IrishCentral’s Book Club pick for November is “The Ruin” by Dervla McTiernan.

Welcome to November’s pick for the IrishCentral Monthly Book Club! Each month we will pick a new Irish book or a great book by an Irish author and celebrate the amazing ability of the Irish to tell a good story.

Throughout November, we'll be reading Dervla McTiernan’s “The Ruin.” 

With a new book announcement on the first day of each month, stay with us throughout the month as we talk to the authors and give you a chance to discuss some great Irish works. You can find the full list so far here. 

The best way to stay in touch with us and other book club members is to join our dedicated Facebook group here, where you can leave your comments and questions or give us even more great Irish recommendations.

If you have any further comments, questions for the author or recommendations for a future IrishCentral Book of the Month, you can email us at books@irishcentral.com.  

You can purchase “The Ruin” here.

IrishCentral’s November Book of the Month: “The Ruin”

"The Ruin."

"The Ruin."

Author/Editor: Dervla McTiernan

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Genre: Fiction/Crime/Mystery

Synopsis: It’s been twenty years since Detective Cormac Reilly discovered the body of Hilaria Blake in her crumbling home. But he’s never forgotten the two children she left behind…

When Aisling Conroy’s boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the River Corrib in Ireland, the police tell her it was suicide. She throws herself into work, trying to forget—but Jack’s sister Maude reappears in Ireland after years abroad, determined to prove Jack was murdered.

Meanwhile, Detective Cormac Reilly, who was recently transferred to Galway from his squad in Dublin, is assigned to dig into a cold case from twenty years ago—the seeming overdose of Jack and Maude’s drug and alcohol addled mother. Other detectives are connecting Jack’s death to his mother’s and pushing Reilly to arrest Maude and fast. But instinct tells him something isn’t quite what it seems …

This unsettling small-town noir draws us deep into the dark heart of Ireland, where corruption, desperation, and crime run rife. A gritty look at trust and betrayal where the written law isn’t the only one, “The Ruin” asks who will protect you when the authorities can’t—or won’t.

About the author: Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer Dervla McTiernan is the author of “The Ruin” and “The Scholar,” the first two books in her ongoing crime series set in Ireland. 

“The Ruin,” the first in the detective Cormac Reilly series, has been published in the United States, the UK, and Ireland and in New Zealand and Australia, where it was a top ten bestseller. 

“The Ruin” was an Amazon Best Book of July 2018, and was shortlisted for numerous awards including a Barry Award, the Kate O'Brien Award, and two categories of the Irish Book Awards and the Australian Industry Book Awards. “The Scholar” (coming soon to the US and the UK!) is already a top ten bestseller in Australia and Ireland.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved to Australia and turned her hand to writing. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla wrote a short story, “The Roommate,” which was shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Competition.

She went on to write “The Ruin,” and “The Scholar” - the third book in the series, “The Good Turn,” which will be out in 2020. “The Ruin” has been optioned for TV by Hopscotch. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children.

You can purchase “The Ruin” here.

Be sure to join the IrishCentral Book Club group here or to send us an email with questions at books@irishcentral.com. You can find the full list of recommendations so far here.