The Ruin

DI Cormac Reilly, Book 1

By: Dervla McTiernan

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

It's been 20 years since Detective Cormac Reilly discovered the body of Hilaria Blake in her crumbling home. But he's never forgotten the two children she left behind ...

When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib in Ireland, the police tell her it was suicide. She throws herself into work, trying to forget – but Jack's sister Maude reappears in Ireland after years abroad, determined to prove Jack was murdered.

Meanwhile, Detective Cormac Reilly, who was recently transferred to Galway from his squad in Dublin, is assigned to dig into a cold case from 20 years ago – the seeming overdose of Jack and Maude's drug and alcohol addled mother. Other detectives are connecting Jack's death to his mother's, and pushing Reilly to arrest Maude, and fast. But instinct tells him something isn't quite what it seems ...

©2018 Dervla McTiernan (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

'Corruption, clandestine cover-ups and criminal conspiracy ... as moving as it is fast-paced.' (Val McDermid, bestselling author of the Lindsay Gordon series)

'The Ruin is spectacularly good. So CONFIDENT ... excellently written and, at times, heartachingly sad.' (Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Again, Rachel)

'Brilliantly crafted ... incredibly real-feeling characters. An absolute treat!' (The Sunday Mirror)

A book by Dervla McTiernan, narrated by Aoife McMahon can never be anything but brilliant.

Another exploration of human nature set in the world of the Irish Garda with twists that I didn’t see coming. The presence of Cormac Reilly is like seeing an old friend. Ms. McTiernan makes all of her characters so human, you feel like you’ve met them at some point in your life. Trigger warning: if anyone has a son who is neurologically divergent, and has been since birth, then Chapter 39, at 6:00 minutes, felt to me like it was my son being described, to a “T”.
All of his life, I wondered what I could have done to make him hate me so much, what I could have done differently to help him, but this passage makes me feel exonerated.
We tried so hard to give him love and teach him right from wrong. He just learned to hide his true self by watching and imitating other people. “Sometimes people are just born this way.” Looking back, I can see it in my own father, so maybe it is inherited. 45 years ago you didn’t think to ask the doctor about what might just be bad behaviour in a small child. You just tried to teach him what he did wrong. It is puzzling though, that so many children are diagnosed as “on the Spectrum” these days. Are we doing something collectively wrong as a society?
Anyway, to me, this was a great mystery with the added bonus of a little lifting of the guilt I’ve been feeling for about 40 years.
Thanks Dervla.

Excellent

Well-written, interesting story. It was difficult for me to understand which character was which.

Great story

I love a good story where I don’t always know where it will lead, and this didn’t disappoint.
The narration was great and it was easy to follow.
The ending was suspenseful and while important parts were wrapped up, the realistic parts were left more open. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of life that doesn’t wrap up in a bow.

Twisty and fun

Once I started reading this or listening to it at the same time, I completely couldn’t put it down

FABULOUS!

I absolutely loved the story and the build up to the conclusion of the story in a very suspenseful way… loved it!