A Savage Hunger

Paula Maguire #4

by Claire McGowan

The fourth in the crime series featuring forensic psychologist Paula Maguire by Claire McGowan acclaimed as 'Ireland's answer to Ruth Rendell' by Ken Bruen.

Victim: Female. Twenty-two years of age.
Reason for investigation: Missing person.
ID: Alice Morgan. Student. Last seen at a remote religious shrine in Ballyterrin.

Alice Morgan's disappearance raises immediate questions for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire. Alice, the daughter of a life peer in the Home Office, has vanished along with a holy relic - the bones of a saint - and the only trace is the bloodstains on the altar.

With no body to confirm death, the pressure in this high-profile case is all-consuming, and Paula knows that she will have to put her own life, including her imminent marriage, on hold, if they are to find the truth.

A connection to a decades-old murder immediately indicates that all may not be as it seems; as the summer heat rises and tempers fray, can Alice be found or will they learn that those that are hungry for vengeance may be the most savage of all?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Irish Literature, Ireland, Family

Audio

First published March 24, 2016

About the author

Claire McGowan grew up in a small village in Northern Ireland. After a degree in English and French from Oxford University she moved to London and worked in the charity sector. THE FALL is her first novel, which is followed by a series starring forensic psychologist Paula Maguire. She also writes as Eva Woods.

Reviews

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So here we are at the 4th in the really very excellent "Paula Maguire" series and with A Savage Hunger Claire Mcgowan took it up a notch (and made me grumble madly at her on Twitter) with her usual mix of current mystery and ongoing trauma for her main protagonists. A real page turner this one, not that the others were any different in that sense, but for me I was hanging off every word this time, waiting to see what would happen.

When Alice goes missing, her family background means that the police team are under a great deal of pressure to sort it out - but nothing is as it first appears, a seeming connection to an old case muddies the waters and Paula has her work cut out for her whilst also trying to deal with a hectic and stressful personal life.

The scene is set and what follows is a twisty turny delight of a crime tale, with some really fascinating characters in the mix, a truly addictive story both in the sense of the case being investigated and in what is happening externally to Paula and her loved ones. It really is a gorgeous mix, beautifully constructed, engaging throughout, with a fair few moments that hit you right where it hurts.

There is that touch of genius, distracting you with one thing, then another - the case Paula is on is an extremely intriguing one, your head is right in that trying to work out what happened both to Alice and all those years ago in the case of another missing girl - Meanwhile Paula is getting ready for a major life event and that adds extra intrigue to proceedings especially if, as I am, you are a huge fan of that particular character. One thing that has to be said about this authors writing is that she has an absolute knack of lulling you into a false sense of security then going BAM hey take THAT! Yes I'm still grumbling now under my breath about book trauma and the ability that clever writers have to make me crazy. Claire McGowan is a clever writer.

Overall this was brilliant. Highly Recommended as is the entire series - if you are a crime fan and have not read these yet then I'd gently suggest giving them a go. I don't think you'll look back.

[Sharon Bolton · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘The corpse on the bed was still breathing.’

With this powerful opening line begins an intelligent and compelling story of love, loss and vengeance in a land where the past and its secrets lurk around every corner.

A young student at a private university in Northern Ireland has vanished. No one seems bothered. Not her parents, not the university authorities, not her friends. Alice Morgan, is seems, was a bit odd. Never mind the blood stains in the church where she was last seen, the famous religious relic that vanished at the same time, the other young woman who disappeared decades earlier from exactly the same spot. Alice is probably just being Alice. She’ll turn up.

Fortunately for Alice, the police do take her disappearance seriously. Forensic psychologist Paula Maguire finds missing people. Knowing from personal experience the trauma that the missing leave behind them (her own mother vanished during “The Troubles”) Paula feels a deep and personal interest in all her cases, but something about lonely, un-missed Alice tugs at her heart.

Compelled to throw herself into the hunt for the missing girl, in spite of (or maybe because of) her imminent wedding to her childhood sweetheart, Paula finds darker, nastier puzzles under every turned stone. As the clock ticks away, towards Alice’s likely death and Paula’s walk down the aisle, the people of this quiet corner of Northern Ireland have to confront a side of themselves that they’d much prefer to keep hidden away.

With characteristic skill Claire McGowan has managed to pack a great deal into this deceptively simple story of a lost girl. Hunger (the literal kind, and all the others) runs as a savage theme throughout. The hunger strikes of the 1980s have by no means been forgotten and desire for vengeance on the part of the wronged is all consuming. The self-imposed starvation of the hunger strikers is strikingly echoed in the self-abuse practiced by the girls with eating disorders.

McGowan is from Northern Ireland and her knowledge of this part of the world and its recent history brings a richness and a credibility to an original and thought-provoking story. Her keen observation skills and intelligent writing keep it fresh and vivid.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s hard to believe, we have reached the fourth Paula Maguire! A Savage Hunger thrusts us back into the Northern Irish world of Paula, our complicated mixed up forensic psychologist. In the post Troubles era, the past comes back to haunt Paula in more ways than one.

The main story features a young student, from a local college who goes missing. Alice’s blood has been found at a church and an religious artefact is no where to be seen. This thread of the story is fascinating because of the flashbacks into Alice’s past. Alice has an eating disorder and we start to see what life has been like for her. It is hard not to empathise with what she has been through.

We also catch up with Paula’s crazy love life. She really cannot make up her mind who she wants. She is now the mother of a young toddler and about to marry one of the potential fathers, Aidan. When Guy appears on the scenes, I was willing her to sit down with both men and just sort everything out. Paula is a prime candidate for the Jeremy Kyle Show. You think she would want to know who the father of her baby is?! Claire McGowan is so cruel to Paula.

There was a gorgeous moment in the book, when exactly what I wanted to happen HAPPENED. I could sense it. There will be some super repercussions, I predict.

Just fabulous. I’m glad I deliberately took my time reading this. Such a great series, that I recommend starting from the beginning. You do not want to miss the Paula and her men on going saga! Recommended.

[Miss M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really turned into soap opera in this one. But damn, the woman's good with a cliffhanger...

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am hooked on following Paula McGuire, the forensic psychologist who returns home to Northern Ireland from England to work on a short-term assignment. She has now been there through four novels, but readers don't really know if she'll stay or if she'll go (to paraphrase The Clash). McGowan has created an interesting and compelling character that keeps me coming back to these books.

The author ends each books with a cliff-hanger, as well as leaving readers wondering what will happen next in Paula's personal life. For that reason, I recommend reading these books in order. That is also the reason I cannot say much about the details of each novel. Paula is one of too many residents of Northern Ireland who had a family member disappear during the Troubles. This novel continues to explore the mystery of her long absent mother. As I am wont to do, I am fussy about details when I read. In this novel, it was toddlers who spoke in full grammatical sentences like five-year-olds (one of my academic specializations is child language). I also found the story line in this novel too convoluted and in the end I stopped caring. I enjoyed the narration as the narrator deftly changed accents and managed to convey male voices without sounding ridiculous. This was 3.5 stars for me but I am bumping it up as McGowan is currently the only Northern Irish woman writing a crime novel series.

[Joanne Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been an interesting series so far and this recent addition really stands out for me. Dr Paula Maguire returns in this 4th book- a self contained mystery involving a missing person. It can be read as a standalone novel but to get the full appreciation of Paula's relationships and history, it's probably better to read the books in order of publication.

22 year old Alice has gone missing. At the church where she was working as a caretaker and was last seen, there is a lot of blood, an old photo and a missing religious relic. Paula, alongsIde Jane Corry, is brought in to investigate and quickly discovers another woman went missing from the same church nearly 30 years ago. What has happened to Alice and can Paula solve the case while also dealing with her complex personal life?

This is probably the most gripping of all 4 books that I have read so far. Paula is struggling with organising a major family event and overseeing building works while she trys to work out what has happened to Alice. We read snippets from Alice throughout the story. This helps us as we delve deeper into her problems with her family, and also her anorexia, providing us with more clues as to what has happened to her. I found both twisty threads really engrossing and couldn't wait to see how they were brought to a climax by the author. And boy, talk about an explosive ending!!! The perfect way to leave your readers wanting more!!

If you've never read this series before I think you would get way more enjoyment of the plot if you start at book 1 in the series. Then I can guarantee you will want to read the rest pretty quickly to catch up! The background descriptions of the troubles in Northern Ireland make this a very detailed and unique police crime procedural written with a great knowledge and understanding of that time. Bringing a present day missing persons case into the mix but still making it feel relevant to the past is a very clever trick indeed. An intelligent and thought provoking read and I can't WAIT to see where Paula goes from here!

I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an honest review.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is also so much pleasure to read of Paula Maguire and be transpotted to Northern Ireland by this talented writing of Claire McGowan. She writes with the maturity of someone who has lived throughout the recent darker history of Ulster from the troubles, through the peace process to the present day. Yet she is much too young and therefore her talent is natural and based on an ear for a story and the imagination research alone can not inspire.
In this series the missing are central to every investigation but the reality of any case is that Maguire herself is coming to terms with the day her Mother went and the hope of finding out the truth for her own closure. So in this and all previous books a little of that story comes out while 'normal' life is seemingly continuing.
Her personal experience not only provides her with empathy but also a determination to never give up on any enquiry.In this marvelous story she has weaved a wonderful tale around prayer and fasting, a religious discipline that can also be a mental struggle through eating disorders and political aims. The story is modern but Claire ties it into the IRA Hunger Strikes many years before and two disappearances that are like book ends around all the ensuing history and political unrest.
So it is a book that works on many levels but never fails to hit the mark of entertaining the reader while provoking thought and consideration for the actions of others in more extreme situations.

[Bruce Hatton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth novel in this engrossing series takes place two years after its predecessor, The Silent Dead. Guy Brooking has now returned to London, Helen Corry demoted to Detective Sergeant, Gerard Monoghan promoted to that rank and Paula and Aidan are preparing for their wedding.
Alice Morgan, a student at Oakdale, a college for disturbed rich kids, has disappeared, last seen at a remote religious shrine, exactly 32 years after another young female, Yvonne O'Neill disappeared from the same site. The central themes of the novel revolve around eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia, and cleverly ties them in to the IRA hunger strikes of the early 1980s. Once again, the shadows of Ireland's political past hover over a current investigation. Paula has the seemingly impossible task of balancing her demanding job with caring for her two-year-old daughter Maggie and preparing for her upcoming marriage. Also, of course, she is still haunted by the unexplained disappearance of her own mother.
This is another fine addition to the series; full of unexpected and shocking twists with a chilling finale.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series which initially followed the cases Dr Paula McGuire investigated as part of the Missing Persons Unit on the border between Northern and Southern Ireland. The idea of the unit was to overcome the problems of cross-border information exchange but sadly that has fallen away and now Paula is working as a consultant with the police in Northern Ireland.

Claire McGowan cleverly links the missing person in this book, Alice Morgan, an anorexia sufferer with the hunger strikes carried out in 1981 by political prisoners. Alice went missing on the doorstep of a church in Ballyterrin along with a holy relic – the bones of a saint also connected to hunger. Paula is called in to help out in the investigation swiftly, after all her father is a government minister and so despite the student at a private university having a history of disappearing, a search is launched. It doesn’t take too long before the team realise that another young girl went missing from the same church, on the same day, back in 1981.

Having set the scene for investigation we hear more from Alice herself, from her time in a hospital where she was receiving treatment for her anorexia, this makes for disturbing reading. We also have some excerpts from WhatsApp from her circle of close friends, friends who the police are sure know more than they are letting on. I do like it when books set in the present use technology that is popular, it certainly lends some authenticity to the plot.

This is probably has the most interwoven plot of the whole series and that is before we get to Paula’s private life which is going through some turbulence with a wedding to prepare for, a missing mother and a child with an unknown father, her life is anything but simple. I do like getting to know the chief protagonist of crime series and Claire McGowan gets the mix between the investigation and this aspect absolutely right, never forgetting that as much as we want to know more about these issues, it is a crime novel so overall that must be the focus. That said it is great to meet up with some old favourites and to see how life is treating them.

Overall this book was quite sad, the issues covered were executed extremely so well that they made me feel for the characters involved. With life switching between several different institutions; prison, hospital, university and the police it was hard not to compare how easy it is to manipulate those that are weaker, for whatever reason, by those who feel superior. With more than a handful of damaged souls I’m sure I won’t be the only reader that was misdirected very successfully by the author, more than once.

A satisfying and compelling read, if you haven’t read this series, I really do suggest that you start at the beginning and enjoy. If you have read the other books, I’m sure you don’t need me to urge you to get yourself a copy when it is published on 10 March 2016.

I’d like to thank the publisher Headline for allowing me to read a copy of this book prior to publication. This review is my unbiased thanks to them.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is much better than the last book in the series but I still haven't quite warmed to Paula. There's a technical awkwardness is her being a forensic psychologist who offers no psychological insights and effectively functions as a hanger-on to the police.

Where this series scores, though, is the portrayal of post-Troubles Northern Ireland. Here the text draws provocative parallels between the 1981 IRA hunger strikers, religious fasting and anorexia.

Paula's personal life continues to be complicated and leads to some unexpectedly intense developments.

[Inger Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series, but the paternity issue really annoys me at this point. I also think that even if Paula is supposed to be a forensic psychologist there is not much psychological insight, she operates mostly like a regular detective would.

[Corinne Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beautifully crafted novel featuring Paula Maguire. McGowan links the events and actions of North Ireland decades ago so well with current life, the past is always part of the present in this part of the world. Anything else would be a spoiler, so glad I've discovered this series.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of A Savage Hunger, the fourth novel in the Paula Maguire series. This is not a series I have read before so I was interested to see what it's all about. There are pros and cons to not starting at the beginning of a series but I don't see many in this case, apart from good reads, as the characters are well developed and the important parts of the back story are adequately explained.
Dr Paula Maguire, a missing person specialist, is employed by the PSNI in Ballyterrin, a small border town, as a consultant psychologist. She is asked to help when a student at the local private university, Alice Morgan, goes missing, along with a holy relic from a local shrine. The police are taking Alice's disappearance very seriously although no one else is because Alice is the daughter of a government minister, they find blood at the shrine and she disappears on the same day and from the same place as Yvonne O'Neill did 32 years before. Paula's attention is not fully on the case as she is getting married to her childhood sweetheart, who may or may not be the father of her child, and this brings back memories of her mother who disappeared during The Troubles. Then her ex boss, the other potential father, turns up from London to help the investigation and Paula's plate overflows.
It is one of the strengths of A Savage Hunger that it is not just a straight narration of the investigation. The events of The Troubles cast a long shadow and run through the novel, especially as Yvonne disappeared at the height of the Hunger Strikes and the protests they engendered. This ties in with the flashback chapters on Alice's treatment for anorexia as a teenager. This description makes it all sound more complicated than it reads as it all flows seamlessly in a clever, interesting narrative which had me glued to the pages to see what was coming next.
I like Paula Maguire who comes across as a caring woman doing her best in difficult circumstances. Her workmates are also pleasant characters, except the boss but that is to be expected, and there is a good sense of camaraderie in their working relationships. The students they are investigating, including Alice, do not come across so well. Their university is a dumping ground for troubled children of the rich who have failed at other more prestigious institutions and they are all selfish, self absorbed and unpleasant.
A Savage Hunger is an absorbing read and I don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a good procedural with a wee bit extra.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Savage Hunger is the fourth book in the Paula Maguire series set in Northern Ireland’s borderlands. Maguire is a forensic psychologist who specializes in finding missing people. In this outing Maguire helps the PSNI try to find a young university student, Alice Morgan, who is anorexic and is studying at a small third level college dedicated to educating other troubled students. Competing for Maguire’s attention is her upcoming wedding, which she’s been dreading. To add to unease, her ex-boss and possible father to her two-year old child is flown over from London to help with the case at the request of Alice’s father, a government minister. What follows is a soap opera held together with an endless parade of plot devices, both with respect to Maguire’s person life and Alice’s disappearance. While the resultant story is okay on its terms – McGowan is clearly aiming for a soap opera – neither Maguire’s home life nor the case is particularly satisfying given all the plot devices. In addition, the running commentary from Alice is a bit of a distraction and at the start of the novel especially takes away some mystery. For me this is the weakest book in the series so far and I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing on with book five or not yet – personally, I’d like the balance of focus to shift back from Maguire’s personal life to the procedural elements and the case under investigation but given the setups for the next book that doesn't seem likely.

[Marina Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This goes down easily and smoothly, like Irish whiskey! The intricacies of daily life in Northern Ireland and the echoes of the recent past are enthralling to someone as unfamiliar with them as I am. There was a lot of backstory which I didn't quite get, although the author did her best to catch a new reader up with it, so I'll have to go back to the start of the series.

[Judie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely like this series because the mysteries are good, but I don't care for Paula Maguire - she doesn't strike me as being good at her job or at managing her life - but despite her, the story works.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

La frustración que me da la vida personal de Paula me da ganas de bajarle en una estrella, pero me voy a contener.

[Ingrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable book about Paula Maguire. I'm looking forward to the next one.

[StefanieFrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Hunger Strike

July 2013, Ballyterrin, Northern Ireland, on the border. Just while forensic psychologist Paula Maguire faces her upcoming wedding with increasing concern, a new case demands the attention the PSNI. 22-year-old Alice is missing, the daughter of influential Home Office executive Lord Morgan. What is weird is that nobody seems to take her absence serious, not even really her own parents or her best friends. The student had left her university to spend time near a church, obsessed with an important relic which has also disappeared, and lots of blood near the altar. It comes as too much of a strange coincidence that another young woman, Yvonne O'Neill, went missing at the very same place in 1981, on the very same day, right at the height of the hunger strikes at the end of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Did her anorexia make Alice go over the edge or did she become victim of a crime? And what is this strange behavior from everyone, from her mom over her friends to her head mistress? More frightening even are those chapters from Alice's point of view.

Number 4 in the series of six books was actually the first that did not immediately get to me, but once I was further in, looking back at how bold and how cleverly the author created the more edgy parts of the book kept me mesmerised. Those creepy chapters are with Alice as first-person narrator, how she is being watched and hates it, how she does not want to be there. I mentioned before that I never like those "from the victim's point of view" - things, but fortunately, those inserts are short. It really hit me hard when I began to understand. These portions were those that in the end I found most shocking, but that's a different story.

This book is the one with probably the biggest portion about Paula's private life, the wedding, her worries about Aidan,...for good measure, Claire McGowan tosses in an undercover operation, lots of psychological interviewing skill and a ghost from the past, released from prison. So the whole context is probably a bit less of a thriller, more a whodunnit. The twist caught me completely off-balance - else, I probably liked this book least in the series. I disliked Paula's new boss, I was not completely convinced about the marriage, the tap-dance around Guy put me off, and the whole private undercurrents where thick, but not tangible. So, for the link towards what is due to come in the last two books, this latter is indespensable - still that one with 4 stars "only".

[Liselotte Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det här är den andra boken om den irländska Paula Maguire jag läser. Det är också andra boken jag läser om irländsk, extrem, fasta (har du inte läst stämningsfulla och annorlunda "The Wonder" - do it!). Lite trist är det; att romaner, thrillers och deckare som ens snuddar vid Nordirland antingen tar upp heliga dårar eller terrorister (vilket ibland är samma sak). Det är också trist att fasta - eller som här: rena ätstörningar - porträtteras så stereotypt. Dels för att det tenderar att bli farligt triggande för sjuka, och dels för att det bara är en fiktionaliserad, extremvariant som tas upp. I den här boken, som ju fokuserar på en beteendevetare, presenteras också klyschor om anorexi som fakta, och det låter som att alla sjuka fungerar på ett sätt och har blivit sjuka av samma anledning (typ: rika föräldrar som inte älskar sina barn). Nästan ännu värre är att behandling och kliniker målas upp som skräckhus. Precis som internatskolor.
Men ja, jag fattar, det är en deckare. Och jag gillar forfarande något i den här serien om Maguire. Att det är Irland, att historian får utrymme, att den religiösa klyftan illustreras i stort och smått. Och i den här boken: att det faktiskt är två kvinnor som teamar up på intervjuer och undersökningar (inser hur ovanligt det är!).
Tyvärr har sidohistorierna om Paulas liv - som i den första boken fungerade helt okej - dragit iväg ordentligt 3 böcker down the line (okända fäder, styvmor som ska bli svärmor, mammas ev mördare som ställer till, o.s.v.) Det drar ner, tillsammans med tjatet om att tjejer är ätstörda, men män fastade för att offra sig för sitt land. Deckargåtan spinner också iväg, men det gör inte lika mycket, för polisarbetet känns stabilt under tiden, och karaktärerna är fortfarande ok, om än med röriga relationer.
Nja, vet inte om jag orkar med såpadramat fler gånger, men om mysterierna verkar tillräckligt bra (och inte handlar om ätstörningar...) kanske jag läser fler i serien.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to in audio format.

A Savage Hunger is the fourth book in the Paula Maguire series. I am glad to say that Claire Mcgowan is back on firm ground after the disappointing The Silent Dead.

The story has moved on two years after The Silent Dead. Baby Maggie is two years old and Paula and Aidan are due to get married soon.

Paula and the team are investigating the disappearance of Alice Morgan. Alice is a caretaker in a local church, when the police examine the church they find a substantial amount of blood and a missing religious relic.

Alice's case is high profile because her father is a life peer in the Home Office. Paula's old boss Guy Brooking returns to Ireland in an advisory role to help the investigation. If you are new to this series Paula is not sure if fiancee Aidan or Guy Brooking is little Maggie's biological father.

The background to Alice was very sad and I understood why she was disturbed. Alice has a history of anorexia and she describes the abusive treatment she received at the expensive eating disorder clinic she went to. The selfishness of her parents who could not wait to send her to boarding school when she was little. Finally Alice's drug rape at university by friends she trusted.

On the home front although Paula is due to marry she is having reservations even to the point where she has not ordered her wedding dress. I suspected Paula would not get her happy ending in this book but the reason surprised me.

At the end of a Savage Hunger Paula finds a letter from her mum which she wrote to Paula on the day she went missing. I am so lucky I have book 5 on my TBR so I don't have to wait a year to find out what happens next.

I highly recommend this book but I suggest if you are new to this series to start on book one. A big five stars from me.

[Vera VB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paula Maguire is in dit boek moeder van een dochter, een peuter van twee. Ze woont samen met Aidan en er is sprake van een huwelijk. Iedereen is ermee bezig, behalve Paula zelf. Die heeft geen tijd, lees, steekt haar kop in het zand. Ze helpt mee aan een zaak van een verdwenen studente, Alice. Niemand schijnt ongerust te zijn, maar op de plaats waar ze verdwenen is, wordt wel een plas bloed gevonden. Het is in een kerk en om de verdwijning nog wat dramatischer te maken is er ook een relic verdwenen. De zaak heeft wel iets weg van een verdwijning van jaren geleden, van tijdens de hongerstakingen van de IRA leden in de gevangenis.
Ook in dit boek is er een link met de terreur van de IRA en leer je weer iets bij over de strijd. Daarnaast is Paula ook nog altijd op zoek naar haar moeder, zeker nu ze zelf een dochter heeft en op het punt staat te trouwen.
In haar persoonlijke leven staat haar een drama te wachten.

Weer een spannend boek al duurt het lang voordat er enige richting gegeven wordt aan de speurtocht. Het is ook voor het team lang wachten voordat er een doorbraak is. Tijdens dat wachten wordt het privé-leven van Paula verder in beeld gebracht.
Het zit haar toch echt niet mee. Ze is een heel ander soort personage dan een keiharde onderzoekster die opgebracht is in een weeshuis bijvoorbeeld. Menselijker maar toch ook met haar eigen problemen en die zijn niet min.

[CYNTHIA WARNER · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't help it, I'm hooked! I don't like the main character, Paula, and all her drama (most of it of her own making with tenuous support from the earlier books, I mean when did she get so close to Guy that they could "read each other's minds"? She slept with him the first night she met him in the first book and didn't speak with him or avoided speaking of personal things ever after... And Aiden....She hadn't seen or spoken to him in 10 years and AND then she sleeps with him too....then spends the next year avoiding him too while saying she missed bouncing ideas off him, when did she ever bounce ideas off him as an adult?? Oh well...) Still I'm hooked on the stories and am invested in what happens next!!! Go figure....Just ordered the next two books!!

[Megan King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying the Paula Maguire series! A Savage Hunger is definitely a bit slower that the previous books, but we got a wee bit more of a personal glimpse into Paula and her somewhat spiraling home life.

One thing that did really irritate me was the number of times derogatory comments were made about other women and how they looked. I don't know if this was intentional to highlight the fact that everyone judges other people's (especially women's) appearances, but given the fact that the victim suffered from anorexia, and we got a few snippets from Alice's POV, I think it was in ill taste.

Apart from that, this was a good book and an enjoyable installment in the series.

[Eadie Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 4 of the series begins with a repeat of a missing person's murder case similar to one that happened decades earlier. Paula is getting married but she is so focused on the case she doesn't even take time to pick out her wedding dress for her upcoming wedding. This tightly plotted mystery has many twists which keep the pages turner. These books get better and better with each book. The series should be read in order so that you can get the back history of the characters. The very surprising cliffhanger ending leaves the reader wanting the next installment.

[Danielle Lucksted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 4 of 6 - only dreading how near the close I am! That said, “the usual” elements only continue to improve alongside the extent of your care for them (the returning characters and their relationships). Adding a mild spoiler in this review because the plot ends up feeling astonishingly close to Gone Girl in places (the food and the particular image changes) BUT the “hunger” through line is so expertly weaved on the individual (Alice) and collective (hunger strike) levels. Picking up 5 right away as I knew I would.

[Naoise Nickolay · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really enjoy the majority of the authors meanderings, this one has way too many references to previous adventures and I know we may want to bring new readers up to date but for those of us who are familiar with Paula and her shenanigans it really is just a shade too far in setting the scene and sharing the back story, either it’s good enough to stand on its own or it’s not.
Please pick and advise readers appropriately.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 4th Paula Maguire book in a month - this is a very enjoyable series, a similar scenario to the Ruth Galloway novels, but with a harder edge. As we get to know the characters better, we really care about them and Paula has more than her fair share of dilemmas to resolve. Hopefully, as the series continues, we might get some answers. The actual mysteries are very engaging and cleverly incorporate echoes of the Troubles that continue to have repercussions in contemporary Ireland.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love the adventures of Paula McGuire! Once again Claire McGowan has outdone herself. After every book, I cross my fingers and hope that there will soon be another Paula Maguire book. I would be completely devastated if Ms McGowan decided not to write another book featuring her strong but sad Paula
Maguire. Love, love, loved it 5 Stars!!

[Francisco Machado · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fourth in the series. Paula is weeks away from her wedding. Nothing is ever straightforward in her life. Alice a troubled young woman disappears from her private university. She is last seen in a church where 30 years ago another young woman disappeared. We follow Paula and the team and also listen to Alice’s story. Paula’s own life unravels until the final page. Great stuff.