Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin.
A superb stylist . . . His control and pacing cannot be faulted,
and the final outcome is almost unbearably moving . . . You’re in
for a treat
*Guardian*
Succeeds sensationally . . . An absorbing plot, beguiling
characters and evocative settings . . . His pacing is
impeccable
*The Times*
A gripping, beautifully crafted thriller . . . A one sitting-read,
an all-night enticement
*Scotsman*
In this expertly paced debut thriller from Irish author Black (the pseudonym of Booker Prize-winner John Banville), pathologist Garret Quirke uncovers a web of corruption in 1950s Dublin surrounding the death in childbirth of a young maid, Christine Falls. Quirke is pulled into the case when he confronts his stepbrother, physician Malachy Griffin, who's altering Christine's file at the city morgue. Soon it appears the entire establishment is in denial over Christine's mysterious demise and in a conspiracy that recalls the classic film Chinatown. And the deeper Quirke delves into the mystery, the more it seems to implicate his own family and the Catholic church. At the start, the novel has the spare melancholy of early James Joyce, describing a Dublin of private clubs, Merrion Square townhouses and the occasional horse-drawn cart; as the plot heats up and the action shifts to Boston, Mass., it becomes more of a standard detective story. Though Black makes an occasional American cultural blooper, he keeps divulging surprises to the last page so that the reader is simultaneously shocked and satisfied. Author tour. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
A superb stylist . . . His control and pacing cannot be faulted,
and the final outcome is almost unbearably moving . . . You're in
for a treat -- Michael Dibdin * Guardian *
Succeeds sensationally . . . An absorbing plot, beguiling
characters and evocative settings . . . His pacing is impeccable --
Marcel Berlins * The Times *
A gripping, beautifully crafted thriller . . . A one sitting-read,
an all-night enticement * Scotsman *
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