The Unquiet Grave
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3.9 • 32 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Every grave has a story ... The much-anticipated new novel in the Cormac Reilly series, from the no.1 bestselling author of The Ruin and What Happened to Nina.
For years the boglands of Northern Europe have given up bodies of the long-deceased. Bodies that are thousands of years old, uncannily preserved. Bodies with strange injuries that suggest ritual torture and human sacrifice.
When a corpse is found in a bog in Galway, Cormac Reilly assumes the find is historical. But closer examination reveals a more recent story. The dead man is Thaddeus Grey, a local secondary school principal who disappeared two years prior.
There's nothing in Grey's past that would explain why he was murdered, or why his body was mutilated in a ritual manner. At first, progress on the case is frustratingly slow and Cormac struggles to keep his mind on the job. His ex-girlfriend, Emma Sweeney, is in trouble, and she's reached out to him for help - Emma's new husband has gone missing in Paris, and the French police are refusing to open an investigation into his disappearance.
Cormac is sure that he has found Grey's killer, and is within hours of an arrest, when another mutilated body is discovered on the other side of the country. Two days later, a third body is found. Press attention is intense. Is there a serial killer at work in Ireland? Has Cormac been on the wrong trail? And if so, can he find the murderer before they strike again?
Praise for the Cormac Reilly novels:
'Dervla McTiernan just gets better and better' Chris Hammer
'A haunting mystery that will have you turning pages late into the night. This is Gone Girl-level good writing.' Janet Evanovich
'Intelligent and fast-paced' Wall Street Journal
'Taut, dense and darkly addictive. A treat for lovers of fine crime writing.' Candice Fox
'As moving as it is fast-paced' Val McDermid
'Cormac Reilly [is] a cop to follow to hell and back' Bookseller+Publisher
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
After a five-year gap and several standalone titles, Dervla McTiernan returns with her fourth novel starring Cormac Reilly. The Unquiet Dead sees the Galway-based Detective Sergeant investigating first one mysterious death and then an unnerving series of them. Again relying on her intimate knowledge of Ireland’s rich culture and landscape, Western Australian transfer McTiernan takes readers through festering bogs and tight-knit communities alike, all while ensuring that Cormac and other characters feel grounded and lived-in. This is crime fiction with an unmistakably literary edge, thanks to its layered language and developed backstories. Yet, the satisfying mechanics of police procedurals still shine through, and Cormac remains a reliable companion as he intently pieces together the mystery.
Customer Reviews
An enthralling new instalment in a much-loved series
Like many of Dervla McTiernan's readers, I was delighted to hear that she was returning to her much-loved Irish-set Cormac Reilly series, after her recent foray into standalone crime fiction set in the USA (The Murder Rule and What Happened to Nina?).
The Unquiet Grave draws together four separate plotlines into an enthralling whole. A German teenager discovers a body part-submerged in a Galway bog, while holidaying in the area with her parents. Garda Peter Fisher is trying to manage a domestic violence situation threatening a family friend, while facing an internal struggle with how to break to his superior officer, D.S. Cormac Reilly, that he's planning to emigrate to Australia. Meanwhile, Reilly is called by his pregnant former partner Emma, whose retired military husband Finn has disappeared while on a business trip to Paris. Finally, crooked cybersecurity expert Carl Rigney is planning to infiltrate the software underpinning the Irish Lottery in order to realise the lavish lifestyle to which he feels entitled.
I felt engaged with each of these storylines and the cast of continuing and new characters created by author Dervla McTiernan. The Unquiet Grave has series hero Cormac Reilly reflecting on his past, in particular how his relationship with Emma went wrong, and contemplating his future with the Gardaí, as he continues to face prejudice from fellow officers over his unmasking of corruption within the force, and is offered a plum position within Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, D.C. Peter Fisher is also at a turning point in his professional and personal life. He must face some big questions about the meaning of justice and his role in dispensing it before the end of the novel. I found the parts of the story following the odious Carl as he devises his plans and chooses a willing accomplice provided some intriguing light relief from the concerns of the central series characters and their investigation.
The Unquiet Grave was a thoroughly enjoyable read, which I accessed via the Bolinda Audio edition, narrated by the excellent Aoife McMahon. My thanks to the author, Dervla McTiernan, publisher Bolinda Audio and NetGalley (UK) for the opportunity to read and review this engaging title.