The Scholar

The Cormac Reilly Series, Book 2

By: Dervla McTiernan

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

A compulsive new crime thriller set in the fiercely competitive, cutthroat world of research and academia, where the brightest minds will stop at nothing to succeed.

When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit-and-run outside Galway University early one morning, she calls her boyfriend, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him. The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the center of a scandal—her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland's most successful pharmaceutical company. Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy - it has even funded Emma's own groundbreaking research.

As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac's running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy?

A gripping and atmospheric follow-up to The Ruin, an "expertly plotted, complex web of secrets that refuse to stay hidden" (Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King's Daughter), The Scholar is perfect for fans of Tana French and Flynn Berry.

©2019 Dervla McTiernan (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A Good Story, A Great Listen

Wishing to step just a bit outside my normal Audible book-listening – which, to some extent, mirrors my interest in reading what I call “airplane novels” or “brain candy” mysteries and thrillers by well-known authors, I downloaded The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan, an Irish lawyer and author. I suppose I was drawn to this Audible book because I’d just worked with Ana Clements, an exceptional voice actor-artist who undertook a County Cork Irish accent for a character in my new novel, Anarchy. Listening to Aoife McMahon, also a native of Clare, Ireland, narrate The Scholar, I was convinced Ana had done a stellar job with my Caitlin Dugan.

And so back to The Scholar, which I learned was the second novel in a series the author is writing about Cormac Reilly, a police detective, that began with The Ruin. I was an exceptionally good listen.

Cormac is one of the most human mystery-thriller novel characters I’ve encountered, either in print or audio. He isn’t macho, and has moments of self-doubt, recrimination, shoulda-dones. He also shows a sweet loving tenderness toward his girlfriend, Emma Sweeney, but in the course of the story has cause to doubt her. This creates a lot of dramatic tension in a plot which is already deep into a multi-pronged set of what seem to be unrelated events and mysteries. One hopes that Cormac will knit them together as he attempts to solve the primary event, the murder of a young woman.

There were times when I thought there were too many plots, and as most readers/listeners would do, I tried to put myself in Cormac’s head to solve and resolve them. He figures them out, to be sure, but with perhaps a bit too much ease. I could not; there really weren’t many evidentiary hooks, but there was certainly enough mystery to keep me wondering – as any good novel ought to do – what happens next?

The answer, in The Scholar, is a lot.

As mentioned earlier, Ms. McMahon does a five-star job of narrating. In a genre so overrun with male authors and macho characters, it was a delight to read a work by a woman with well-drawn, three-dimensional characters of both genders.

Loving Dervla Mctiernan

Dervla is my new favorite writer! Her books are amazing! Sisters too. great books!

Excellent!

This is a new author for me - and what a wonderful surprise to discover her!! The writing is great, characters developed beautifully and the story one that I found myself listening to it late last night and today until it just ended!! I carried my phone around with me - not able to stop listening!

I loved it, and Dervla McTiernan is a new FAVORITE!! I’m going now to buy the rest of her books.

Pleasant new find

I've only recently become familiar with this author. I'm finding˝ her books well written and quite enjoyable
Good and strong characters, good stories, plot & dialog.Thoroughly enjoyable mystery series. I'll read more and would certainly recommend her to others.
I have to add that I have not only discovered a new author, but I have also discovered a new (for me) narrator in Aoife McMahon.
She is outstanding without getting in the way of the author. Her portrayal of various voices was amazing. Regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, personality.. , I was left with no doubt to was speaking at any time during the book.It was like listening to a cast of narrators rather than one very skillful artist. She's as good or better than any narrator I've listened to in the past - even than the ones I like and continue to admire very much. Thumbs op for the whole package!

Loved This Book!

Strong character development and plenty of plot twists made this a great listen. The narration by Aiofe McMahon was wonderful.

Great story

Lots of plot twists and depth of characters. The narrator was great, I for one live a good accent.

Narrator can just read the phone book=TERRIFIC

Plus catalog. What a great free mystery. Narrator put you right in Galway and if you’ve had the pleasure like I had of going out there, then this will bring you right back into Ireland.
Very clever story from the author and I hope there’s more to this series. If you like watching PBS Vera then this series is for you. Publisher summary is spot on so no need to add to it. I do use the 1.2 speed. Give it a try
Where my comments of help?

Another home run by Dervla McTiernan

Love the Detective Cormac stories on Audible. The narrator is excellent with the voices of all characters except Cormac's. Her interpretation of his voice is very flat. It really does not add any dimension to his character. He comes across as someone with no emotion. I don't think that the author's intention is for this particular character to be quite so flat. Otherwise, very good job!

Another Winner!

Having already read The Ruin, I couldn't wait to try out another Dervla McTiernan book in the Cormac Reilly series. The Scholar was every bit as good as The Ruin. The language was a bit gritty at times, but the story and the excellent narration saved the day! Highly recommended!

Twists

I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Narration was excellent! I will definitely listen to others by Mctirnen.