Holy Orders--A Quirke Novel

June 24, 2013
“Love was love, and always demanded more than a lover was capable of giving.” The profound melancholy of that sentiment permeates Black’s sixth Quirke novel set in 1950s Ireland (after 2012’s Vengeance). The discovery of the badly beaten body of journalist Jimmy Minor, a friend of Quirke’s daughter Phoebe, in a Dublin canal presents the pathologist with a highly personal case. Quirke, for whom happiness is one of “those words… the meaning of which he could never quite grasp,” and his friend on the force, Inspector Hackett, follow a trail that brings them into conflict with the Catholic Church. The solid detecting, as the doctor and the detective try to figure out what story Minor was pursuing that may have led to his death, will keep readers engaged, but the book’s power stems from its multifaceted lead. Black is the pen name for Man Booker Prize–winner John Banville. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency (U.K.).

July 15, 2013
The sixth in a series of Irish mystery novels resolves its ostensible mystery, but deeper mysteries remain. The latest novel from Black (Vengeance, 2012, etc.) featuring the pathologist Quirke is not the place to start for those new to the series. Its plot relies heavily on characters from previous novels and developments that transpired within those, and it doesn't sufficiently elaborate on Quirke's relationships with his daughter, his girlfriend or even with the corpse whose discovery propels the narrative. Yet plot has always been less important than character, atmosphere and style within these novels from the alter ego of celebrated literary author John Banville (Ancient Light, 2012, etc.), who has typically been less concerned than most mystery writers and readers with whodunit than with mortality, identity, Ireland and other themes shared with his literary fiction. As a pathologist rather than an investigator, Quirke mulls the possibility that he had initially been drawn to his profession "in hope of penetrating nearer to the heart of the mystery," but he's since realized that "[e]very day he dealt with death and yet knew nothing about it, nothing." While mortality permeates the novel, its real mystery is the mind of Quirke, one he no longer trusts as he suffers panic attacks and disorientation while trying to come to terms with a murder that puts the Catholic Church at odds with an exploitive, sensationalistic press. Oddly, neither the murder victim nor the mastermind behind the crime exerts much of a presence in the novel, which focuses more on the abuses Quirke suffered as a young Catholic and on the way the investigation forces him to revisit places in his memory that are as uncomfortable as they were formative. "[E]verything Quirke did, so he felt, was predetermined by laws laid down he did not know when, or how, or by what agency," writes Black. "He was a mystery to himself, now more than ever." For Black, the mystery of the human condition remains impenetrable. The novel reads like a turning point in the series, for those who have read its predecessors, with resolution saved for subsequent volumes.

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July 1, 2013
Postwar, corruption-laced Dublin is as much a character in Black's strikingly detailed, psychologically intricate crime series as his hard-drinking, brooding hero, Quirke, a pathologist who, as his equally ruminative daughter, Phoebe, puts it, can't resist playing at detective. The sixth installment begins with the gruesome murder of Phoebe's friend, pint-sized reporter Jimmy Minor, a key character in the earlier books. The ensuing investigation is as slow and sticky as molasses as Quirke and shrewd if grubby Inspector Hackett visit an imperious priest at the spooky Trinity Manor and an almost mythological tinker encampment. Quirke is in a bad way. Not only is he wracked by guilt over his inability to express love, his grip on reality is slipping under an onslaught of disorienting hallucinations and anguished memories of his boyhood abuse by priests. Phoebe, meanwhile, comes under the spell of Jimmy's alluring and alarming twin, Sally. Though most intrigued with the mysteries of the mind, Black succeeds brilliantly in delivering piquant social satire and chilling revelations of the church's unholy power over the justice system and the press.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

March 15, 2013

Even if Gabriel Byrne weren't starring in a new BBC series based on the Quirke novels, fans will be clamoring for this latest in the series. And even those unacquainted with Quirke could be interested, because the novel, though set in the 1950s, addresses painfully relevant issues. Dublin pathologist Quirke is aghast when a friend of his daughter's lands on his autopsy table; investigation implicates the Church in pedophilia and murder.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013

A mangled body is found in a Dublin canal, with the remains quickly identified as those of an impetuous muckraking journalist. Jimmy Minor was a quiet, unassuming young man with few friends, his only potential enemies being the subjects of his newspaper exposes. Forensics pathologist-cum-detective Quirke and his sometime partner Inspector Hackett unite in an effort to uncover what Minor could possibly have been investigating that led to his early death. Unfortunately for Quirke, Minor was an old friend of his daughter Phoebe, forcing Quirke to both console her and use her for her insight. Even more unfortunate is his growing realization that the Catholic Church and some local "tinkers"--travelling people known also as Gypsies--both likely had a hand in Minor's demise. This seventh mystery written by John Banville under the pseudonym Black returns to the shambling life of the depressive and introspective Dr. Quirke. Though the chapters are narrated by a number of central characters--including Phoebe and Inspector Hackett--the tone of the tale is primarily set through its identification with Quirke, lending it an increasingly despondent feeling as it follows him through panic attacks, drunken bouts, and an insurgent emotional desperation. At story's end the discovery of Jimmy's killer feels inconsequential in the face of Quirke's apparent emotional breakdown. VERDICT Overall, Black's latest Quirke mystery (Christine Falls; A Death in Summer; Vengeance) is an exhausting and airless read. [See Prepub Alert, 2/25/13; library marketing.]--Jennifer Rogers, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.