The Good Turn

Product Information

I think the main reason I was disappointed with this book was the gap between my expectations and what I read. I was expecting a book that was much more of a mystery than I got, more in line with her previous books and the blurb, Instead, this felt much more like a contemporary about friendship and the injustice of the past. David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... Sharna has written three books, Tate Kids British Art Activity Book, Tate Kids Modern Art Activity Book and High Rise Mystery - the first in a middle-grade series featuring the sibling detective duo everyone’s dying to meet. Dervla McTiernan does it again, writing a book vastly different from most police procedurals. Three moving parts - police corruption, a kidnapping investigation gone horribly wrong and a young girl’s silence. McTiernan pulls them together as easily as braiding hair. She just continues to impress me.

Enlisting her friends Margot Anderson and Wesley Evans, the trio begin their quest for their Camping Badge. Drawn to an abandoned factory nearby, they stumble across something strange. A square, ancient television and two tatty armchairs. Beside it, a wooden sideboard with an old photograph of a young, happy couple. 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. ABOUT THIS BOOK: Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected things that will prove to be linked by one small town. A thrilling, pacy adventure about friendship, bravery and real-life injustice from the award-winning author of High Rise Mystery 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.A sharp, funny middle grade adventure with themes of real-life activism and how to help others for fans of The Goonies and The London Eye Mystery. Have you read The Ruin and The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan? If you are a crime and police procedural fan then you really need to get your hands on them. The Good Turn is the 3rd book in the Cormac Reilly series and in my opinion the best one yet. Police corruption, a missing girl and the mystery of another girl who is traumatised, this book has everything you want in a crime and thriller read.

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. Three intertwining stories told with incredible care, masterful character development, and high intrigue, “The Good Turn” is a gripping, well-written mystery/suspense and is also a fabulous addition to the Cormac Reilly series. The "mystery" of the people in the factory is solved as soon as they find the picture, which is about halfway through. The lead up to it is also very subtle/underplayed, more about Josie's desire to get her club going than anticipation and speculation over the light in the abandoned factory. It doesn't give the "mystery" element any sort of driving momentum, given it takes so long to get to the hook of the blurb and never feels like a major part of the book. But all is not lost. He goes to visit Peter and apologise personally when he learns of something that could break the police corruption ring wide open. But who can he trust to tell about it.A sharp, funny middle grade adventure with themes of real-life activism and how to help others for fans of The Goonies and The London Eye Mystery. Other than that one small slip, the novel is as good as the first two entries in the series. What upsets me now is that this one appears to be the end of a trilogy that started with “The Ruin”. All plot threads introduced in that first book have been resolved, some happily, some not so happily. But I want to read more about Cormac Reilly and Peter Fisher in particular. I hope the author starts a new story line involving them. I also prefer the Ireland setting. I think Dervla McTiernan has extremely good insight into the problems of her homeland and I believe she could find more to say about these issues. Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected things that will prove to be linked by one small town. Detective Cormac faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life. Garda Peter is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head, and now he has to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone. For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn't far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

This is such an incredibly important story. Talking about Windrush is so essential, so the fact that young kids can learn about it through this book if their school or caregivers aren’t going to teach it is SO significant. However, the bonding experiences between the two books, the friendships, the desire to solve a mystery and help others is what made me feel a connection between the The Good Turn and the Famous Five books. 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.OOOHHWEEEE!! I've said it before and I'll say it again: THIS is Dervla McTiernan... whoever wrote The Murder Rule stole her identity. McTiernan flexed her skillz in the last book the series (hopefully there is more to come). Beautifully written, deftly plotted, and fast-paced... what more could a hoe ask for?