Even the Dead

November 9, 2015
Irish author Black’s atmospheric eighth novel featuring 1950s Dublin pathologist Quirke (after 2013’s Holy Orders) finds a morose Quirke on sick leave and in something of a midlife crisis, convalescing as a houseguest of his adoptive brother, Mal, and Mal’s depressed American wife. Quirke’s ticket out of the unhealthy situation comes in the form of a suspicious death: that of a young man whose charred body has been found in the wreckage of his car, but with a dent above his left temple suggesting foul play. Meanwhile, a terrified young woman begs Phoebe, Quirke’s daughter and a classmate from a secretarial course, for help—and then vanishes. With the aid of his policeman friend, Inspector Hackett, Quirke begins delving into both mysteries, which prove to be related. Black (aka Man Booker Prize–winner John Banville) certainly knows how to spin an engaging, often suspenseful noir, but the plot’s overreliance on coincidence and an implausible denouement make this entry of most interest to those already hooked on the series. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency (U.K.).

February 29, 2016
Reader Keating’s soft Irish voice can turn gruff and harsh on a dime in this seventh entry in Black’s series about Quirke, a consultant pathologist in 1950s Dublin. The novel begins with the doctor on sick leave at the home of his stepbrother, Mal. A suspicious accident—a young man burned to death in a car crash—is Quirke’s ticket back to the real world, and he and his fast-talking pal Inspector Hackett investigate the death. Meanwhile, Phoebe, Quirke’s daughter, is approached by a former classmate, Lisa Smith, who asks her help in escaping a stalker. Eventually the paths of father and daughter connect, but the novel’s focus is less on the crime and its solution than on Quirke’s progress in dealing with the malaise and guilt that have haunted him since his debut in 2006’s Christine Falls. This time, Black fills most of the novel with the darker elements of Dublin life at mid-century, with Keating’s brogue adding its own air of melancholy. A Holt hardcover.

Starred review from October 15, 2015
Solving a case has a profound effect on its investigator in this Dublin-set thriller. Black (the pen name of Man Booker Prize-winning John Banville) centers his seventh Quirke episode around two well-worn--and less than breathtaking--plot elements. First comes a suspicious suicide. Initially, it appears that Leon Corless died after he slammed his car into a tree. But Dublin pathologist Quirke's autopsy reveals a traumatic blow to the victim's skull, a fatal wound that did not result from the collision. A few days later, Lisa Smith, a fearful, agitated young woman, approaches Phoebe Griffin, Quirke's daughter. Smith, who knows Phoebe from a class they took, insists she's in great danger and begs Phoebe to shelter her. Lisa then relates the story of a boyfriend, Leon Corless, the very same man killed in the auto accident Quirke is about to investigate, and adds that she's pregnant with Leon's child. Phoebe spirits Lisa to the coastal town of Ballytubber. Shortly thereafter, Lisa goes missing, a predictable and familiar plot turn. The two-pronged case brings Quirke back into action after a two-month convalescence for a brain lesion. He suffers as well from a personal crisis, struggling to control a drinking problem and feeling "no great thirst in himself for justice and the righting of wrongs." He pictures himself as "a child standing alone in the midst of a vast, bare plain, with nothing behind him but darkness and storm." Black skillfully interweaves the case that ensues with Quirke's maladies. Working with his "old companion-in-arms," Inspector Hackett, Quirke finds himself in "a sticky place with the powers that be": it appears that Corless had been probing "sensitive" mother and child issues that tie to the Catholic Church and to organized crime. The case plays out as Black's splendidly described Dublin endures a heat wave, and the investigation's tense, yet largely nonviolent, resolutions carry great resonance for Quirke. From less than promising material, Black fashions a meticulously written installment notable for its palpable sense of place, a slate of fully drawn characters, and a meaningful denouement.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2015
Dublin pathologist Quirke is easily lured from stultifying medical leave when his assistant asks him to consult on a suspicious automobile fatality. The same day, a terrified former classmate approaches Quirke's daughter, Phoebe, claiming she's being hunted by men who murdered her boyfriend, the son of Dublin's most notorious communist. Lisa Smith's claims bear grave weight when she disappears hours after Phoebe hides her in a remote cabin. Quirke, a serial knight in shining armor, renews his battle against abuses by both Dublin's upper class and the Catholic Church in a bid to free Lisa and solve her boyfriend's murder. In Black's hands, Dublin is a mysterious beauty menaced by its powerful elite. Quirke's latest entanglement forces him to revisit some unresolved issues that go back to the series' beginnings: the Magdalene Laundriesatrocity (Christine Falls, 2007; Elegy for April, 2010) and threats from his powerful nemesis, Costigan. Fans will welcome this tying up of loose ends, as Black (a pseudonym for Booker-winning John Banville) crafts a way for Quirke to close the book on some his most troubling personal demonsand even offers the seething pathologist a measure of incongruous happiness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2015

In Black's (pen name of the award-winning novelist John Banville) seventh installment of the series (after Holy Orders), a suspicious car accident and a missing woman pull Dublin pathologist Quirke back into the thick of things. Drying out at his brother's home and fielding awkward encounters with his sister-in-law, Quirke seizes a chance to regain purpose when his daughter Phoebe asks for investigative aid. A young woman, pregnant with the child of the driver killed in the accident, has vanished. Phoebe senses that she is more than just a runaway as all traces of her have disappeared. The introspective Quirke, struggling constantly with the need to drink, unites again with Inspector Hackett to connect the dots. It leads both men into a web of government corruption and religious amorality, with a familiar spider at the center. While Quirke's central narration cast an overarching gloom over previous novels, his surprising encounters here allow for brief rays of sun to shine through. VERDICT The harshness of life in 1950s Dublin remains a stalwart facet of Black's work in the series, and fans will find this next step in Quirke's emotional journey apt. [See Prepub Alert, 7/20/15.]--Liza Oldham, Beverly, MA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015

In this seventh in a series from Black, the alter ego of Man Booker Prize winner John Banville, Dublin-based pathologist Quirke investigates when a car slams into a tree one especially hot summer night. Suicide? An accident? He thinks it's neither. Meanwhile, a pregnant acquaintance of his daughter disappears after telling him that she fears for her life, and Quirke finds himself up against a powerful nemesis.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.