The Ruin | Dervla McTiernan

February 1993

On his first week on the job, Garda Cormac Reilly responds to a call at a decrepit country house to find two silent, neglected children waiting for him - fifteen-year-old Maude and five-year-old Jack. Their mother lies dead upstairs. March 2013 Twenty years later, Cormac has left his high-flying career as a detective in Dublin and returned to Galway.

As he struggles to navigate the politics of a new police station, Maude and Jack return to haunt him. What ties a recent suicide to the woman's death so long ago? And who among his new colleagues can Cormac really trust? Dervla McTiernan's powerful debut The Ruin draws us into the dark heart of Ireland and asks who will protect you when the authorities can't - or won't. Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Tana French and Susie Steiner.