Book Review: THE GOOD TURN by Dervla McTiernan

Title: THE GOOD TURN

Author: Dervla McTiernan
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Read: January 2020

Expected publication: 24 February 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected things that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.

For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn't far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

My musings:

Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series is one of my favourite police procedurals and I was very excited to get the opportunity to read her latest novel. I am happy to say that it lived up to all my expectations!

The book starts with a kidnapping, and a shooting – from here follows a taut and nerve wrecking police procedural that had me on the edge of my seat until the end. As with previous books, I was reminded how much I like the main character, DI Cormac Reilly, who embodies the type of person you would want on your side. He is motivated, fair and with a strong sense of justice that will see him fighting for the right cause even when all the odds are stacked against him. I was happy to see that his young colleague, Peter Fisher, also had a starring role in this book, and he lived up to his mentor’s high standards. I loved all the inter-personal dynamics that came to play here, especially between Peter and his father, who is also in the police force but has chosen a very different path from his son.

As usual, the plot was clever, multi-faceted and compelling, which makes for the best kind of crime story. I’m not going to say any more – as with every mystery, the less you know in advance the better! If you have loved the previous books in the series, or are looking for a new series to fall in love with, then I urge you to pick up this book and let yourself be swept up in its story. I look forward to seeing Cormac Reilly back again in the next instalment and hope that McTiernan continues to star different characters from this Irish crime fighting squad.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.