The Good Turn

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This is a brilliant book for year 5/6 with a great sense of adventure, friendship and standing up for what you believe in.” Josephine Williams is definitely a leader - and her teachers know it! What other eleven-year-old is desperate for MORE schoolwork? There's another significant problem, which is that here we have Two Good Cops, but one of them is a cop who kills suspect early in the book. And the word "suspect" is generous, it's someone who might have done something. And then everyone spends an awfully long time telling him that it was okay that he did the right thing and then McTiernan must make sure that we confirm this person really was bad so that we can all feel good about them getting shot before we had any significant evidence. Born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family of seven, Dervla practised as a corporate lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis, she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now lives with her husband and two children. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla now writes full time.

This is now my favorite book in the Detective Cormac Reilly series. I like how we get to be into the heads of the featured characters in this Irish police procedural. This time Cormac shares the limelight with a member of his team, Garda Peter Fisher. Cormac's superiors have it out for him and thanks to some nepotism on top of that, Cormac's team is down to a handful of people. The rest of his team have been commandeered by the drug squad so Cormac has very little to work with when it comes to solving general crime. Surely when a witness sees a little girl being kidnapped, Cormac's boss will release people to help with this time sensitive investigation. A little girl's life is at stake, but no, Cormac is told to deal with the situation with his handful of people. 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.) 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.MY THOUGHTS: I took a while to really get into The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan. It may possibly be because this is book three in a series of which I haven't read either of the two previous titles. Pros: wonderfully written, fast-paced, great character depth, dark humor here and thurr, captivating plot I received an eARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins Australia for providing a digital ARC of The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. For 9+ readers, this gripping, thoughtful update to the Blytonesque "secret society" genre engages squarely with racism and social injustice.' Guardian

While the threads initially appear unconnected, they gradually come together to weave an intricate plot of police corruption that spills over into other cases that crop up in the course of the book. An intriguing mystery adventure . . . bold and brilliant' Sophie Anderson. 'A joy to read.' Alex Wheatle. 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. 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.Looking for more challenging tasks, Josie enlists her friends Wesley and Margot into her very own Scout troop, the Copseys, named after the street they all live on. Together they start their quest for their camping badge by sleeping out near to the abandoned factory behind their houses. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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?Maintaining a healthy community, that takes a bit of discretion. You have to leave room for people to be human. To make the odd mistake. You have to be able to tell the difference between someone destructive, or dangerous, and someone who’s generally a contributor, and who just wanted to let off a bit of steam. 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. 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.