Linda's Reviews > The Lock-Up
The Lock-Up (Quirke, #9 and St. John Strafford, #4)
by
by
3.5
Ireland- In the early 1950s, just after the end of World War II, Rosa Jacobs, a 27-year-old graduate student at Trinity College, is found asphyxiated in her car at her lock-up (parking garage) outside Dublin in what looks like a suicide. However, Medical Pathologist Dr. Quirke finds marks on Rosa's mouth that indicate that someone gagged, anesthetized, and placed Rosa in the car with the motor running. Quirke and DI Strafford must figure out why.
Booker Award winner John Banville creates an intricate plot that examines Rosa's connection to the family of a wealthy German emigre and the hit-and-run death of an investigative reporter in Tel Aviv. While the storyline is well designed, Banville's greatest strengths lie in the development of character and setting. Both Quirke and Strafford are finely drawn, flawed, and very human, and very much of their time. Not only are the characters contextualized, but Banville captures the ambiance and mood of post-war Dublin.
It is a well-done mystery and a perfect summer (or fall) escape.
Ireland- In the early 1950s, just after the end of World War II, Rosa Jacobs, a 27-year-old graduate student at Trinity College, is found asphyxiated in her car at her lock-up (parking garage) outside Dublin in what looks like a suicide. However, Medical Pathologist Dr. Quirke finds marks on Rosa's mouth that indicate that someone gagged, anesthetized, and placed Rosa in the car with the motor running. Quirke and DI Strafford must figure out why.
Booker Award winner John Banville creates an intricate plot that examines Rosa's connection to the family of a wealthy German emigre and the hit-and-run death of an investigative reporter in Tel Aviv. While the storyline is well designed, Banville's greatest strengths lie in the development of character and setting. Both Quirke and Strafford are finely drawn, flawed, and very human, and very much of their time. Not only are the characters contextualized, but Banville captures the ambiance and mood of post-war Dublin.
It is a well-done mystery and a perfect summer (or fall) escape.
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Fionnuala
(last edited Sep 03, 2023 12:08PM)
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Sep 03, 2023 10:21AM
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This is the first of his mysteries that I have read. I saw a season of the TV series with Gabriel Byrne as Quirke. Byrne made him seem gentler and more likable than he appears in Banville's text. However, he was solo. i don't know when they were paired, but they don't get along which makes for an interesting dynamic.
Its my first Banville so I have no means of comparison.
He writes detective novels and literary fiction and won the Booker Prize for his novel The Sea. This is the first book of his that I read and I enjoyed it.
Thanks, Nika.