Bridge of Sighs

The Ruin (2018) is the first novel in the Cormac Reilly series by Irish writer Dervla McTiernan. In the epigraph, McTiernan writes that a 'ruin' can be read in English, but in Irish 'ruin means something hidden, a mystery, or a secret, but the word also has a long history as a term of endearment'. With that, the reader sets off to uncover which meaning will apply to the book's title. 

Novice police officer Cormac Reilly is called to a crime scene where a woman has died, leaving behind two neglected children - Maude (age 15) and Jack (age 5). The children are taken in by authorities who will send them into foster care. It is a distressing case that stays in Reilly's mind. Twenty years later, Jack is found dead in the River Corrib, from a possible suicide. Jack's grief-stricken girlfriend Aisling and his sister Maude suspects foul play. Reilly, now a detective, is assigned to reinvestigate the cold case, wondering if there is a link between Jack's death and his mother's, two decades apart.

Reilly is an interesting character. Unlike so many police procedurals, where the detectives are damaged figures with terrible backstories that impact their work, Reilly is a normal hard-working bloke just wanting to do the right thing. After working in elite Garda units in Dublin, Reilly has taken a demotion to move to Galway with his girlfriend. He is disappointed by this new post, and challenged by the police work by some of his fellow officers. In many respects he reminded me of Hirsch, from Garry Disher's excellent Bitter Wash Road series. 

I really enjoyed The Ruin. McTiernan created an atmospheric novel which moves along at a just the right pace. There were a few aspects that I think could have been better managed, particularly related to Maude, and there were perhaps too many minor characters that could have been consolidated. But overall, I thought it was a terrific book and I look forward to exploring the next in the Reilly series with The Scholar (2019), The Good Turn (2020) and the prequel audio novellas The Sister and The Roommate.