From the author of The Ruin comes a compulsive new crime thriller set in the fiercely competitive, cutthroat world of research and academia, where the brightest minds will stop at nothing to succeed.When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run outside Galway University early one morning, she calls her boyfriend, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a … first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the center of a scandal–her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland’s most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy–it has even funded Emma’s own ground-breaking research.
As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac’s running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy?
A gripping and atmospheric follow-up to The Ruin, an “expertly plotted, complex web of secrets that refuse to stay hidden” (Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King’s Daughter), The Scholar is perfect for fans of Tana French and Flynn Berry.
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I’d heard a lot about this author and was interested to read her work.
This is the second in the series about Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly. His girlfriend Emma, a brilliant scientist stumbles upon a girl who has been the victim of a hit and run. It turns out the girl has been murdered and the only thing she has on her is the swipe card of another girl, Carline Darcy. Carline happens to be the granddaughter of a wealthy man who owns the largest pharmaceutical company in Ireland. The company has many tentacles including funding research and employing Emma. When a second murder occurs, the investigation takes a twist and Emma herself becomes a chief suspect.
Although this was a second in a series, it didn’t seem to matter as it stood on its own quite nicely. I enjoyed the complexities and twists in the plot. The character development was well done and I appreciated the relationships particularly within the police investigation team.
However, I wondered about the inclusion of Detective O’Halloran and her personal life. Her story, unless it’s set up for the next book didn’t really add much value. The other thing that jarred a little was the repetitive nature of the information. It revealed itself in several different ways and for the reader I felt it was overdone. For example, Cormac at the end explains the case to Emma and apart from a titbit of new information, there was nothing new for the reader. The interesting part for me was Emma’s reaction and perhaps that should have had more focus.
Overall, an easy to read, well written novel. Now, I’m interested to read the first one, The Ruin.
4.5 stars! Even more enjoyable than the first in the series. Cormac finally gets a chance to work live cases but the first that lands on his desk has his partner as a key witness. An obvious conflict of interest, but we learn why Cormac nevertheless fights to remain as lead, despite the risks for his partner and his career. In setting these motivations out, and the consequences of Cornac’s decision, the author skillfully fleshes out the major and some of the minor characters from book 1, to orogress the series. The crime itself is smartly thought through, as befits its staging in the intelligent world of commercial, cutting-edge biotech; Morse would have loved it! I certainly did, and can’t wait to read book 3.
Really enjoyed this book. Immediately got her other book from library. Also very good. I look forward to the next.
Very well written and full of complex characters.
Like other mysteries based in Ireland, the context can be challenging, but Tiernan weaves fascinating stories.
Loved this book
Well written
Great #2 from an excellent Australian, Irish immigrant! Love the setting!
I enjoy reading books based in Ireland especially areas which I have visited such as Galway that is the setting for this novel.
Very interesting and not too wordy. I enjoyed it a lot. I tried to get the 3rd in the series, but it wasn’t available yet.
Great characters great book very well written very original
I fell a little bit in love with Cormac Reilly when I read McTiernan’s debut novel, The Ruin. I also fell in love with her writing. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, the comparisons to Tana French are well-deserved, not just because the stories are set in Ireland and follow a detective like French’s novels, but because they’re wonderfully suspenseful, a little bit gritty and full of twists and turns. Also, like French, McTiernan has a way of creating side characters with depth and intensity that are just as compelling and intriguing as the main cast and in this story in particular, there were so many people on the fray I want to know more about.
Now, since I’ve sung the praises of McTiernan and her lead character, let’s get to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, read it cover to cover in less than a day, and can’t wait for more stories set in this world. Seeing Reilly’s work and private life thrown together and the turmoil it causes him was an underlying plot in this book but it utterly fascinated me, even when the main murder mystery seemed fairly obvious on the surface. McTiernan’s gift is that, even readers capable of picking up the clues and putting together the big pieces of the story, will still keep reading because all of the beneath the surface details are just as enthralling. I won’t give any spoilers, go read it yourself and get hooked on Cormac and his team just like I have.
Cormac Reilly is finally off of cold cases, at his new department, and assigned to active cases. While this good news is being delivered to him via and overworked and exhausted Carrie O’Halloran, he receives a call from his girlfriend, Emma Sweeney. Emma has discovered a dead body and although Carrie knows she should probably take lead on the case, allows Cormac to take the case.
The problems with coworker conspiracy theorists still exist. They believe that he must have been a bad cop who ruined his career in Dublin and chose Galway to escape and start over. There is definitely something still to be uncovered about his boss, Murphy. I hope karma gets both he and Moira Hanley when this series is concluded. Luckily Cormac has Carrie O’Halloran and Peter Fisher on his side. The three of them are able to solve two murders but not before Cormac’s life is turned upside down. Ready to start book 3.
Not my fave book of the year and I felt the sub-plot could have been concluded so I’ve no idea if they were guilty or not. Still a good read though.
The second entry in the Cormac Reilly series proves to be as good as the first. Cormac and Emma have went through some serious life alterations as a result of the last novel and they are now settling into their new lives. When Emma calls Cormac after discovering a dead body, neither can be prepared for the impact it will have on them.
The plot in this story was excellent. I thought I knew exactly what was going on until suddenly I realized I had gotten it oh so wrong. I think there were several things that added to what made this such a great book:
– The relationship between Cormac and Emma is tested in such a way that it may destroy them as a couple.
– Cormac has the opportunity to see where he stands within his new job. He gets to find out who truly has his back and who is simply out to get him.
– The reader gets to learn more about the personal lives of the other detectives that work with Cormac. The extra insight into the personal on-goings and the off the job stuff adds dimension and realism into the overall story.
Really well done! I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.
DS Cormac Reilly followed his girlfriend research scientist, Dr. Emma Sweeny, to Galway where he is not readily welcomed by the existing force. In the year that has passed since the events of The Ruin (Cormac Reilly #1), she is absorbed in her work and he is still an outsider with the gardai. Late one night, she leaves her laboratory and finds a body in the parking lot, a young woman who was a hit-and-run victim and calls Cormac to the scene. Her devotion to her job, his devotion to her, and his coworkers’ efforts to undermine him quickly complicates the investigation.
This is a classic puzzle murder mystery. When the murderer is revealed, I was honestly surprised. But the revelation made sense and the resolution of the plot threads were logical.
This is the second book by Dervla McTiernan that I’ve been privileged to read through the publisher and Netgalley. I loved her previous book, The Ruin, and this one also features Detective Cormac Reilly. It is an excellent mystery centering around the murder of a young woman outside a college research laboratory. At first misidentified as the granddaughter of the Pharmaceutical owner of the lab, it turns out that she is not her. She is a former waitress, and a lot of money is found in her home. Her family seems strangely uninterested in what happened, except for her teenage brother. Without him, she might never have been identified.
There are so many questions to be answered surrounding this death. Why did she have Carline Darcy’s ID, and why does Darline claim not to know her. Why was Detective Reilly’s girlfriend Emma at the lab so late, and is it suspicious that she is the one who found the body? Why do the people at Darcy Laboratories seem evasive, and why was a break in at the lab not reported? The entire story takes place in Galway, Ireland, and briefly touches on the difficulty working cases that may have evidence available in Northern Ireland. Although what’s going on seems relatively straightforward at times, there are twists and turns along the way that I didn’t expect. I enjoyed learning more about Cormac, his personal life, and his fellow officers. This is definitely a standalone book, but I look forward to reading more about Detective Reilly and the others in the next in the series, to be published in 2020.
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