Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Christine Falls: A Novel
    Christine Falls: A Novel
    Christine Falls: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Christine Falls: A Novel

    Written by Benjamin Black

    Narrated by Timothy Dalton

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the living. One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a corpse—and concealing the cause of death.

    It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious—and very well-guarded—secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.

    Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville's fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story. Quirke is a fascinating and subtly drawn hero, Christine Falls is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateMar 6, 2007
    ISBN9781427200730
    Author

    Benjamin Black

    Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. His literary crime novels inspired the major TV series, Quirke, starring Gabriel Byrne. He lives in Dublin.

    More audiobooks from Benjamin Black

    Related authors

    Related to Christine Falls

    Titles in the series (7)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      TV Pieces Of Her

      Mar 24, 2022

      TV Pieces Of Her
      1 min read

    • Article

      'Glass Houses' Is Yet Another Excellent Louise Penny Mystery

      Sep 7, 2017

      Penny – whose books wind up on Best Novels of the Year lists, not 'just' Best Mysteries – is a one-woman argument against literary snobbery.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Also Out

      Mar 23, 2022

      We enjoyed previous Sarah Lotz books like The Three, so we were surprised that her latest looks like a simple love story. However, Amazon has IMPOSSIBLE (out now, Harper Collins) filed under “romance time travel”… A pleasure moon is the setting of Kh

      1 min read

    • Article

      Dervla Mctiernan

      Feb 27, 2020

      Her debut crime novel, The Ruin, won a host of awards, and her third about Galway detective Cormac Reilly, The Good Turn, is out this month. The 43-year-old Cork native – who now lives in Perth – talks about the book that … A hand-me-down from my s

      1 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Night Flying

      Aug 2, 2018

      Night Flying
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Temporary Arrangement

      Oct 2, 2023

      A Temporary Arrangement
      19 min read

    • Article

      Lost Children

      Aug 4, 2022

      Lost Children
      5 min read

    • Article

      Jason the Heat Guy

      Jan 11, 2021

      Jason the Heat Guy
      11 min read

    • Article

      Klara

      May 21, 2020

      Klara
      28 min read

    • Article

      A Brief Ghostly Encounter…

      Nov 30, 2020

      A Brief Ghostly Encounter…
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Scarlet PEBBLE

      Feb 28, 2024

      The Scarlet PEBBLE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Education of Mrs. R.

      Sep 6, 2022

      An adolescent shriek woke her. Cockerels, she thought, cockerels, with a wry twist to the word. She lay in the dark listening. There was no use in covering her head; the screaming still came through. The soloist was suddenly submerged in the chorus.

      13 min read

    • Article

      The Witch Finders

      Jul 16, 2020

      Beth pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was the very last day of October and the air was damp and chill. Dead autumn leaves lay in deep piles in the woods and smoke curled into the night air from her cottage. Not far to go now. She bent her head

      4 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Foxes

      Jun 15, 2019

      What’s worth happening happens in deep woods. Or so my daughter tells me. Her plotlines: In the deep woods someone is chasing, someone else is getting hacked. Hatchets are lifted, brought downdowndown. Men stutter blood onto snow. A cast of animals—s

      17 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Christine Falls

    3.5/5

    718 ratings68 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Well, I wanted to like this book. It has a lovely, vibrant setting, an intriguing mystery and a sufficiently interesting protagonist in the pathologist Quirke. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I could not make my mind focus on the plot. Countless times throughout the book, sentences would begin with a character's name and I would wonder, "Who's that? Have I read about them before? Where do they fit in the action?" It left me feeling lost, perplexed and somewhat anxious, like how you feel during a test you've forgotten to study for. That might be my fault, but after awhile you begin to wonder why you aren't riveted to the action. For me, the writing was too plodding. The characters seemed distant and I had a hard time empathizing with them. Overall, I was left with a vague positive sense about this book. I wanted to hear more about Quirke and Phoebe, but the other characters all blurred together into an interchangeable mass. Will read another book in the series before giving up entirely.
    • 3/5
      This book, the start of a new series (of course) has been on and off of my radar since it came out. Mixed reviews kept me away from it, but my library had it so I gave it a go and as a result I might read another, but I’m not that enthusiastic. See, as decent as the plot, atmosphere and pacing were, the writing and the wish-fulfillment aspects of the book were eye-rolling a times. The ham-fisted warning off of Quirke (like that ever works), the easy-to-spot father of the stolen baby, the tired Catholic-church-as-villain and the magic sex appeal of the main character (who also can fight through an injury that should have basically crippled him) - all of it is a bit much. I did like the subtle way the author set the story in the 1950s; I knew it wasn’t modern, but we weren’t told the date right off. Nicely done. And the pacing is pretty good, there’s enough of a lull between action scenes, but not too much. And the secrets and slights in the Griffin family dynamic are revealed at well-timed intervals. There is a larger story-arc in that family scenario, and I might come back to see what happens next, but it might not be right away.
    • 4/5
      A widower of a pathologist starts looking into the death of a young Irishwoman in 1950s Dublin and the trail leads him to some unseemly places and people who think they are doing God's work. Quirke, who seems to be a functioning alcoholic, finds his brother-in-law, an obstetrician, doctoring the woman's death certificate. Mal tells Quirke to leave it alone, but he can't.The trail takes him to a back-door abortionist, to Catholic-run orphanages and homes for pregnant girls, and to Boston. On the way, Quirke runs into trouble with family, work, the coppers, do-gooders and no-gooders.This is noirish novel that examines race, religion, class and country with an ambiguous ending that is now way joyful. The characters were bit cliched, but the writing in most places — there are a few rough patches — makes up for it. I'll definitely read the next one.
    • 2/5
      Ok but didnt really like any of the characters and depressing ending
    • 5/5
      Great characters, lots of descriptive detail of era- love the narrator too!
    • 5/5
      Writing as Benjamin Black, John Banville made an impressive debut as a mystery writer in 2006 with “Christine Falls.” Dark, moody and muddled (in a good way), the story manages to rise above genre to become literature of the sort the author writes under his own name.The title character, a young Irish woman named Christine Falls, is dead before the first page. Quirke, a pathologist in 1950s Dublin, notices nothing amiss until he catches Mal, his brother-in-law who is also a doctor, altering the death records late at night. Yet Quirke is drunk at the time, so later he isn't sure he remembers what he thinks he remembers.The woman and her baby supposedly both died in childbirth. But what happened to the baby's body? And who is the father of the baby — Mal, who married the Crawford sister Quirke desired for himself. or someone else? And what really happened to Christine Falls? The more questions he asks, the more bad things happen, including the murder of a woman who knows too much and a crippling beating of Quirke himself.More tragic consequences follow Quirke to Boston when he goes there on family business. It turns out that is where the answers to his questions lie.This is a solid mystery debut, never losing its grip on the reader despite its deliberate pace.
    • 1/5
      Banville's most recent Snow was interesting enough (barely) to get me to try this one, the first of the Quirke series. No, thanks. Mostly him getting drunk, smoking and moping, and for a pathologist, he seems to never actually DO any work. I started to wonder if maybe Banville didn't actually know much about what a pathologist does, so he kind of just left that out... Agonizingly slow-paced and repetitive (and I'm more tolerant of slow than many crime fiction readers), and once it was clear it was headed for more Irish Catholic Church abuse horror stories (as did Snow), I decided I was done. Some very good, crisp, vivid language and description, but too many people I simply didn't care about or want to spend any more time with. Just not for me.
    • 4/5
      This was a good story but got a little complicated at the end. Quirk is an interesting character. I'll keep reading the series.
    • 2/5
      I am quitting this at almost 75% of the way through. I was enjoying the writing, but finding the pace very slow, and then there was a revelation which was just too much somehow. For some one who doesn't really like alcohol, Quirke certainly drinks a lot.
    • 3/5
      Actually a 3.5 star. I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I liked the main character and I liked the mystery but the pacing of the book was a little slow for me. Black likes words and uses them well but I sometimes felt like he was trying to build mood at the cost of the plotting.

      The setting was wonderful though and I think there was enough there that I might try book 2. If you like faster paced mysteries this book will not be for you.,
    • 4/5
      Somewhat engaging but I do not find this writer very good. Seems like he is trying to sell a movie script. Going to donate this to the book sale.
    • 3/5
      Christine Falls by Benjamin BlackThe Quirke series Book #1 ★★★From The Book:The hero of Christine Falls, Quirke, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman's corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke reluctantly begins looking into the woman's history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned--first subtly, then with violence--to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man.My Views:It's a tale of murder, betrayal, and corruption in high places. It is also a sad, dark story of lives that are burdened and nearly destroyed by wrong choices that have impact forever. I did enjoy visiting 1950's Dublin. However overall, there was a lack of depth to the characters and the locations that greatly subtracted from what it started out to be. I will keep in mind that it was the first book in this series and feel it only fair to give it a second chance.
    • 2/5
      Found this a disappointing read. I don't understand why female characters need to suffer abuse/rape that has no real bearing on the plot. Expected better of John Banville/Mr Black.
    • 4/5
      I was quite looking forward to this mystery set in 1950s Ireland. I knew that it was written by Booker winner John Banville. The subject matter of the Magdalene Laundries (Joni Mitchell song about this topic), where the Catholic Church shamed young pregnant women, stole their babies and sold them to adoptive families is interesting to me and a novel setting for a mystery. However, this book was quite male in perspective and very sad? dark? brooding? The question marks are there because I generally like books that are sad, dark and brooding as long as it is in keeping with the characters and subject matter. I'm just not sure. Perhaps bleak is a better description. Oddly, I'm likely to try one more in the series hoping that the next has a shift in tone. Hope springs eternal.
    • 1/5
      Its unbelievable that this book has been nominated for an Edgar award!
      Christine Falls, written by John Banville using the name Benjamin Black, is a mystery set in Ireland and also in eastern U.S.
      Pathologist Quirke stumbles upon his brother-in-law falsifying the file of one Christine Falls. This sets in motion Quirke’s investigation of who Christine was, how she ended up in the morgue, and what happened to the child she was carrying at the time of her death.
      Sure Black uses lots of fancy metaphors in an attempt to create an atmospheric story, but they become redundant and downright irritating. Both Quirke and one of the nuns have problems walking, but couldn’t Black have thought of more than one way to describe their plights? Examples:
      Pg. 96: “…dragging her hip after her like a mother dragging a stubborn child.”
      Pg. 213: “He shifted uneasily, his huge leg tugging at him like a surly, intractable child."
      Pg. 275: “...swinging himself forward on his stick he yanked himself from the room, like an angry parent dragging away a stubbornly recalcitrant child.”
      Enough!!
      The men can’t keep their penises in their pants. Women throw themselves at Quirke (Why?? He isn’t portrayed as all that attractive.), the most laughable being a nurse who comes out of nowhere in the hospital after Quirke is beaten up, and jumps him. The women characters are for the most part portrayed as “damaged”, fragile, and weak.
      NOT RECOMMENDED!
    • 3/5
      Not sure what to say. Good enough to keep the pages turning, but strangely dissatisfying at the end. Good enough, I guess, that I might give the Quirke series another go at some time.
    • 5/5
      I like to read a series in order but recently I read the latest in the Quirke series, HOLY ORDERS, just because it came to hand. While that title stood quite well as a stand alone, some puzzling fragments that I came away with were made clearer in CHRISTINE FALLS.This first novel in the series is set in Dublin (Ireland) and Boston (Massachusetts) in the early 1950s and emphasises the strong ties between the two. Wealthy Josh Crawford, living in Boston, has come up with a scheme to guarantee a reward for him in heaven. He is also the father of Quirke's former wife and there are those in Dublin who assist in his scheme. When Quirke begins to investigate the puzzle of what happened to Christine Falls he finds that there are people in Dublin who will go to extraordinary lengths to stop him.This novel gives the reader a lot of Quirke's background from the previous twenty or so years.It is also a commentary on the practice of sending Irish orphans to Boston for "adoption" in the 1940s and 1950s
    • 4/5
      Well written, interesting tale and I liked the subject matter: Ireland, Catholic, 50's, human struggles.
    • 3/5
      This noir mystery is set in 1950’s Dublin at a time when the Catholic Church played a large role in the social fabric, particularly with respect to options for women. There is a small cast of central characters dominated by the two sons of an eminent judge, Garrett Griffin. The judge favored the orphan he raised, Quirke, more than his actual son, Malachy, creating a competitive love/hate relationship between the brothers. The two boys went to Boston for medical school before returning to Dublin to start careers. While abroad, they fell in love with two sisters, Sarah and Delia, daughters of a wealthy entrepreneur with old connections to Judge Griffin. Mal married Sarah, and Quirke married Delia, who died in childbirth soon after marriage. There are hints that Quirke and Sarah have always been in love with one another rather than their respective spouses. Although Quirke is a pathologist and Mal is an obstetrician, as the story opens we find Mal in Quirke’s office altering the death certificate of Christine Falls, a young woman now in the morgue. Quirke, pretty much always drunk, becomes curious and sets out to discover who this woman was and why Mal was changing her file.As the mystery unfolds, we learn just how complex are the relationships among the members of this troubled family. We also get a sense of the corruption then spreading its tentacles through the Catholic Church, and into the lives of its congregants.Discussion: Benjamin Black is a pseudonym for Irish author John Banville, winner of the 2005 Man Booker Prize for The Sea. I felt that had it not been for the fact that the author was actually Banville, this mystery series might not have garnered as much notice. In this first novel of the Quirke series (possibly Black improves as the series goes along), the author isn’t always adept at constructing his “red herrings.” When we find out something has been twisted and we look back, the deception isn’t quite as seamless as it should be. In fact, the biggest twist doesn’t hang together at all.Also, a large part of the plot concerns the bad things that used to happen in Ireland to women who had babies out of wedlock. I think female authors would have been all over that plotline, but for Black, it’s just something to provide twists and move the story along about Quirke and Mal.There are some passages that seem to be artistic to the point of obfuscation. At other times, though, the author’s literary bent does add to the atmosphere, but it is one so bleak and replete with damaged people (whether evil, bitter, drunken, empty inside, hypocritical, and/or psychologically unbalanced) that it’s hard to warm up to the story and its protagonists. Quirke is the most likable character, but that isn’t saying much; he himself owns up to his indifference and selfishness. He washes away the emptiness of his life with glass after glass of whiskey, without even any musings beforehand about what it is he wants so badly to erase. We, the readers, are not only left in the dark, but without much reason to feel sympathy for him. Evaluation: This sordid, bleak tale is heavier on atmosphere than on taut plot-limning, drenched in the dolefulness of alcoholism; the abuse of Catholic hegemony; and the unhappy lives of hopeless people, who are impoverished in terms of money or character or both. The book won a nomination from the Mystery Writers of America for the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel, but I can’t see why, except that the author is really John Banville.
    • 5/5
      Benjamin Black is a nom be plume for John Banville, an Irish novelist. His literary novels have won awards, including the Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea.This is very well written and quite enjoyable. The main story takes place in the 1950's. Quirk was an orphan who was rescued from the orphanage and raised in a well-to-do family, the Griffins, that is now at the center of a mystery. Quirk works as a pathologist in charge of the morgue in Dublin hospital, and one evening he finds Malachy Griffin his “brother” (although Quirk was not adopted), and his brother-in-law, they married sisters, who is a doctor at the hospital, altering the records of a recently deceased young woman. Quirke starts investigating to try to learn the real story of this woman's death and the reason why some people want it to stay hidden. All of the characters are fully formed, with rich psychologies presented. They include Quirke and Mal, Sarah, who is Mal's wife, Phoebe, their daughter, and Griffin, their father.This is the first of a series of books featuring Quirke. I will read the others.
    • 4/5
      In the first novel featuring inquisitive pathologist Quirke, Benjamin Black (aka, John Banville) spins a dark and seedy tale of murder and mayhem, family secrets, cover up and deceit in 1950s Dublin and Boston. Late at night, after an office party, a booze-addled Quirke happens upon his step-brother Malachy Griffin (a physician) altering the file of a girl who recently had the misfortune to end up on the slab in his morgue. Not one to let odd events go unquestioned, Quirke starts digging into the death of the girl, Christine Falls, and uncovers a trail of corruption and treachery that stretches back decades and involves collusion among the Catholic Church, the elite of Dublin society, and members of his own family. The story is thoroughly engrossing, the characters indelibly drawn, and the writing fluent and atmospheric. Banville is one of the most accomplished literary artists working in English, but he is not slumming it in this mystery novel written under a pseudonym. His incredible talent is on stunning display on every page. Highly recommended for fans of detective fiction or anyone who likes an absorbing well-written mystery.
    • 4/5
      Noir mystery by John Banville, one of my favorite novelists. Excellent read.
    • 4/5
      I am reading this book for the second time because the second book in the series Silver Swan keeps referring to things that happened in it.

      This may contain spoilers but I don't want to have to read it a third time. Pathologist Quirke , despite being brain addled from drink a lot of the time becomes increasingly aware of malfeasance involving his brother Mal, an eminent OB-Gyn. There is a case of a young dead woman who gets shuffled along with a possible inappropriate diagnosis as to cause of death. Mal did something to her records. When Quirke finds out that she had been staying with a certain woman, also apparently known to his family members, he makes a visit. it is not long before this woman is murdered.

      Drawn into this puzzle Quirke cannot rest until he finds out what the relationship of these women to his brother is. He also finds that newborn children are part of the equation and they are passing through a somewhat unsavory convent onto the USA into the hands of similar wrong thinking fanatical people in Boston who have their own egomaniacal plans for these children which really goes far beyond the tenets of all faiths. The foundations of Quirke's family are shaken but he says the whole endeavor ends regardless of the fallout.
    • 2/5
      As nicely detailed and vivid as the book may be, and as corrupt as the villains may be, the book is rather boring and pointless. Little is solved, less is made straight, and almost nothing eventually happens. Justice receives little service, especially for the children who have suffered in this sort of semi-legal skullduggery. It is really a mystery of whether the middle aged, often drunken fat man has any character or backbone or if the honored judge who has been his benefactor for years does or not?
    • 4/5
      Dublin um 1955: Der Pathologe Quirke lebt einsam und innerlich zerrissen dahin, trinkt zu viel, denkt nach 20 Jahren immer noch zu viel an seine verstorbene Frau. Eines Abends ertappt er seinen Schwager und Kollgen Malachy, wie dieser an einer Akte einer Verstorbenen arbeitet. Das erweckt Quirkes Argwohn, denn anders als er hat Malachy mit den Lebenden zu tun, er ist Gynäkologe und Geburtsarzt.Wie nun Quirke dem Rätsel um die tote Christine Falls auf die Spur kommt, wie er durch Dublin und Boston stolpert, düster, einsam, traurig, das ist nicht reißerisch aber an manchen Stellen so eiskalt und abgrundtief traurig, dass man weinen möchte.Das Buch hat verschiedene Handlungsstränge, die am Ende zusammenlaufen, aber alle zeigen doch eines: dass ein glückliches Leben nahezu unmöglich ist, dass Entscheidungen immer auch Lügen nach sich ziehen, dass Liebe selten gelingt und meist Illusion ist. So ist der deutsche Titel dann gar nicht so schlecht wie ich anfangs dachte, denn er ist ein Zitat aus dem Buch. Malachy sagt gegen Ende "Wir sind eben alle nicht frei von Sünde." Denn wirklich unschuldig ist niemand in diesem Buch und wenn doch, dann wird für diese Unschuld bitter bezahlt.Ich mochte das Buch sehr, weil es auch hervorragend gelesen wird von Dietmar Bär. Diese Vielschichtigkeit, Sensibilität und einsame Traurigkeit traut man ihm im Tatort gar nicht zu.Warum wählt der Autor eigentlich ein Pseudonym, wenn eh jeder weiß, dass es Booker-Preisträger John Banville ist, der das schreibt? Ich mochte das Buch jedenfalls lieber als seinen Booker-Preis-gekrönten Roman "The Sea".
    • 4/5
      Dublin immediately after WWII. Wonderfully atmospheric. Feel sure I read somewhere that John Banville feels more comfortable as Benjamin Black than he does as John Banville. Here he invents a new sub-genre – pathologist procedural. Loved it.
    • 2/5
      When Quirke finds his brother-in-law falsifying the death certificate of Christine Falls, he charges himself with finding out what really happened to the young woman and her baby, a search which will land not only himself but his nearest and dearest in deep trouble. I'm not entirely sure why John Banville decided to try his hand at mystery. I do know that it wasn't a great idea. The writing is quality, no doubt about it, but as a mystery it's a complete failure since the clues are huge red flags and it's impossible not to figure out every resolution well in advance. In addition, every one of the characters turns out to be deceptive and mean and I just couldn't bother to care for even one of them - Quirke is just sulky and/or drunk (yet somehow irresistible to all women...) and not even in a funny way. Even the eventual "baddie" is so generic it's not worth getting up in arms about. Banville should probably stick to the literary genre instead of thinking that the crime genre is a doddle anyone can master.
    • 4/5
      Christine Falls is the Quirke series opener, and it begins one night after a hospital party when Quirke has had a little too much to drink. He comes down to his office to discover his brother-in-law, obstetrician Malachy (Mal) Griffin writing in the file belonging to a newly-arrived corpse named Christine Falls. But since his head is a little fuzzy, he's not really sure what he's seeing at the time. Later when he goes back to figure things out, he realizes that Mal has actually been altering the file -- Quirke's autopsy reveals that Christine died while giving birth whereas Mal's alterations show that a pulmonary embolism was to blame. Questioning Mal, he's told that he's better off leaving things alone, but Quirke, whose signature curiosity gets the better of him, tries to piece together Christine's story. Officially he keeps quiet because he's not sure how it all links back to Mal, but Quirke just can't help delving into Christine's life, which may not have been such a smart idea. He finds himself being followed; a woman who gives him a little insight into Christine Falls ends up dead, tied to a chair, yet he still doesn't get the message. As he states: "In his world, the world he inhabited up in the light, people did not have their fingernails broken or the soft undersides of their arms scorched with cigarettes; the people whom he knew were not bludgeoned to death in their own kitchens." Quirke isn't naive, but what he doesn't realize just yet is that he's come up against a very powerful group of men who will do what they have to in order to keep Christine's story from being uncovered. Quirke's search for the truth reveals a host of problems, from poverty to the interlocking of power held by the Catholic church and the wealthier members of the highest ranks of Dublin society, who are not-so-coincidentally respected and powerful members of the Church. These are men whose long arms reach into every facet of the city's power structure, including the press, and will not have that perfect apple cart of a status quo upset by anyone. While not my favorite book in the series, the novel introduces its readers to Quirke, and to Dublin in the 1950s, and for the most part, I liked it. The first half or so of the novel is just about perfect in terms of setting the tone and atmosphere as well as cluing the reader about the power scene, but once the narrative moves to Boston it turns more to the side of personal melodrama that doesn't play so well and really sort of derails things before they come back around to what's going on in Dublin. However, Christine Falls lays the groundwork for changes in Quirke's personal life; what happens in this book will become the basis for the rest of the series, so I definitely recommend it and reading it first before any of Black's other novels. While the author does recap the basics in the other four novels, reading them is not the same without building from this one.
    • 3/5
      It took me a long time to get interested in the story of Christine Falls. I was rather bored with the beginning, and I didn't care for any of the characters--too snotty, whiny, violent or manipulating. But, midway through the plot thickened, and I found the story more interesting. I also found that I liked Quirke, the lead character, better toward the end.He is a pathologist in a Dublin hospital. After a late night going-away party for a nurse who is moving to the US, Quirke, very drunk as he has been very often since his wife died, enters his basement lab to find his obstetrician brother-in-law, Mal, messing with a file of a young woman, Christine Falls, whose body was brought in during the party. After initially doubting his intoxicated vision, Quirke starts investigating his brother-in-law's late night visit to his lab and the disappearance of Christine's body. He, rightfully, becomes obsessed with finding out the cause of the young woman's death and his brother-in-law's role in it. At the same time that Quirke is following his leads, a baby girl is being placed with a dysfunctional Massachusetts couple at a Catholic orphanage in Boston. These stories along with Quirke's own--the death of his wife, his love for her sister who happens to be Mal's wife, and his close relationship with his niece Phoebe all blend in the end. It's the way that they blend that I found interesting, at last.
    • 3/5
      I have to admit that I am feeling a little let down by Christine Falls, on the one hand this book is strongly written by Benjamin Black, a pseudonym for author John Banville, but on the other, the actual plot seemed lacklustre and felt manufactured. This dark tale of baby smuggling by a powerful Catholic Society in the early 1950‘s involves murder, conspiracy and family secrets, and although parts of the book are truly well done, there were also parts that I found repetitive and rather boring. Rather than a mystery, I felt the book was much more of a character study, and the main character, Quirke with his drinking, secrets and isolation was a familiar one for this genre. Unfortunately, the women in the book were on the most part damaged, fragile and insecure. I did love the fact that Black wrote a very layered tale and, in classic mystery style, slowly bits were peeled back and revealed. I guess what was missing for me was an actual mystery. In the long run although I enjoyed the original and creative writing in Christine Falls, I needed more than well turned phrases, and both the pacing and the plot felt a little flat.