Dervla McTiernan knows how to write an immersive crime story., I have read all three of her books now and they don't disappoint. This latest follows Detective Cormac Reilly and his protege Peter Fisher as they come close to being kicked off the force altogether. It begins with the disappearance of an 11 year old girl but soon moves into corruption in the police and the murder of a land owner and his nephew. We also follow Cormac's relationship with Emma and Peter's relationship with his father Des, also a police officer.

McTiernan knows how to interweave characters and plots seamlessly. Her writing is very visual so that it's almost like watching a movie or television series. All of this is accomplished without missing a beat in ratcheting up the tension and mystery.

Dervla Mc Tiernan returns with book three of her Cormac O'Reilly series and she continues excel.

Things are as bad as they could be for poor DS Cormac O'Reilly . Nothing is going right for him in any area of his life right now. His girlfriend is living and working overseas, many of his colleagues appear to dislike him, and worst of all the management seem to want him long gone. I felt sorry for him for much of the book but also admired him for his conscience and his determination to do the right thing in the face of an obviously corrupt police force.

I enjoyed the way the author planned the book. Cormac and his protégée Peter Fisher are split up by events early on and the book is told from alternate points of view. It is obvious to the reader that each of them knows things the other needs to know and the tension builds right up to the end. The book is a police procedural which shows clearly the ways the police should and should not work. It is very well done.

This was an entertaining, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable read. I am already looking forward to what happens next.

I would like to thank Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins Publishers Australia and NetGalley for the ARC of The Good Turn.

This is the third book in Dervla’s Cormac Rielly series. It’s a wonderful story, complex with great character development and full of Irish culture and landscape presented with the best descriptive writing. There’s a lot happening with various crimes to be solved whilst the protagonist’s personal life fragments. There is comment on police corruption and the failure of social services in supporting people in need. As this is the third instalment I’d recommend reading The Ruin and The Scholar first, both fantastic fiction.

I've heard Irish-born Australian-dwelling author Dervla McTiernan speak on a number of occasions, met her briefly and follow her on social media. She's confirmation of my belief that authors (whose books I enjoy) are always likeable and engaging 'off' the page as well as on.

Though I liked her debut, The Ruin (the first in the Cormac Reilly series) I didn't love it as much as most. Of course it went on to win a million awards so it says something about my judgement!

I actually preferred her second novel, The Scholar, again featuring Cormac. And now that I've read her third book in the series, it's knocked its predecessor of its mantle. The Good Turn, is easily my favourite of the three (to date); so readers need not fear McTiernan has peaked!

I commented in my review of The Scholar that I really liked the secondary characters on offer. Here we get to spend more time with Peter Fisher. In fact, he features as much, if not more than Cormac and I didn't mind that at all. We get some insight into his background and the influences on his life as he's forced to consider the impact his mentor Cormac has possibly had on his career... both good and bad.

The book opens after a witness sees a 12yr old girl taken off the street, putting Cormac and his rather-lean team (having been stripped of members for higher profile drug-related cases) on high alert.

The outcome is a bad one for Peter and he finds himself shunted off to his hometown, offered a lifeline by his estranged father. He's only supposed to be tidying up paperwork but finds himself investigating unsolved local murders - supposedly the work of a Dublin gang passing through.

Cormac's career is also in limbo and he's forced to reconsider his options... including those involving his partner Emma, who's working in Brussels.

There's reference to Cormac reporting concerns about dodgy cops - including his direct superior - but I couldn't remember if that formed part of the previous novels. It certainly explains why he clashes with many others at the station and why his boss offered no assistance after the young girl's abduction.

Interestingly here Cormac's very much branded someone who plays by the rules. It wasn't something I'd remembered about him, but it's that inflexibility Peter's confronted with away from his old colleagues.

This novel features some soul-searching from both our leads. Cormac wondering what's on the cards for his future; and Peter whose father has him questioning his adoption of Cormac as a mentor.

There are a few cases and threads on the go at once - some overt and some simmering beneath the surface. I sometimes complain when two disparate plots intersect and that happens here. Happenstance isn't it called? But I loved this book so much I'm happy to overlook it.

I loved the characters McTiernan offers. Cormac again of course, but I really liked spending more time with Peter as well as others we meet in his hometown, including his grandmother. There's also a mother and her young daughter we meet in the prologue, though it takes time to learn their story and secrets. 

McTiernan mixes up the pace here with Cormac and Peter fighting against the antipathy of others and barriers within the system; their cases progressing in fits and starts. It's an approach that works well given the myriad of plot threads we're unpicking, some of which are quite unexpected.

I finished this already keen for the next book as I'm really eager to see where McTiernan takes these characters I'm growing to love more and more. We don't see much of the other members of Cormac's team here and I'm wondering if she intends to keep Peter as a lead, or focus novels on different support characters.

Great writing, engaging complex characters and a sometimes-bewildering plot (in a good way!) makes The Good Turn my favourite in this series so far.

No Good Turn goes unpunished, or so they say. Arghhhhh that can't be the end! I can't wait for another one to be written.

This is, without a doubt, the best Cormac Reilly novel so far. I loved the Ruin and liked the Scholar a lot but I had no idea that this was waiting in the wings.

Based in terrible times in the Galway police force: corruption abounds, drugs are cheap and easily available, resources are stretched to the thinnest possible. Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly is having some personal problems when an investigation into the abduction of a young girl goes wrong and he is suspended from duty. 2IC Peter Fisher is under pressure to abandon Reilly's team in order to fit in, and is directly affected by the fallout of the failed investigation.

It's difficult to write about mysteries & police procedurals without spoilers, but the plot is so neatly layered with all the pieces in place that it is really very satisfying when it all comes together.

How do Anna and her traumatized, mute daughter Tilly fit in with the investigation into a double murder on a farm in the outskirts of rural Roundstone where Peter Fisher grew up, and his father is still the local police chief? Reilly says it himself, that there's only 4 degrees of separation in Ireland, but the coincidences keep stacking up.

It sure is wonderful when it unravels. McTiernan gives the reader just enough to tease out the top layer and guess where it all is heading only to continue revealing a series of plot loops.

I haven't enjoyed anything this much in ages, I've been dragging my feet on finishing it just to make it last that little bit longer.

I thought I couldn't be any more excited to receive an advanced copy except the adrenaline has been pumping from the 70% mark. So Good.

DS Cormac Reilly needed men – his Superintendent wouldn’t oblige, saying they were all out on a drug bust. Cormac had never seen eye to eye with his super, but he’d thought he was a fair man; that when a young girl had been abducted, he’d throw everything at the search for her before it was too late. But no – Cormac was working with a skeleton crew and when Garda Peter Fisher hadn’t been able to contact Cormac, he’d gone on his own, after the suspect he was sure was the culprit. The results were dire…

Peter was sent to the small town of Roundstone where he would have to work with the father he hated, while Cormac was suspended with an investigation to follow. But Peter would find himself pitting against his father, mired in a two-month-old murder. And Cormac would find heartache in all parts of his life. What would be the outcome for Cormac, who wanted nothing more than to be part of "the Guards", the police service of the Republic of Ireland that he’d been with for more years than he could count? Would Peter be lost in the mire of corruption and death that shrouded the countryside? And who were Anna and Tilly?

The Good Turn is the 3rd in the Cormac Reilly series by Aussie author Dervla McTiernan and it was suspenseful, filled with tension and an excellent addition to the series. I loved every minute of it, drawn into the lives of the main characters and the cold, relentless winter in Ireland. An exceptional read, The Good Turn is one I have no hesitation in recommending highly. Bring on #4 😊

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

What a wonderful series this is turning out to be. In The Good Turn, the third book in the Cormac Reilly series, Cormac is left to investigate the abduction of a young girl with a woefully inexperienced and understaffed team, while officialdom puts all their resources into a potential drug bust. When a tragedy happens Cormac and his team are sitting ducks, and left as scapegoats.

With his career on the line, yet again, Cormac finds himself fighting for himself and his team, while his enemies in the ranks are out for his blood.

An unputdownable read, I found The Good Turn to be full of surprising twists and turns. With memorable characters, and a well thought out plot., it is well worth adding to your reading list. Recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed The Ruin and The Scholar but I think McTiernan stepped it up another notch with this, the third in the Cormac Reilly series.

Although the series is named after Garda Cormac Reilly, McTiernan wrote much of The Ruin and The Scholar from the point of view of other characters. In The Good Turn she does this again. It kind of annoyed me in the first two books (I like Reilly and I want to read more about him!) but this time I felt like I accepted it more graciously. This is probably a combination of becoming more accustomed to McTiernan's style and the fact that I liked the other lead characters much more this time around.

One is Peter Fisher, Reilly’s protege and subordinate detective at their Gallway station. Due to a series of misunderstandings and mismanagement, Fisher is forced to chase down a child kidnapper alone and, in the process, things go awry. Until an investigation can take place, he is sent away to basically eat humble pie and pound the beat at the small coastal village where he grew up and his father is still the police officer in charge.

Riley, meanwhile, is suspended in the fallout of Peter’s actions. He believes there is much more to his and Peter’s disciplinary punishment than meets the eye, so he keeps busy, investigating secretly the [alleged] corruption within the force.

Anna is the other character featured in the book. With her young daughter, she also ends up living in the same village as Peter. It’s pretty obvious early on she’s running away from someone and it’s quite enjoyable when her plot weaves its way into Riley and Fisher’s.

I thought the crime/mystery plot was really well done. I had no idea just who Peter and Cormac should trust. Even when I thought I might guess some plot points, I still wondered if I might be incorrect with my assumptions. And, as I said, McTiernan really pulled all the plots together cleverly; it all made sense and was connected in the end with no unnecessary cliffhangers left to annoy the reader.

McTiernan’s real strength, however, is her characterisation. Cormac and co are all so easy to imagine. (This would be a great book series for someone to turn into a television series.)

McTiernan really makes Ireland another character too. From the talk of playing Camogie and rugby to the wild coastal views from the small village farms, I felt like I was in Ireland. (The only thing I do have trouble imagining is the snow and cold as I swelter in the 42 degree Celsius heat…)

I highly recommend The Good Turn. It would help if you've read the previous two books but I don't think it's completely as essential as some other series I've read. I definitely think McTiernan is getting better with each book and, given that she does use a plethora of characters, I look forward to reading and enjoying her titles for a long time.

A good 5 out of 5.

The Good Turn is McTeirnan’s third in the Cormac Reilly series and it is a corker.
How do a seemingly series of unconnected events swarming around Cormac Reilly threaten to end his career? That is the poser Dervla McTiernan gives to you the reader. As she teases you to find the link between a young girl who is mute due to a traumatic event, an investigation to locate an abducted girl that ends in tragedy and police corruption all influence Reilly.
As the third book in the series, McTiernan has hit her straps and pulls together a complex story line with simplicity. There is a not a single moment where as a reader you do not explicitly know where the story direction is going. As you move between the different investigations and the characters, McTiernan never lets you lose momentum or engagement. Not only are we following the machinations that are occurring in Cormac Reilly’s professional and personal life, we are also given Peter Fisher. A young man wanting to prove himself and finds himself caught up in a web partially of his own doing and because of his allegiance to Reilly. The story is about both men and how they face the challenges put before them. They are not perfect men and we are reminded of that through the mistakes that they make.
McTiernan is highly adept at bringing the reader into the actual scene through her descriptions. The opening chapter in the Doctor’s surgery is exceptional as you quickly come to appreciate just how down on her luck Anna is. These descriptions that enhance the characters are expertly placed everywhere.
If you have not read the previous two, you can read this as a standalone. However, some of the nuances of the characters background are not there and their motives. I would go back and read the first two as you will understand Reilly’s overall motivation but you can get by without it.
The Good Turn, really is a page turner, I know it’s a cliché but it is true. Once you start reading you are completely absorbed into the world and you really want to know how this is going to end. McTiernan has certainly stamped her authority all over the police procedural and made it her own.

Cormac Reilly #3 is the best so far, in what has been a must-read series right from the start. Dervla McTiernan is a first class storyteller.

In The Good Turn, Garda Peter Fisher is called back in to work on his long-awaited day off, after a child-abduction is reported in suburban Galway. Fisher interviews the witness on his way back to the station and instinctively knows it's legitimate. His boss, DS Reilly, has no choice but to put all other cases on hold because his team is severely under resourced due to almost everyone in the station being temporarily deployed to the drugs taskforce. So with everyone in the team stretched very thin it's no real surprise when something goes terribly wrong.

Whereas books #1 and #2 both had one main, obvious crime, the fabulous thing about this story is that there are actually a number of different things going on at the same time. Some of the issues that popped up towards the end of The Ruin are now under Reilly's magnifying glass, along with the events occurring in a few other seemingly disparate threads. The way McTiernan weaves the story together is just brilliant.

We get to know Fisher even better this time around, and he shines. While Reilly doesn't exactly take a backseat, I think it would be fair to say he shares the spotlight with Fisher. What a team! I hope McTiernan is already working on #4.

‘The waiting room was ugly and neglected.’

Dublin, Ireland, 1 September 2015. Anna’s young daughter Tilly has stopped talking. Anna can’t change her circumstances in Dublin, so she decides to take Tilly to Galway.

Galway, Ireland, 31 October 2015. Garda Peter Fisher is having a rare day off, enjoying life, when he receives a call from his colleague, Deirdre Russell:

‘Reilly wants to know if you can come in for the afternoon.’

The station is shorthanded (again) as most resources have been diverted to a surveillance task force. Detective Cormac Reilly and two others are the only ones there. Deirdre Russell asks if Peter Fisher can make a call on his way into the station: an eleven-year-old boy says he saw a girl abducted.

Unfortunately, Cormac Reilly is unable to get his boss, Brian Murphy, to release the resources he needs to investigate the abduction. Those resources are part of the surveillance task force, and while Murphy will call on other stations to try to release some staff, Reilly knows that time is critical. Unfortunately, in the absence of the back-up he needs, Peter Fisher makes some decisions which lead to him being relocated to Galway. It’s either that, he’s told, or prosecution. In Galway, Peter Fisher is tasked with administrative paperwork associated with two murders.

Cormac Reilly’s personal life remains complicated, his professional life is blighted by the fact that his search for justice impinges on some entrenched interests. Who can he trust? Can he continue in the Garda? Similarly, Peter Fisher, shunted to the side (at least temporarily) finds he can’t ignore his own need to investigate thoroughly.

This is a fast-moving story with several different strands and explores a number of different themes. I finished the novel, hoping that there will be a fourth. Ms McTiernan has given us some interesting and intriguing characters to follow.

‘This is why you’ve been stuck for the past year. If you trust absolutely no one, you’re never going to make any progress.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series is one of my favourite police procedurals and I was very excited to get the opportunity to read her latest novel. I am happy to say that it lived up to all my expectations!

The book starts with a kidnapping, and a shooting – from here follows a taut and nerve wrecking police procedural that had me on the edge of my seat until the end. As with previous books, I was reminded how much I like the main character, DI Cormac Reilly, who embodies the type of person you would want on your side. He is motivated, fair and with a strong sense of justice that will see him fighting for the right cause even when all the odds are stacked against him. I was happy to see that his young colleague, Peter Fisher, also had a starring role in this book, and he lived up to his mentor’s high standards. I loved all the inter-personal dynamics that came to play here, especially between Peter and his father, who is also in the police force but has chosen a very different path from his son.

As usual, the plot was clever, multi-faceted and compelling, which makes for the best kind of crime story. I’m not going to say any more – as with every mystery, the less you know in advance the better! If you have loved the previous books in the series, or are looking for a new series to fall in love with, then I urge you to pick up this book and let yourself be swept up in its story. I look forward to seeing Cormac Reilly back again in the next instalment and hope that McTiernan continues to star different characters from this Irish murder squad.

Dervla McTiernan returns to her award winning series of Irish-based crime novels with another winner in The Good Turn. While the previous two books in this series (The Ruin and The Scholar) centred around lead detective Cormac Reilly, The Good Turn moves the focus onto his young offsider Peter Fisher. But Reilly is still in the mix, and while it is Reilly who has been making enemies in the force, it turns out that Fisher may also be suffering by association.
When the book opens Fisher is in a pretty good place. He has a girlfriend, shares an apartment with an old friend and loves his job. So much so that on his first day off in two weeks he agrees to come into work as the station is once again short-handed. And it is not long before he is embroiled in the suspected kidnapping of a teenage girl. Reilly goes into bat for his team but cannot get more officers to support the search for the girl as his boss, Murphy, has allocated them to a potential drug raid. Understaffed and with no back-up, Fisher takes some initiative but his efforts end badly and the consequences are immediate.
Fisher is “rescued” from disciplinary action by his estranged father, who runs the police station in a rural village outside of Galway. Swallowing his pride and disgust, Fisher goes to work with his father but it is not long before they are clashing and Fisher is re-investigating a local double murder on the sly. Meanwhile, Reilly is still around – trying to find a way to clear Fisher’s name while digging into the corruption that he suspects exists deep in the Irish police force and trying to salvage his relationship.
By shifting the focus to a new character, McTiernan not only gives this series a much needed additional life but starts to round out supporting characters from earlier novels. If she chooses to stick with these characters, it is not hard to see future books taking other members of the team as their centre. And while the solution is driven by what can only be described as a fairly massive set of coincidences, they are earned, set up back at a disturbing cold open involving a young mother and her daughter.
The Ruin, the first of this series, won a swag of awards. And this series continues to get better, with engaging characters, great atmosphere, constant tension and satisfying resolutions. It would not be surprising if The Good Turn finds McTiernan featuring in both Australian and International crime fiction awards again.

This excellent series is improving with each book and in this third in the series Dervla McTiernan has really ramped up the suspense and the pressure on DS Cormac O'Reilly. The writing is terrific with a gripping plot that kept me enthralled.

Cormac is still struggling after his move to the Garda Station in Galway where he is resented by those outside his team. The Superintendent doesn't make his life easy, refusing him the extra man power he needs when a young girl is snatched of the street. Cormac also suspects that some of the detectives may be involved in corrupt activities. When their shortage of man power leads to Peter Fisher, an inexperienced Detective acting on his own a terrible mistake occurs that could end his career. Cormac is help responsible by the Super and put on suspension, while Peter is shunted off to work in his father's Garda station in Roundstone, the little village where he grew up.

Dervla McTiernan has created a strong character in Cormac. One who is fair and refuses to give up. He is playing a dangerous game hunting for corruption in the Garda and stands to lose his career if he fails. His personal life is not doing so well with his girlfriend working in Brussels and he will soon have to make some difficult decisions about their future together. Peter is also developing into a very likeable character. He refuses to sit back and be a village policeman in Roundstone and puts Cormac's training into practice to investigate some cases of his own. Also woven through the novel is the story of Annie and her daughter Tilly, recently arrived in Roundstone under mysterious circumstances, who will be important for both Cormac and Peter. This is an excellent police procedural series which I highly recommend. Can't wait for the next episode!

Thankyou to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers Australia and the author, Dervla McTiernan, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Good Turn in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I loved reading this book.
The storyline was well written with compelling characters. I was hooked from the start.
Well worth a read