Christine Falls: A Novel
This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
"It’s not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It’s the living. One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a corpse—and concealing the cause of death.
It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious—and very well-guarded—secrets of Dublin’s high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.
Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville’s fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story. Quirke is a fascinating and subtly drawn hero, Christine Falls is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black’s debut marks him as a true master of the form."
I picked up this copy at Goodwill. I earread the audio a few months ago & here were my thoughts then:
While I did not dislike this book, I felt that it fell flat somewhere along the way. The description seems a little misleading (crime novel, classic suspense, thriller, conspiracy among the Catholic society....). Yes, those aspects are in there, but not remarkably so. I wouldn't classify this in any one genre -- it overlapped into several, I think, but didn't really "fit" into one or another. I felt the story had a lot of potential & perhaps I was hoping for more resolution that just didn't seem to be there. So for me, it was a bit of a disappointment, but not altogether disappointing, if that makes sense. Still, I think I may be sucked into another in this series, just to see what else might happen with the main character of Quirke.
It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious—and very well-guarded—secrets of Dublin’s high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.
Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville’s fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story. Quirke is a fascinating and subtly drawn hero, Christine Falls is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black’s debut marks him as a true master of the form."
I picked up this copy at Goodwill. I earread the audio a few months ago & here were my thoughts then:
While I did not dislike this book, I felt that it fell flat somewhere along the way. The description seems a little misleading (crime novel, classic suspense, thriller, conspiracy among the Catholic society....). Yes, those aspects are in there, but not remarkably so. I wouldn't classify this in any one genre -- it overlapped into several, I think, but didn't really "fit" into one or another. I felt the story had a lot of potential & perhaps I was hoping for more resolution that just didn't seem to be there. So for me, it was a bit of a disappointment, but not altogether disappointing, if that makes sense. Still, I think I may be sucked into another in this series, just to see what else might happen with the main character of Quirke.
Sending off to PBS member. Enjoy! :')
You have found a BookCrossing book! Please take a brief moment to journal your thoughts upon reading this book. Then, if you'd like, re-release the book (to a friend, a stranger, or back out into the wild). That way you can track its travels & its readers throughout the world!
You have found a BookCrossing book! Please take a brief moment to journal your thoughts upon reading this book. Then, if you'd like, re-release the book (to a friend, a stranger, or back out into the wild). That way you can track its travels & its readers throughout the world!
