman who is the victim of hit and run.
Another body is soon found but as Cormac is close to the investigation, due to his partner finding the body, Carrie takes over the case.
It soon becomes clear to both of them that the key to solving these murders lies somewhere within Darcy laboratories, but where do they start?
This book is fast paced and had me racing through the pages.
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I cormac Riley #2

In the prologue we learn that Carline Darcy is the granddaughter of John Darcy, the founder of the family business Darcy Pharmaceuticals. Carline is only twelve when her father, Eoghan Darcy dies in a skiing accident. The story then eight years later. Carline is now twenty and she's studying and working in scientific research. A woman is found dead outside the university. It looks like it been a hit and run accident. The security card found in her pocket identifies her as Carline. It was Cormac Reilly's girlfriend, Emma Sweeney who found the body. As Cormac's investigation progresses the evidence is building and there's definitely a link to Darcy Laboratory.

Cormac and Emma have moved to Galway. He's been assigned cold cases to work through. Mma has a new job in a Pharmaceutical company that's attached to the university. When Emma discovers the body, it sets in motion a trail of events that have devastating consequences for Carline's friends and family as well as for Cormac and Emma. I got caught up quickly in this story. A police procedural that covers deception, police politics, malpractice and gut instincts. This is a well written story that I thought I knew where it was going, then it would change direction completely. A terrific read.

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.

I downloaded this and realised I had bought it on kindle! oops ! Sorry but here is my review:

This really is turning out to be a cracking series set in Ireland. Cormac and his girlfriend once lived in Dublin and are now living in Galway. You’d think the smaller city might have less dramatic cases but, oh no, this one takes you right into the heart of the world of the drug giants - well the pharmaceutical giants.
Someone linked to the biggest player has been found dead and Cormac’s girlfriend might have some kind of link to the case. Oh it doesn’t get much closer to home than this. A cracking premise from the off and Galway comes across loud and clear. Most is set in the pharma company itself and it’s a shocking insight and impression in to how these places might well operate in the real world, how much power money really does have and how absolute power really does corrupt absolutely.

This is a strong second book after The Ruin and it should be on your TBR pile asap. IT’s what Cormac would want. And we like him, so do the right thing.