Although the premise intrigued me, I tired of the people and their predictability. I read it all the way though, more because it was an ARC than because I enjoyed it, I'm afraid. Perhaps if the characters had been more dimensional, or the suspense tighter, or the mystery better done, I would have been able to enjoy the writing and the total experience. I was rooting for the book to work--1950s Dublin and Boston should have been great additional characters.

Sorry, I did want to like this. ( )

I no longer have this book but must add it back into this physical catalog of my library to satisfy those in charge of the Early Reviewers Program.

I read this over a year ago and no longer have access to either the book or the review I wrote, so I do not recall specifics. What I do remember is that I did enjoy the plot, the characters and the writing style, and that I would read more books by this author. ( )

Quirke is a pathologist in 1950s Dublin. Life is fairly unremarkable for him until he comes into his lab one evening after a going-away party for a nurse at the hospital and finds his "brother" (they were raised by the same man, Judge Griffin, but only Mal was his child by birth) writing in a file. This is odd because Mal Griffin is an obstetrician, not a pathologist and has no reason to be in the basement lab. When Quirke later checks the file, he finds it is for a woman by the name of Christine Falls, whose corpse he is unaware of. When he does locate Christine, he finds he cannot let the mystery of her death go and ends up uncovering secrets that come straight back to his own family.

Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville. As Black, he seems intrigued by the secrets bound up in family ties (as in The Lemur). This was a very well-written book and a damn good noir mystery. ( )

Quirke, a Dublin pathologist who drinks more than he should after the death of his wife two decades earlier, finds his brother-in-law tampering with a file in the morgue. The file belongs to a young woman named Christine Falls who lies dead in the next room. Unable to shake the unsettling feeling that his brother-in-law and nemesis Mal is hiding something sinister, Quirke begins a search for the answer behind Christine’s death. What unfolds is a novel of dark secrets which is tautly written and full of suspense.

Christine Falls is set first in 1950s Ireland, but ends in Boston. Quirke is a compelling protagonist, although not one who is immediately likable. He drinks excessively, pursues his sister-in-law romantically, and seems to have made more than a few enemies over the years. Despite his faults, however, Quirke is a man who wants to right the wrongs and he continues to investigate the death of Christine even when it becomes apparent his own life may be in danger.

Benjamin Black is the pen name for John Banville whose literary novels have won numerous awards. In this noir thriller, Banville weaves a tight story of intrigue that had me turning the pages long after I should have been in bed asleep. Christine Falls is a mystery which could easily fit in the literary genre with its strong character development and haunting descriptions. This whodunit has another, deeper layer - that of family secrets which span decades and implicate the Catholic Church. As Banville weaves his story, the reader is steadily drawn into the characters’ relationships.

Readers who enjoy literary fiction as well as a gripping mystery, will be drawn to Christine Falls. I expected to like this novel, and I was not disappointed.

Highly Recommended. ( )

Christine Falls isn’t the best mystery I’ve ever read but it’s a well-crafted piece of historical fiction. While Dublin pathologist, Quirk, searches for an explanation for the death of Christine Falls and the disappearance of her baby, we’re completely drawn into the dark sinister underworld of 1950s Boston and Dublin, Ireland. Benjamin Black’s tale of hypocrisy and cruelness by powerful Irish Catholic families is the backdrop for Quirk’s own discoveries surrounding his own adoption and his past. This is a very well written gritty tale despite the weakness of the central mystery, the death of Christine Falls. ( )