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The Ruin cover art

The Ruin

By: Dervla McTiernan
Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
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Summary

The International Best Seller.

Cormac Reilly is about to reopen a case it took him twenty years to forget.

On his first week on the job, Garda Cormac Reilly responds to a call at a decrepit country house to find two silent, neglected children waiting for him - 15-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack. Their mother lies dead upstairs. 

Twenty years later, Cormac has left his high-flying career as a detective in Dublin and returned to Galway. As he struggles to navigate the politics of a new police station, Maude and Jack return to haunt him.

What ties a recent suicide to the woman's death so long ago? And who among his new colleagues can Cormac really trust?

This unsettling crime debut draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland and asks who will protect you when the authorities can't - or won't. Perfect for fans of Tana French, Jane Casey, Liz Nugent, Susie Steiner and Caz Frear.

©2018 Dervla McTiernan (P)2018 Little Brown Book Group

Critic reviews

"An excellent story, very well written...this one was a winner for me." (Alex Gray, author of the William Lorimer series)
"Excellently written and at times, heart-catchingly sad." (Marian Keyes)
"Heartbreaking and heart-stopping." (Caz Frear)

What listeners say about The Ruin

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Riveting

Really enjoyed this book. The narration and story compelling. Can’t wait for the next book

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12 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Competent story, slow character building

This is a book from a new author with a great potential. The story itself is good enough, but for my tastes it is too slow to start, and well over the first half of the book is spent getting the story nowhere at all. That could have been totally forgiveable if the time hadde been spent buldring an intriguing set of characters. But unfortunately it is a bit of a miss in this regard.

I get the feeling that the author really loves this main character - but she doesn't manage to convince me that I should love him. I am not really a fan of books where the main character has a major flaw or a gimmick to him/her, but this book is a bit too careful in the character building. This results in a main protagonist who is very vanilla and uninteresting. This makes me sad, because I was really rooting for Cormac to be a great guy. I got the same feeling for Aisling (spelling?). I wanted her to be great too, but she seemed to be mostly sad and tired all the time. Maybe if there had been a more empowering progression arc she would become the great, strong character I feel she deserves to be.

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11 people found this helpful

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Gripping

One of the best thrillers I have heard on Audible. Very exciting but with a minimum of gore and believable characters.

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10 people found this helpful

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Great Stuart on a new series.

Since this was the first in the series, the author took a bit longer to fill in the characters, but once it got cracking it was hard to put down. I'm looking forward to Book 2.

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9 people found this helpful

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Amazing

One of the best books I listen to. Throughly enjoyed it. Will definitely be recommending this.

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9 people found this helpful

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Next Chapter please, can't wait for 2019!

Loved it from start to finish, made me long for Galway, Cormac's got his work cut out for him! Multi case load, like it, loved it.

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8 people found this helpful

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Excellent!

Couldn't put this down, totally gripped from start to finish.
Great storyine, likeable & believable main character, DS Reilly. Great new author and hopefully more of the same to come. Disappointed we have to wait until 2019 for next in the series.
Excellent narration as ever from Aoife MacMahon.

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7 people found this helpful

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Superb 1st novel

Combination of story line and narration makes for a compelling and memorable 'listen.' Can't wait for the 2nd book in the series !

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7 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Unbelievable

Why is it that authors these days are so preoccupied with foul language and vomit . This is audible and the last thing I need is for someone to come into my home and start letting go with the worst of foul language emanating from my speakers , I’m sure this author wouldn’t be at all pleased if I visited their home and started to abuse their private space with the language of the gutter .

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5 people found this helpful

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Ruin

This is truly a work of art , catches the attention right from the opening chapter
Dervla McTiernan an is an amazing author .
I felt I was back in that wind and rain in Galway walks g down Shop Street

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5 people found this helpful