<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>2348785</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Christine Falls]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0312426321]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780312426323]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234073143m/2348785.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234073143s/2348785.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the story of a surly, hard-drinking pathologist named Quirke who uncovers a conspiracy that begins with his brother-inlaw and reaches deep into Dublin's Catholic society--and into his own past.]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">199600</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">17</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">1135062</id>
  <media_type nil="true"></media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">2006</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Christine Falls: A Novel</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:1155|5:89|4:408|3:451|2:170|1:37|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">1155</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">3807</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">1669</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">323</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.30]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[120]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[31]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2348785.Christine_Falls]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2348785.Christine_Falls]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>116405</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Benjamin Black]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1259046400p5/116405.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1259046400p2/116405.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/116405.Benjamin_Black]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.25</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>1718</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>507</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
    <author>
    <id>91</id>
        <name><![CDATA[John Banville]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1241298609p5/91.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1241298609p2/91.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91.John_Banville]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.52</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>3984</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>740</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="1668">
      <review>
  <id>15114786</id>
    <user>
    <id>514234</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Stephanie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Portland, OR]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/514234-stephanie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1191879872p3/514234.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1191879872p2/514234.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1008</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[no-one!]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Feb 10 21:42:18 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 15 21:26:29 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Its unbelievable that this book has been nominated for an Edgar award! <br/><em>Christine Falls</em>, written by John Banville using the name Benjamin Black, is a mystery set in Ireland and also in eastern U.S.<br/>Pathologist Quirke stumbles upon his brother-in-law falsifying the file of one Christine Fal...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15114786">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15114786]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15114786]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>16507291</id>
    <user>
    <id>91466</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Marian]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chapel Hill, NC]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/91466-marian]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1200147402p3/91466.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1200147402p2/91466.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>5</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Feb 27 08:20:49 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Apr 06 17:31:37 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I sort of enjoyed this book as I was reading it, but when I got to the end I felt let down. Not well written, and sort of boring, this book could have and should have been better. The descriptions of the protagonist as a bear-like man were totally overdone -- I think the words &quot;lumbering&quot;,...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16507291">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16507291]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16507291]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>23886509</id>
    <user>
    <id>66038</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Izetta Autumn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/66038-izetta-autumn]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1177197293p3/66038.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1177197293p2/66038.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="mystery-thriller" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jun 06 15:27:43 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 10 07:56:22 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is a hard book for me to rate. Christine Falls, written by Benjamin Black (Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea, John Banville in psuedonym), is marketed as a mystery-thriller - a more erudite Da Vinci code. In truth, it's much closer to the noir genre - ultimately acting as a character novel...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23886509">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23886509]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23886509]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>23368861</id>
    <user>
    <id>1196360</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jennifer]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Briggsville, WI]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1196360-jennifer]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat May 31 07:11:05 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat May 31 07:33:20 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Filled with atmosphere, but not much else, opening Christine Falls evokes the kind of dark noir atmosphere of the early fifties, step into the book and you step back into smoky drawing rooms and corner bars, squat henchmen, sleek cars, and swirling gowns wrapping around the legs of elegant woman.  B...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23368861">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23368861]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23368861]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>23231861</id>
    <user>
    <id>1191018</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Dalebrayden]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1191018-dalebrayden]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">2348785</id>
  <isbn>0312426321</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312426323</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">31</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234073143m/2348785.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234073143s/2348785.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2348785.Christine_Falls</link>
  <average_rating>3.27</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>120</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the story of a surly, hard-drinking pathologist named Quirke who uncovers a conspiracy that begins with his brother-inlaw and reaches deep into Dublin's Catholic society--and into his own past.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="fiction" />
        <shelf name="ireland" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Apr 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu May 29 11:11:30 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat May 31 08:59:12 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A joke from the 1970s : A stranger walks into a Belfast pub and orders a beer. The man next to him at the bar eyes him suspiciously for a few minutes, then leans over and says &quot;what religion are you, then?&quot;. &quot;I'm atheist.&quot;. &quot;We're all atheist, but are you Catholic atheist or...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23231861">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23231861]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23231861]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>20543344</id>
    <user>
    <id>1097970</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Aaron]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Portland, OR]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1097970-aaron]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1208647884p3/1097970.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1208647884p2/1097970.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[People who really love Law and Order]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[metacritic.com/books]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Apr 19 16:34:31 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Apr 28 22:50:35 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So if The Night Gardener manages to be sort of like The Wire, only not as good, Christine Falls manages to be sort of like Murder She Wrote.  Only not as good.  And maybe a little darker.<br/><br/>Cars ooze up the road.  Tulips are the flesh of dead men.  The rise of moon is full of grim portent. ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20543344">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20543344]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20543344]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>48991631</id>
    <user>
    <id>113980</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Trin]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Los Angeles, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/113980-trin]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1181029461p3/113980.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1181029461p2/113980.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="historicalfiction" />
        <shelf name="irish-lit" />
        <shelf name="mystery" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Mar 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Mar 11 20:04:54 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Apr 03 17:38:51 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Ridiculously boring—not to mention just plain ridiculous—mystery by a literary author (<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/91.John_Banville" title="John Banville">John Banville</a>) slumming it in genre fiction under a pseudonym. (I have never understood this—why not just genre hop under your real name? All the cool kids are doing it!) The plot is convoluted, involving un...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48991631">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48991631]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48991631]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>14877610</id>
    <user>
    <id>221065</id>
    <name><![CDATA[daysgoby]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nova Scotia, Canada]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/221065-daysgoby]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1242323153p3/221065.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1242323153p2/221065.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Feb 07 20:31:20 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Feb 13 18:59:23 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Do you remember that song 'This is the song that never ends...'<br/><br/>This was the book that never ends.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14877610]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14877610]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>20595837</id>
    <user>
    <id>980318</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sarah]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Los Angeles, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/980318-sarah]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205295913p3/980318.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1205295913p2/980318.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>true</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 20 14:56:07 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Apr 20 15:01:54 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Though beautifully written, by the end I found myself annoyed and dissatisfied. The pace is slow until the last quarter, and then it's filled to the brim with unnecessary misery and twists that don't quite make sense. Also I felt a bit cheated by the POV, which head hops and uses that devise to surp...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20595837">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20595837]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20595837]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>7061240</id>
    <user>
    <id>220391</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Johnsergeant]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Flemington, NJ]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/220391-johnsergeant]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197774875p3/220391.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1197774875p2/220391.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">530271</id>
  <isbn>1427200726</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781427200723</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">3</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175564828m/530271.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175564828s/530271.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/530271.Christine_Falls</link>
  <average_rating>3.42</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>12</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Its not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. Its 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 corpseand 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 insidiousand very well-guardedsecrets of Dublins high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="audiblecom" />
        <shelf name="audiobook" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Sep 30 20:48:25 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Sep 30 20:48:32 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Downloaded from Audible.com<br/><br/>Narrator: Timothy Dalton<br/>Publisher: Audio Renaissance, 2007<br/>Length: 9 hours and 31 min.<br/><br/><strong>Publisher's Summary</strong><br/><br/>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 ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061240">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061240]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7061240]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>7382113</id>
    <user>
    <id>170420</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Lazygal]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Carmel, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170420-lazygal]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1228387079p3/170420.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1228387079p2/170420.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="old-reads" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Oct 07 10:04:51 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Oct 09 00:26:07 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Not as much a who-done-it as a peel-back-the-layers mystery, set in Ireland and Boston.  There's a mention (veiled) to the Magdalene Laundries, and morality in the 1950s in both countries.  I liked that the &quot;detective&quot; was an insider and an outsider at the same time, and that his personal ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7382113">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7382113]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7382113]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>33980991</id>
    <user>
    <id>1196930</id>
    <name><![CDATA[thecrx]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1196930-thecrx]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1212093856p3/1196930.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1212093856p2/1196930.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Sep 27 13:07:18 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Sep 27 13:16:38 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[What I learned from this book? Don't insert &quot;poetic&quot;, unlikely thoughts into the minds of my characters. Just as an example, do not write a rape scene in which the rapist, mid-thrust, looks up at the view of the ocean (he and his victim are in the back seat of a car parked by the beach), w...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33980991">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33980991]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33980991]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>50617402</id>
    <user>
    <id>795253</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Evalyn]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/795253-evalyn]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1241372052p3/795253.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1241372052p2/795253.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Mar 27 10:19:41 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Apr 07 08:31:17 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I enjoyed this book! The writing is well-done, the story is taut and gripping enough to keep the reader wanting to read more. The main character is sort of an anti-hero but still has an appeal. There were short scenes that were a little risque but it wasn't overdone. I would read another by this aut...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50617402">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50617402]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50617402]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>46229642</id>
    <user>
    <id>1497771</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tim]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1497771-tim]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 13 08:00:14 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 13 08:08:50 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[If you like mysteries with hard drinking Irish pathologists in 1950’s Dublin &amp; crazy Catholics this is the book for you  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46229642]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46229642]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>35549156</id>
    <user>
    <id>1213607</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Julie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1213607-julie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216219384p3/1213607.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216219384p2/1213607.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="irish-theme" />
        <shelf name="mystery-crime-thriller" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 17 08:59:31 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Oct 17 09:00:32 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I ate up this novel in a day. It's crime noir, set in 1950's Dublin and Boston and deals with a baby smuggling ring endorsed by the church and supported by Irish aristocracy and Boston Brahmins. The protagonist is a coroner, an alcoholic anti-hero bruised and battered by his past and lonely present....<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35549156">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35549156]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35549156]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>65981443</id>
    <user>
    <id>2590468</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jessica]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Provo, UT]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2590468-jessica]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1256590306p3/2590468.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1256590306p2/2590468.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 03 07:10:46 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 03 07:11:20 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[No good guys in this story of a Catholic-sponsored baby-smuggling ring between Ireland and the US, no grasp of characters' motivations (at the beginning, the hero's been mourning his dead wife for years, but by the end we find out he feels not only ambivalent but hostile to her; he gave up his baby ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65981443">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65981443]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65981443]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>52953432</id>
    <user>
    <id>1951663</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Laura]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Front Royal, VA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1951663-laura]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1249170996p3/1951663.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1249170996p2/1951663.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="historical-fiction" />
        <shelf name="mystery" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Apr 16 16:58:32 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Apr 18 16:43:07 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is a very strange book to review. On the one hand, I stayed up late and got up early to keep reading it, on the other hand, when it was over I felt like I had just read the mental equivalent of one of those buttery flavored rice cakes: it tastes pretty good and you forget it's basically made ou...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52953432">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52953432]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52953432]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>67073439</id>
    <user>
    <id>1031706</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Hannah ]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ridgewood, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1031706-hannah-messler]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1206723963p3/1031706.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1206723963p2/1031706.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Aug 12 08:15:04 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Aug 18 07:47:35 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[During: It looks like I am reading slowly, which makes me feel self-conscious! so I must remark: I secretly was reading the new John Irving but was afraid to post it on here in case John Irving was monitoring for sneaks (some big fancy-pants authors DO that, I was not being paranoid) but then it was...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67073439">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67073439]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67073439]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>42353573</id>
    <user>
    <id>891838</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Eric]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Missoula, MT]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/891838-eric]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1213033707p3/891838.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1213033707p2/891838.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jan 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jan 08 09:11:34 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 11 15:12:27 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I don't often visit the genre of crime/detective fiction, but then again a writer of John Banville's stature doesn't often write such novels. <em>Christine Falls</em> is both an irresistible page-turner and a novel boasting elegant writing and high literary merit. In one sense it's hard to imagine this is th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42353573">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42353573]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42353573]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>45461458</id>
    <user>
    <id>1008236</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Bookmarks Magazine]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1008236-bookmarks-magazine]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1233856382p3/1008236.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1233856382p2/1008236.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">199600</id>
  <isbn>0805081526</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780805081527</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">284</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Christine Falls: A Novel]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513m/199600.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172623513s/199600.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199600.Christine_Falls_A_Novel</link>
  <average_rating>3.30</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[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, <em>Christine Falls</em> is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>2006</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Feb 05 09:42:25 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 05 09:42:25 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[<p><em>Christine Falls</em> may be Benjamin Black's debut crime novel, but it's not his first book: Black is the nom de plume<em></em>of John Banville, the Booker Prize?winning author of <em>The Sea</em> (****1/2 Jan/Feb 2006). As expected, Banville's lyrical writing stands out (and is more accessible than in <em>The Sea</em>), but the e...</p><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45461458">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45461458]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45461458]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="mystery" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="mysteries" />
          <shelf name="ireland" />
          <shelf name="crime" />
          <shelf name="mystery-thriller" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2348785</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>