Christine Falls: A Novel

Benjamin Black

Mar 2007 · Quirke Book 1 · Sold by Henry Holt and Company

About this ebook

In the debut crime novel from the Booker-winning author, a Dublin pathologist follows the corpse of a mysterious woman into the heart of
a conspiracy among the city's high Catholic society

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.

Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville's fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story. Quirke is a fascinating and subtly drawn hero, Christine Falls is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form.

Ratings and reviews

Another Irish mystery thriller - and another literary one, too. This one revolved more around the Catholic Church than the others. It wasn't as exciting , but it was interesting and it did have some fascinating plot twists. All in all, I enjoyed it, but it could have been a bit more thrilling. Also, some of the back-story of the four main characters would have been nice to have a little more detail. There is a sequel, but I'm not in any great rush to read it, though I do want to. I can wait for paperback though, for sure.

Crimes without justice, a novel without an ending; it could have been 25 pages shorter without all the smoking and drinking.

All the style of Banville, without the confusion! I enjoyed it.

About the author

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, most recently the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin.