Christine Falls
A
Quirke Mystery
Benjamin Black
Henry Holt (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8052-6 (0805081526)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8052-7 (9780805081527)
Publication Date: March 2007
List Price: $25.00
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the
living. One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke
shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his
brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even
reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next
morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his
brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a
corpse--and concealing the cause of death.
It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls.
And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her
death, he comes up against some insidious--and very
well-guarded--secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them
members of his own family.
Review:
Booker Prize winner John Banville, writing under the pseudonym Benjamin
Black, delivers in his first mystery, Christine Falls, a
stylish, atmospheric thriller that is both beautifully written and
solidly plotted.
The central character is a Dublin pathologist, known only as Quirke,
who is good at his job but but seems to barely tolerate it. He lives
alone and drinks far too much. One night he finds his life-long friend,
now a physician working at the same hospital as Quirke but who is
rarely in the morgue, altering the autopsy report of a dead woman,
Christine Falls. Curious as to why he would do this, Quirke embarks on
a journey to discover the circumstances of Christine's death, and finds
an organization that is "planting souls", sending orphaned Irish babies
to America to be raised.
The book has a mysterious, decidedly noir feel to it, evoking images of
darkness and black-washed colors in the reader's mind. There's a
persistent sense of intrigue in the story: who was Christine Falls, why
are people trying to get Quirke to back off looking into her death, and
how are Quirke's friends and family involved? Just as Quirke seems
close to answering these questions, they drift further away, again out
of reach.
Christine Falls
loses some of its momentum whenever Quirke is not in the picture. The
related side story that takes place in Boston concurrent with Quirke's
investigation in Dublin is important to the plot, but seems to be
written in a more simplistic, less artistic manner. It's possible Black
intentionally took this approach in writing, drawing a distinction
between the two environments, but it seems a bit incohesive nonetheless.
All the clues to the mystery of Christine
Falls are presented in due course, and the drawn out
resolution is not unexpected. Still, this elegantly crafted book with
its haunting story is deeply satisfying.
Special thanks to FSB Associates for providing a copy of Christine Falls for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Christine Falls
Henry Holt (Hardcover), March 2007
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8052-6 (0805081526)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8052-7 (9780805081527)
The Silver Swan
Henry Holt (Hardcover), March 2008
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8153-4 (0805081534)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8153-4 (9780805081534)
Omnimystery keywords for Christine Falls ...
Location(s) referenced: Boston, Dublin.