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.

I did find The Ruin (book #1) to be a tad slow, as it takes nearly 100 pgs to really get to the case at hand, but #3 was off to the races from pg 1. My butt cheeks were CLENCHED for the first 20% as Cormac and his skeleton crew race to find the kidnapped girl. She was relentless with it. And even though it did slow down to more of a casual trot, there was still lots of meat to the story.

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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? 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. A little girl goes missing, believed abducted. Garda Peter Fisher sets out to investigate and call in re-enforcements to help in the search for the abducted girl. Detective Cormac Reilly, when he hears of the alleged crime wants support and officers sent to help deal with the problem. He fears the child’s life is in danger and knows every hour is critical. But the hierarchy are too intent on a supposed drug bust to spare any men to help. Left to their own resources Peter and Cormac try and do the best they can with limited resources. When tragedy occurs they both end up as scapegoats. It seems too clear that Cormac’s enemies are out to get rid of him. And given his father’s intervention in Peter’s situation, Peter is faced with a choice he never anticipated having to make. The trouble is, as far as Cormac is concerned that corruption is within the police force itself, which makes exposing it a dangerous prospect. With both Peter’s and Cormac’s career hanging by a thread, who can they trust? 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.

The twisted part of a lie is that it sometimes drips from the very mouth of those we hold in high regard. The sting of it has the grip of a scorpion's venom. DS Cormac Reilly will be faced with sifting through a trail of its aftermath knowing full well that someone in the ranks is determined to end his long career with the slam of untruths. And how do you untangle yourself from the web of deceit? 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.

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And alongside this is Anna and her daughter Tilly, currently mute from some unnamed trauma. They begin as a separate thread and join the other threads as the story moves on.