The Ruin

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 11,029 ratings

Price: 17.9

Last update: 01-29-2025


About this item

“Compelling, unexpected twists and a hold-your breath standoff . . . Hand this one to readers of Tana French and to police-procedural fans.” —Booklist

It’s been twenty years since Cormac Reilly discovered the body of Hilaria Blake in her crumbling Georgian home. But he’s never forgotten the two children she left behind.

When Aisling Conroy’s boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget—until Jack’s sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it.

Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the reinvestigation of a seemingly accidental overdose twenty years ago—the overdose of Jack and Maude’s drug and alcohol addled mother. Detective Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything.

This unsettling small-town noir draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland, where corruption, desperation, and crime run rife. A gritty look at trust and betrayal where the written law isn’t the only one, The Ruin asks who will protect you when the authorities can’t—or won’t.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Karen's Reviews
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written and Brilliantly Plotted
    Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2023
    Dervla McTiernan's careful, engaging prose calls forth a world far more familiar-feeling than this Texan imagined the West of Ireland could be, even in the 21st century. Sergeant Cormac Reilly feels more nuanced and real than most brooding, veteran detectives of modern fiction. The other characters, likewise, though sparingly drawn, are believable individuals with comprehensible motivations and explicable actions. The deft descriptions provide a substantial sense of who each character is, sufficient, yet intriguingly incomplete. This is especially so for Cormac. We want to know him better and that's a fine thing.

    The story unfolds at a natural pace and maintains suspense from the start. Disparate threads are introduced and subtly and satisfyingly rewoven into an unforced, natural solution, for which the reader is provided all of the essential evidence along the way.

    McTiernan's prose is lucid throughout, at times rising to lyrical, as simple, mundane elements of the tale are clearly conveyed in original ways. Detailed images of people and places are called forth using just a few well chosen words.

    The one minor disappointment was the villain of the piece. One might wish that character to have been more fully fleshed earlier in the story. Notwithstanding, this is an excellent novel, a compelling mystery, and a great read.

    Now, on to the next novel.
  • Andrew Desmond
    4.0 out of 5 stars Quite a Debut!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2022
    “The Ruin” is Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel in the Cormac Reilly series. Set in Ireland, mainly Galway, the novel is a police procedural that variously involves murder, child abuse and police corruption. It moves at quite a clip and certainly engrossed this reader until the end.

    As can often be the case with novels of this type, the plot is sometimes complex and involves a variety of quite plausible characters. In the end, the novel’s protagonist, Cormac Reilly, gradually puts all the pieces of the crimes into place. Reilly is a dogged man. He faces numerous adversities but is able to ultimately wear them down. The conclusion is dramatic and the loose ends are all nicely tidied up.

    Although McTiernan is only at the outset of her career, much more can be expected. I look forward to reading the next Cormac Reilly book in the series.

    Recommended.
  • Michal K.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good plot kept me guessing--Recommended!!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2024
    I didn't know what to expect going into this detective / mystery set in Ireland.
    I can't remember if this was an Amazon recommendation or from BookBub because it's been on my Kindle since March 2023...color me shamed.
    I was impressed. It's been a long time since an author kept me turning pages because I couldn't figure out who was responsible and why.
    I won't say more because of spoilers, but this was one long red herring after another and even after it became clear through process of elimination WHO, the why stumped me.
    Plotting and pacing, characterization all spot on.
    Book one in a three book series.
    Recommended.
  • Erica L Toole
    4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling crime mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2018
    Garda Cormac Reilly is sent on call to what he believed to be a minor domestic disturbance. What he finds instead is a dilapidated home with two young children Maude and Jack Blake and their dead mother. Jack has suffered injuries and their mother appears to have committed suicide by way of a heroin overdose. Cormac takes the children to the hospital but Maude disappears without a trace. 20 years later when Jack Blake is found dead, an apparent suicide, Maude resurfaces claiming he was murdered. Detective Reilly must piece together the evidence that links the two cases...his instincts tell him there is something much larger at stake.

    The Ruin is a compelling mystery set in Ireland which intertwines two separate crimes committed across a 20 year span. Detective Reilly's instincts tell him there is more to these two cases than the apparent suicide. Cormac's character has some history which followed him from Dublin to the small town of Galway. Galway has a history as well and there are rumors of corruption within the force making Cormac's job more difficult. This novel was and engaging read which I enjoyed over a leisurely few days. I was very excited to see that this is the first book in the Cormac Reilly series and am looking forward to reading the future novels in this series.
  • Katherine Y
    3.0 out of 5 stars Police procedural from a debut author
    Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018
    The opening chapter of this book starts out strong with a rookie Irish policeman, Cormac, being called to a derelict country house to investigate a domestic call. Inside, Cormac finds a young girl and her younger brother living in squalor and to his horror, their dead mother with a needle sticking out of her arm. Years later, Cormac has the chance to revisit his initial investigation, only this time evaluating it as a murder rather than a drug overdose. He again finds himself in a new situation having moved to a different squad and having to figure out the office politics.

    The story has an intricate plot and many characters, so many, in fact, that I had to flip back pages to keep them straight. This confusion on my part took me out of the story somewhat. I also found the second half of the novel dragged a little, but it did deliver an exciting climax. Overall, this is a good police/procedural/mystery that is best read in a few sittings rather than in interrupted readings.
  • Deb NH
    5.0 out of 5 stars Complex characters, interwoven plot lines! Grabs you from the start.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2024
    What a great find! Thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to fans of Irish murder mysteries. Characters were multidimensional and engaging. The storyline was layered and had enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. The author has left enough breadcrumbs to guarantee that I’ll be reading the next installment!

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