The Ruin - Dervla McTiernan

This may sound like it should be obvious, but I'm realizing that I have the same taste in TV shows and books.  I've been loving slow burn European detective crime shows on Netflix recently and turns out that genre really translates well to paper.  I know this sub-genre of thrillers isn't for everyone, but I have a soft spot for slow burn procedural novels.  I've also found, in my experience, that American procedural novels are usually higher stakes and more dramatic overall than the European novels.  I'm assuming that is just a difference in reader tastes in the different continents and I'm sure that isn't a hard and fast rule for every novel, but it is a trend that I've come across. 

The Ruin is set in Galway, Ireland and is the first book in the Cormac Reilly series.  The novel starts 20 years in the past where Reilly gets called out to a house in the middle of nowhere.  There, he finds two children (brother and sister) with their mother dead upstairs.  Twenty years later, the brother is found dead and DI Reilly is given the chance to re-investigate the mother's death 20 years prior.  The novel jumps point of view between DI Reilly and the girlfriend of the dead brother, Aisling. They are each investigating separately and occasionally run into each other.  

Can I just say again how much I love a good slow burn police procedural.  And slow burn doesn't equal boring.  Following the logical steps from one interview to another, chasing down leads, and crossing suspects off the list when their alibi checks out aren't boring things to read about (at least to me). 

My favorite part of this novel is the way in which the two investigations are shown.  We are following different points of view - Aisling trying to figure out what happened to her boyfriend, and DI Reilly trying to find the truth of what happened 20 years ago.  There are two mysteries and, after that much time has passed, they may or may not be connected.  Aisling is a surgeon, so her POV is less procedural and her thought patterns are much more fluid and aren't as rigid.  DI Reilly, however, is a good investigator and very methodical in his search for the truth.  I think the different POV can help break up the monotony that procedural thrillers can sometimes have.  

Another part of the novel that was done well is the interpersonal conflicts and office politics of the police station.  DI Reilly is new in town and somewhat looked down upon so despite his many years of service, he isn't exactly viewed in a good light at his new position.  He is assigned cold cases and generally seems to be the office black sheep.  There is one younger detective that will socialize with Reilly and gives him the inside scoop on the office gossip.  I find that in a lot of novels and TV shows, the narrative focuses on just the lone wolf detective or maybe a small team of investigators that work really well together.  Of course, in reality, every job has interoffice spats and cliques and this is just one more way McTiernan deepens the setting and characters.

The one part of the novel I wasn't a huge fan of was Aisling.  I just didn't connect to her as a character and seemed like she was just a blank pawn for other people to use in their investigation.  She does gain agency toward the end of the novel, which I appreciated.  Looking back, it is obvious that she is a shell of a person because she is grieving the loss of her boyfriend, and those scenes when it is her POV and she is alone in their apartment and she is completely at a loss of what to do know where very visceral.  However, then in her interactions with other characters and even with her own investigation, it doesn't seem like she has much substance to her.  I get what McTiernan was going for but it just didn't land for me.  

Finally, the reveal at the end was a bit of a miss for me.  It logically made sense and the investigation leading up to the reveal was sound but it just wasn't the ending I was hoping for.  It just wasn't as satisfying as I wish it was.  I thought it did a good job of tying some plot points together and it was definitely earned but I wish a few more plot points would have come together for the ending.  

Overall, I found this to be an excellent police procedural set in atmospheric Galway, Ireland.  Dual POV following the investigation of two deaths 20 years apart.  Good balance between the investigation and outside story lines so the novel never gets too bogged down in the minutia of the investigations.  The book stuck the landing, but was a little wobbly for my liking and I wish it would have wrapped up a few more plot threads in with the reveal at the end.

Also, the audio-book is narrated by Aoife McMahon, Irish actress and narrator.  Would highly recommend listening if you really want to be immersed in the Irish setting.

380 pages