While I did not dislike this book, I felt that it fell flat somewhere along the way. The description seems a little misleading (crime novel, classic suspense, thriller, conspiracy among the Catholic society....). Yes, those aspects are in there, but not remarkably so. I wouldn't classify this in any one genre -- it overlapped into several, I think, but didn't really "fit" into one or another. I felt the story had a lot of potential & perhaps I was hoping for more resolution that just didn't seem to be there. So for me, it was a bit of a disappointment, but not altogether disappointing, if that makes sense. Still, I think I may be sucked into another in this series, just to see what else might happen with the main character of Quirke. ( )

The mastery of John Banville - here writing as Benjamin Black - is evident throughout this work. He is not the first author to tackle both literary and genre fiction, nor even the first to have mystery be that genre: the most well-known of this ilk is Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine.

It is a superb, nuanced and elegant work, with well-defined characters. When you wish you could reach into the pages to throttle a character, you know the author has captured you.

The weakest point was the mystery plot, but only in comparison; for me the important part was the characterization, and the interactions, at which he excelled.

If you are looking for fast paced actions, guns and bloody guts spilling on every sidewalk, you would be disappointed.
If however you are looking for an excellent story with well-rounded, believable characters drawing you into their world, this is the book for you! ( )

A bit of a disappointment . . . reminiscent of a Chandler novel the way it just unravels at the end with no real resolution, or the revelation that there's not much to resolve intellectually . . . but unlike Chandler the resolutions seem pat and unsatisfying. I'll try him again, certainly: the lead character had promise.

edit: Ahh. There a sequel! But still . . . something insufficient in the underlying plot to actually motivate the action of the story. As I say, that's sometimes the point, but here I'm not so sure we aren't just looking at a failure of inspiration or willingness to go wholeheartedly into the realm of genre fiction. ( )

Another one received from ER but started and never finished. Maybe I'll give it another shot at a later date but for now it's a library donation. And I had very high hopes for this one.

There is certainly a literary quality to Christine Falls, which shouldn’t be surprising since Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville (he makes that obvious). While this story mainly takes place in Dublin, the city doesn’t play much of a part, which was disappointing. I believe Tana French’s In the Woods did a better job using Ireland as a backdrop.

Black’s strengths lie with his characters. They seemed realistic, even if I was left questioning some of the motives driving them. He did an excellent job spreading the back story throughout the novel. Unfortunately, I found the back story to be more interesting than the action supposedly driving this book.

The weakness of Christine Falls, in my opinion, is the plot. I love the mystery genre, so perhaps my expectations were a bit formulaic. I saw several of the surprise twists coming a mile away, and I was confused about what the mystery actually was. As I neared the end of the book, I found myself skipping much of the literary descriptions in order to get to the plot. I found the big reveal to be anti-climatic. The discovery may have been shocking in 1950s Dublin, but it didn’t do much for me. ( )