Review: The Scholar, Dervla McTiernan
Dervla McTiernan's debut The Ruin, introducing Irish detective Cormac Reilly, was a hit. It's already been optioned for film by Australia's Hopscotch Features.
So it's safe to say this follow-up has been highly anticipated.
The Scholar
Reilly is first on the scene when his partner, Dr Emma Sweeney, finds a hit and run victim outside Galway University.
Her instinctive call to him means Reilly lands a case he never otherwise would have been called on to investigate; and it's a big case.
A security card in the dead woman's pocket soon identifies her as Carline Darcy, a gifted student and heir to Irish pharmaceutical giant Darcy Therapeutics.
The profile is high and the pressure even higher as Cormac investigates and evidence mounts that the death is linked to a Darcy laboratory and, increasingly, to Emma herself.
Eventually, he is forced to question his own objectivity.
The plot's intricate and satisfying and it's definitely a page-turner – I made a few half-hearted attempts to put it down, but I kept picking it up again. I was supposed to go to a party that Saturday night. Needless to say I didn't make it to the party.
Charismatic Reilly and his beautiful, brilliant yet troubled girlfriend Emma Sweeney are intriguing. Not irritatingly virtuous, but likeable and nuanced. I'm already looking forward to seeing how they develop in the next book.
All the characters, in fact, particularly the police – such as lazy and resentful Moira Handley (who sounds creepily close to Myra Hindley), harassed and overstretched Carrie O'Halloran, smart and loyal Pete Fisher – feel authentic, all drawing the reader to invest more deeply in the story. I'm already hoping to meet them again in the next book.
McTiernan is a former lawyer from Ireland who has moved to Western Australia and the book's glimpses into the Irish police force feel exotic to a
Perth reader, and totally convincing in their procedural and legal detail.
Ireland's an ideal setting for crime novels, with its atmospheric landscapes and complex social history, and I'm not the only one who loves it; before, I only really knew of Ian Rankin, but it turns out Irish crime is booming, leading to nicknames such as Celtic Crime, Hibernian Homicide and Emerald Noir (the latter coined by beloved Scottish crime author Val McDermid).
I'm so happy to add Dervla McTiernan to my must-read list. Since she now lives in Perth, I get the Irish settings I love with the chance to support a local author. Win-win!
This was a solid read, and I can't wait to see this writer develop into a stalwart of the genre. I have a feeling Detective Cormac Reilly will be around for a while yet.