Marianne's Reviews > The Good Turn

The Good Turn is the third novel in the Cormac Reilly series by Irish-born Australian author, Dervla McTiernan. Does it start with the abduction of a girl walking her dog, witnessed by a young boy from his sickbed? Or does that incident just kick off something that has been coming since Detective Inspector Cormac Reilly first arrived at Mill Street Garda Station in Galway?

After a shooting that sees him under threat of prosecution and jail, Detective Peter Fisher is transferred to the village of Roundstone to work under the guidance Garda Sergeant Desmond Fisher, his (not beloved) father. Will it save his career? He is ordered to sort out the paperwork on a double murder that has been attributed to Dublin gangs, but his training under Cormac Reilly doesn’t let him rubber-stamp it when he sees discrepancies.

Distracting Peter too, is the sudden deterioration of his grandmother Maggie’s health, but at least now he can regularly check on her. Peter is initially wary of Anna Collins, the young mother of nine-year-old Tilly, whom Des seems to have installed to care for Maggie. It’s hardly his style to bother about her.

The same shooting incident sees Cormac Reilly suspended from duty, and he quickly concludes that what has been happening at the Garda Station is part of a much bigger picture, one that points to widespread Garda corruption involving drug trafficking. But from the outside, what can Cormac do? Emma strongly feels it’s time he abandoned the job in which his superiors frustrate him at every turn, but being a garda, and a good one, is in Cormac’s blood.

Yet again, McTiernan gives the reader a terrific dose of fast-paced crime fiction: an excellent plot, twists and red herrings to keep the reader guessing, an exciting climax and a very satisfying resolution. With each instalment, she develops her regular characters a little further and adds new ones. More of Cormac and co will definitely be welcome. Or anything else this talented author might like to turn her hand to. This is Irish crime fiction at its best.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia