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The Ruin Paperback – 29 January 2019
Dervla McTiernan (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Enhance your purchase
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins AU
- Publication date29 January 2019
- Dimensions13 x 2.6 x 19.7 cm
- ISBN-101460755405
- ISBN-13978-1460755402
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Product description
About the Author
Dervla McTiernan's debut novel, The Ruin, was a critically acclaimed international bestseller published around the world. The Ruin won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Fiction and the Barry Award for Best Original Paperback, and was shortlisted for numerous other awards. It was on the Amazon US Best Book of the Year list in 2018 and screen rights were snapped up by Hopscotch Features.
Dervla's second book, The Scholar, debuted into the Nielsen Bookscan Top 5 on release in 2019, and her third, The Good Turn, went straight to no.1, confirming her place as one of Australia's best crime writers.
Born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family of seven, Dervla practised as a corporate lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis, she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now lives with her husband and two children. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla now writes full time.
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Product details
- Publisher : HarperCollins AU (29 January 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1460755405
- ISBN-13 : 978-1460755402
- Dimensions : 13 x 2.6 x 19.7 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 1,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 437 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)
- 639 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- 1,347 in Crime Thrillers (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction. Her books have garnered critical acclaim around the world and sold over 400,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand alone.
In 2022, McTiernan returns with her first ever standalone thriller, The Murder Rule. Inspired by the true story of a young law student who worked at the Innocence Project and eventually uncovered evidence which exonerated a man who had been in prison for 26 years, McTiernan has created an unforgettable, twisty thriller – the must-read novel of the year.
Sign up for Dervla's Newsletter at https://dervlamctiernan.com/newsletter/
About Dervla:
Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel, The Rúin, is a critically acclaimed international bestseller published around the world. The Rúin won the Ned Kelly, Davitt and Barry Awards and was shortlisted for numerous others. It was on the Amazon US Best Book of the Year list 2018 and screen rights were snapped up by Colin Farrell’s production company and Hopscotch Features. Dervla’s second book, The Scholar, won the International Thriller Award and debuted straight into the Nielsen Bookscan Top 5 on release in 2019, and her third, The Good Turn, went straight to no.1, confirming her place as one of Australia's best crime writers.
https://dervlamctiernan.com/
Instagram: @dervlamctiernan
Facebook and Twitter: @DervlaMcTiernan
Customer reviews

Reviewed in Australia on 25 March 2018
Top reviews from Australia
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In "Ruin", Dervla McTiernan has managed to craft an intriguing and pacy storyline, while at the same time creating credible characters I now feel I would recognise if I passed them on the street. I could see the DS Reilly's squadroom, and taste the tension in that Galway police station.
I am looking forward to the next installment. Perhaps Cormac Reilly could find himself in Australia - it worked out pretty well for Harry Hole.
All in all The Ruin is an intricate tale of deceit and lies. It's gripping and exciting, and I found I didn't want to put it down until everything was resolved, which kept me up well into the night. Recommended for all lovers of crime and mysteries.
McTiernan's portrayal of the characters is masterful and the way they develop across the book leaves you wondering where this is all going to go. Who do you believe and who can you trust? Her portrayal of places paints a picture for the reader, and while it be a slightly dark and depressing painting, it carries a certain romance and works on so many levels.
I can comfortably give this book 5 stars as I really couldn't put it down and found myself second guessing my second guesses about the plot direction. If, and I suspect she will, McTiernan can back this novel up then there will be one serious new player in the crime fiction field.
Meanwhile, he reconnects with a case when he first started as a policeman. The story is told from three different points of view, which is where the author demonstrated real skill. It could have been so confusing, but each character had different motivations that, as a reader, I grasped. I would love to say more about this book, but the plotting was so interesting I won’t spoil it for readers who might discover this author.
In this book, Reilly is feeling like an outsider after his transfer to Galway from the high-flying Dublin-based terrorism squad. Neither the hierarchy nor his detective colleagues seem pleased to have him around, and he's biding his time on frustrating cold case reviews.
When the body of 20-something Engineer Jack Blake is pulled from the River Corrib on St. Patrick's Day weekend, a presumed suicide, it proves a blast from the past for Reilly. In his first month as a gardai, over 20 years ago, he was the attending officer following the sudden death of Blake's mother, and had briefly taken charge of the 5-year-old Jack and his older sister, Maude.
What follows is a twisty and sometimes dark character-driven drama, as Reilly attempts to tease out any connection between the two deaths, in spite of the obstacles continually being placed in his way.
I really felt engaged with the large cast of characters, and was shocked with the surprising conclusion. Now waiting impatiently for my name to come to the top of the holds list for Cormac Reilly #3, The Good Turn!
Top reviews from other countries

As a rookie cop in 1993, Garda Cormac Reilly attended a remote house on a call of domestic violence to find a dead mother, from an apparent drug overdose, and two children, 15-year-old Maude Blake and her 5-year-old brother Jack, both malnourished and both with bruising. Jack is so bad that Cormac takes him to the hospital in Galway along with his sister. Maude absconds and even a distressed Cormac manages to let the thoughts of her, and Jack left alone and placed into foster care, drift from his mind.
In 2013, Garda Cormac Reilly returns with his partner Emma, to Galway after a stellar Detective Sergeant career in Dublin, to a situation where his boss has placed him on cold cases. Within the police station, Dervla McTiernan creates an enthralling atmosphere of internal politics, mistrust and suspicion of police corruption everywhere. Cormac feels it difficult to navigate and even his old friends are keeping secrets. A suicide is called in on St Patrick's Day and the person is identified as Jack. Maude returns from Australia for the first time in 20 years and with Jack’s pregnant partner Aisling, they question the evidence that relates to the supposed suicide and the glaring holes in the evidence. The police seem totally disinterested in pursuing any alternatives to suicide. Shortly after Cormac is handed a cold case, to investigate the death of Jack and Maude’s mother from 1993. Cormac knows he's a pawn in some greater game but is determined to conduct himself appropriately and not jump to decisions hastily. Dervla has written such an enthralling plot that is just mesmerising in its twisting possibilities.
I could connect with all the characters and empathise with particular ones and the dilemmas some face is deeply moving. The dialogue between them is flawless and Dervla has managed to use it sensibly where it's needed and has kept slang out for the benefit of a wider audience. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
I first received this book from Little Brown Book Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.


Thank you, Dervla McTiernan, for creating such realistic, human characters that I really want to watch them interact and grow.

I became totally immersed in the plot and the actors. I found myself urging on some players and wanting to add my bit to others. Wikipedia helped with how I should be pronouncing some of the names! The stories in the overall plot thew further light on my now dead Mother in law's stories of her childhood much of which was spent in an Irish Catholic convent school and a small Southern Ireland town. I an't remember the last book that I have read in which I have felt so involved.
My only beef is how long that I am going to have to wait for the sequel. 🤧 It's ordered
