A relaxed holiday in a luxurious seafront hotel in San Sebastian, a woman with a striking resemblance to a girl declared dead long ago and a hitman on the loose are the ingredients in the eighth instalment of Irish pathologist (and notorious alcoholic) Quirke’s series, which now brings Strafford, the detective in Banville’s latest novel Snow, onboard.

Set in the Fifties, this is a noir novel that unfolds slowly like one of those lazy April days in the sunshine, when nothing remarkable seems to happen as you spend your days while idly conversing, having great food and lounging around sipping cocktails. It starts as a cozy family drama and soon you see how neatly events are laid out for you and think you know what is coming, yet you relish the sense of premonition and the tension of events unfolding. But just when you believe that you have known everything all along, Banville delivers a masterful blow and manages to baffle and surprise you at the end.

As always, Banville’s writing is elegant, acutely observed and assured. Many of his characters are privileged and deeply flawed, Quirke in the first place (what kind of man would pretend his daughter is not his?). Although I found a few minor characters not so convincing ( Phoebe’s fiancé, or Doctor Cruz), characterisation and the ability to recreate a character’s psychology, explore relationships and evoke an entire world are excellent: in this case we are talking about the morally bankrupt entourage of the Irish establishment intersecting with the seedy underbelly of the country.

The crimes at the heart of these novels often have sexual abuse and unspeakable crimes at the core: setting the novels in the Fifties allows Banville to comment and on the climate of arbitrariness, connivance, and impunity that characterises some dark pages of Irish history (In Snow, for example, it was the role of the Church). Not a high adrenaline page turner but a pleasant read. 3.5

My thanks to Faber and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I felt at a disadvantage from the set off with this novel. Loving Banville's writing why I had not read 'Snow' which links into this novel. It also introduced readers to protagonist Quirke.
Banville has form on crime writing under the name of Benjamin Black and this too is skilled plot with evolving and excellent characters that will certainly run into further novels for this series.
I liked the setting and that for me was where Banville's writing rises to its prominence. He has a wonderful literary style and said ' he fell in love with San Sebastian', when he visited. I haven't been but escaped in these pages.
I was immersed with Quirke the Dublin Garda pathologist sent to strange climes to investigate by Insp Stafford - although they never actually meet!
This will run - maybe a TV series???
Banville is a great writer.There is that wonderful Irish lilt to the dialogue and plotting of course exceptional. Kept me guessing! I would like to see other genres than crime from him once again however but this is classy crime. Enjoy!

An enjoyable tale in the Dublin pathologist Quirke series. A slow burner this story set in Spain finds him in his usual truculent manner on holiday with his wife. A chance encounter after an accident with an oyster at the hospital with a.doctor he recognises vaguely he thinks he met a while ago with his daughter is the basis for what follows. An Irish hitman is employed and this thoroughly unpleasant but fascinating character plus high flying Irish political characters all contribute to a beautifully described tale.

I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books by John Banville. I didn’t realuze that April in Spain is one in a series featuring Quirke. It works well as a standalone although I suspect I may have missed some of the character development over the series.

Quirke goes to Spain with his wife for a holiday and sees a face from the past. He’s troubled as the person is dead and calls for help to delve further. As expected, it all goes pear shaped…

Banville’s writing is something to savour. This isn’t an action packed story, but the characters and plotting are so complex and the writing is lyrical and spare; you’re quickly drawn in and I was impressed by the range of issues explored in the course of the story. From the thin veneer of respectability in upper class Irish families to systemic abuse in orphanages, political corruption at the highest level, revenge and retribution…..This is, at heart a murder mystery. But it’s one peopled by characters that feel so real and even the impossibility of some situations has credibility. Thoroughly satisfying at every level and I’m going to look out earlier books in the series.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Just finished this book and already waiting for the next episode and hopefully get to know some more about Strafford and Phoebe. Dublin pathologist Quirke, middle aged, moody and fond of the bottle, is on holidays with his wife much to his annoyance when he has an encounter with a friend of his daughter’s. This friend however, from a highly connected family, is supposed to have died 4 years previous. A phone call back to Dublin sets in motion a series of events with repercussions for several of the characters.
John Banville has managed to create a murder mystery around a lack of murder and does so in a charming almost old fashioned way. Quirke is supported in this tale by a wonderful collection of characters, honest, flawed and so human. Each and every one contributes valiantly to the story. A delightful read and yet not always pleasant. Would definitely recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

April In Spain by John Banville will be published 7th October with Faber and Faber and is described as ‘the sumptuous, propulsive, sun-kissed follow up to the bestselling Snow, from the Booker Prize winning author’. It is the eighth book in the Quirke series of Irish crime novels by the author, albeit John Banville is publishing April in Spain under his own name, as opposed to his pseudonym Benjamin Black. All previous seven novels, up to Even the Dead in 2015, were released under Benjamin Black. The central character in this series is the cantankerous Dublin-based pathologist, Quirke.

Set in the late 1950s, John Banville evokes a great sense of time and place immediately transporting the reader back to the post-war era when life moved at a very different pace. Quirke, with his wife Evelyn, an Austrian who came to Ireland during the war, is on a break in the beautiful city of San Sebastián in northern Spain. Never content to just relax, Quirke is constantly sniping and passing grumpy remarks to Evelyn. She knows his past, she is aware of his fondness for the drink and she has a way of handling his moods that even he finds intriguing. Evelyn suffered during the war years. Although we never get a deep insight into her past, we are given enough to feel empathy for her character.

One evening Quirke’s attention is drawn to a woman at a nearby table. She is most definitely Irish and he is convinced there is something familiar about her. An unexpected trip to the emergency department of the local hospital puts Quirke directly in contact with the woman from the café as she is a doctor there, but she flees on sight. Quirke, more than ever, is convinced that he knows her but he just cannot connect the dots. He rings his daughter, Phoebe, to explain what he has seen but she is in disbelief. It couldn’t be. This person, this woman who is connected to an Irish political dynasty was presumed dead, murdered by her own brother. Quirke asks Phoebe to travel to Spain as she was once a friend of the mysterious woman and would be in a position to identify her immediately. Phoebe is looking for a much needed change in her routine so, although frustrated, she is intrigued and books her ticket to Spain.

This is where the original Quirke series and John Banville’s 2020 release Snow cross paths. Snow introduced readers to Detective Inspector St. John Strafford and he also plays a role in April in Spain, when he is quickly dispatched to accompany Phoebe to San Sebastián to investigate Quirke’s claims. If Quirke is correct, a political crisis will surely ensue back home in Ireland.

As Quirke tries to figure out what is going on, unbeknownst to him, DI Strafford or Phoebe, there is a hitman on their tail, a man with a string of violent crimes behind him, a man with no soul and dead eyes.

Now I do like a good murder mystery but, if I’m being honest, at no point did my heart race. I wasn’t gripped in any way by that side of the story. It was almost superfluous in many ways and I did feel that certain elements were stretching my imagination a bit too far. For me the strength of April in Spain lies in the dialogue and the historical setting, alongside the intriguing relationship between Quirke and Evelyn. John Banville’s ability to paint a picture is outstanding, as depicted in the description below of a low-life Dublin character…

‘He was a skimpy little fellow with a thin face and a crooked little pointed nose. A comma of slick black hair was stuck to his forehead, like an unruly curl still there from years before when his mother had plastered it down with a spat-on finger before sending him out into the world. He had a peculiar corkscrew walk, sort of hugging himself as he went along and setting one foot directly in front of the other, like a ballet dancer…..He carried his head at a permanent tilt, his right jaw tucked in against his shoulder. This was due to a congenital defect – the pub wits said that when he was born the doctor took one look at him and tried to push him back in again.’

April in Spain will no doubt be an interesting book for fans of the Quirke series and for those who have previously read Snow. It can definitely be read as a standalone but, I do wonder, in this case, would a reader enjoy it more having read the earlier books. April in Spain is a slow-burning mystery. Not every reader looks for fast-paced and I am sure that there are many who will completely immerse themselves in John Banville’s descriptive hand and enjoy the pace of his latest work.

A very slow burner throughout the book.
Dr Quirke is on holiday in northern Spain with his wife when he comes across April a friend of his daughter, but this friend died and her body was never found though her brother admitted to killing her before he was in a car accident that killed him.

I found it unbelievable in places and could not gel with any of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley with the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

April In Spain is the latest installment in the wonderful Dr. Quirke mystery series by John Banville. This is also the second novel to feature the Garda (detective) John Stafford, who first appeared in the tantalising mystery Snow last year.

Set in the late 1950s, the gloomy pathologist Dr. Quirke is on holiday in San Sebastian, Spain. For those familiar with the remose Irish man, the notion of Quirke on holiday in somewhat surreal. But Quirke has been influenced by his Austrian wife Evelyn and agreed to visit Spain for a few days.

Through a series of unfortunate events (involving a scissors and oysters), Quirke finds himself attending the local hospital. Shortly, a doctor arrives to attend to him and this is where our tale truly begins. Quirke recognises the doctor as April Latimer, an old friend of his daughter Phoebe. There is one slight issue – April was murdered by her brother. So, how could she is alive and working in Spain?

Quirke decides to make a few phone calls, after his trip to the hospital and soon Phoebe and Strafford are travelling to San Sebastian.

Unlike many mystery and friends stories, there are few ‘action’ scenes in the story. Instead, the emphasis is on dialogue and the monologue of the characters. This is not a suggestion that the story is slow-moving or even boring but the exact opposite- the reader is given the opportunity to learn about and understand the characters. Leading to an unexpected sympathy and understanding of Quirke. We learn of his childhood and just why he has become the morose pathologist that we know.

In a genre where high octane scenarios are common place and there is often an emphasis on action, Banville’s novel makes for a refreshing change.

Take some time, sit down and enjoy.

This was the first book I had read by this author, being unaware this was the latest in his Quirke series, about a Dublin pathologist.

In this book he is on holiday with his wife in San Sebastián, when he sees some one from his path.

I enjoyed the book, the plot, the characters and look forward to the next in the series

April in Spain is the latest instalment in John Banville's detective series featuring the state pathologist Dr Quirke. In this book, Quirke is on holidays in San Sebastien with his wife Evelyn when he spots a ghost from the past, his daughter Phoebe’s best friend who everyone believes was murdered several years before by her brother but her body was never found. Quirke not being one to shy away from intrigue decides to do some further investigation which includes informing his daughter which starts off a chain of events in Dublin which results in her coming along with Detective Strafford. But they aren’t the only ones en route, there is also a hitman who needs to finish off a job and he has never failed before.
Banville has created a very atmospheric historical fiction detective book bringing you from the intrigues of a well-known Dublin political family with plenty of skeletons in their closet that they are determined to keep there at all costs to the tense environment of April in Franco’s Spain where people are on their guard. The book has incredibly complex and flawed characters, such as, Quirke brooding over his marriage to the ever patient Evelyn, the tyrannical Uncle William and the unforgiving Terry Tice the hitman hired.
The book is very well paced and flows well between the action taking place in San Sebastian and Dublin. I found it extremely engaging read and I didn’t see the ending coming which is always a good sign with a detective novel and the door is certainly left open for another instalment.
Many thanks to @netgalley and @faberbooks for the ARC

Another good Quirke novel. I've read some but not all, of them, so must fill in the gaps soon.

Quirke on holiday is just as grumpy as when he isn't, though he's drinking less (a little less anyway) to keep his wife, Evelyn, happy. Despite her tragic past, Evelyn seems contented enough with Quirke and they make a good team.

When he spots a face from the past, he contacts his daughter Phoebe. Pheobe was a friend of April, thought to be dead these last four years. Has Quirke made a mistake, or is she indeed alive and in hiding?

My favourite character however, is Terry Tice, the not so petty criminal. His voice is entertaining though his thoughts and deeds are often shocking.

A loosely written book, with emphasis on Quirke and Evelyn on hols in San Sebastian a fair while before everything gets moving. Possibly a little rushed at the end. Pleasant enough read though.

This was my first encounter with Quirk the Dublin pathologist, which I later learnt was 8th in a series. It is easily read as a standalone. The writing was 'down to earth', easy to read but I felt the characters had no depth. The book references 'Brighton Rock' where Terry Tice describes characters therein as 'cartoonish portryals'; I felt rather the same about this one. The characters definitely had a 50s/60s feel about them - down to the sort of character acting you see on TV made at that period. I found none of them particulalry likable apart from Quirk's daughter and his wife.
Anyhow, it works well as a light entertaining mystery - twinned with Irish politics and corruption, suicide and family abuse(!) That sounds a strange classification, and it is; the writing for me, was just a bit superificial concerning the subjects therein. However, it's a popular series so I'm definitely in the minority here.

This was my first Quirke novel (it is the 8th in the series and first under Banville's own name) and clearly it would be better to have come to it having read the earlier ones, even if the book can be read perfectly well on its own merits. As I finished what had at first seemed a rather promising novel (I thoroughly enjoyed the opening chapters both in terms of good prose, intriguing characters, quirky plot premise) I felt somehow cheated.

For me, the shortcomings came mainly by a lack of verisimilitude which I find a key element of mysteries and detective stories. Whilst the writing was atmospheric and I enjoyed the discursive, thoughtful elements which rounded characters and their motivations, the lack of a distinct time frame (are we in the beginning of the 50s, 60s? things were so different in Spain in one or the other decade... The anachronisms (no Ecuadorian would have been found behind any stall in a San Sebastian market then, Donostia would not have been written in any signpost), an Irish doctor wouldn't be practicing in a hospital... is it really plausible that a minister reacts as he does and a civil servant follows suit, etc etc really started to grate. The resolution of the plot came (weirdly!) as no surprise and it really went against all rules of plausibility... Some poetic justice would have been welcome but was not to be. I was in the end not impressed, even if I grant the author a wilful desire to undermine expectations and posit a story which has to do with randomness, corruption, how to act and react, the impossibility of letting sleeping dogs be... Yet, even if I was ultimately dissatisfied, there are enough positives (the character and storyline of Terry the assassin; the parrying of Quirke and his wife Evelyn; some musings about life and love) to enjoy and make me think that many will enjoy this novel which is neither a strict mystery nor a literary novel of proper depth..
I am nevertheless very grateful to the publisher, Hanover Square Press, via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ultimately intriguing novel.

April in Spain is the latest book from John Banville featuring the Irish pathologist Dr Quirk. I’ve not read any of the previous books in this series but I don’t think that detracted too much from the story as I soon became familiar with the protagonists.
John Banville has an easy writing style and I think he paints a very believable picture of what life was like in London and Dublin in the early sixties, I could almost picture myself there. While on holiday in San Sebastian (or Donastia in the local Basque language) Quirk thinks he sees his daughter’s friend April Latimer in a local restaurant except that it can’t be her she died 4 years before. After meeting the same woman the next day at the hospital he becomes convinced that it is her. He calls his daughter Phoebe and tries to persuade her to come and join him and prove it either way. This sets off a chain of events that he will regret for the rest of his life.
The story starts slowly, I was more than half way through before I really got into it, but from then on I was hooked and couldn’t wait to find out what would happen when they all came together in Donastia.

I really enjoyed this book full of twists about a pathologist Quirke who while on holiday in Spain spots a girl who is supposed to be dead. Convinced at who he has seen he phones his colleagues back home and they send a detective and his daughter both end up in Spain to see for themselves if it is April. His daughter needs answers but a 3rd person is also on the way to kill April.
Would recommend this book as riveting.

I’ve really enjoyed reading “April in Spain” by John Banville. It is a well-written novel, full of suspense and surprise. It tells the story of Quirke, an Irish state pathologist, that is on holidays in Spain with his second wife Evelyn, an Austrian psychiatrist. The quiet holiday is destabilized when Quirke discovers that April Latimer, the Irish friend of his daughter Phoebe, is still alive and that she lives in San Sebastian disguised as Doctor Angela Lawless. He wants to have confirmation and calls his daughter Phoebe to come to Spain, but there is someone who wants to hide everything forever. The Irish politician William Latimer, April’s uncle, wants to avoid her reappearance, because April has always been a chaotic figure damaging the family’s reputation. And therefore, appears a cynic and highly-enigmatic murderer, Terry Tice. He is charged to kill April. But will he succeed? The ending of the novel is what leaves you spellbound and so I highly recommend you to read this book.

There are three prongs to this story, London, San Sebastian (Donostia) in Northern Spain and Dublin. The characters in each place come together in San Sebastian because a person thought to be dead has been sighted there. They each have their reasons for seeing if it is this person, but one of them isn't there on friendly terms and has orders that the person cannot return home.
I had high hopes for this book, set somewhere in the mid last century. It just didn't seem to get going and find it's groove. The ending seemed a bit rushed. I did enjoy it, but could have enjoyed it more.

This is a book with a slightly slow start but a huge reward for staying with it. The first chapter describes Terry, an assassin available for hire. It then moves on without further reference to Terry but he reappears later in the story when there is a new target. The book then moves on to describe the holiday in San Sebastian, northern Spain of Dr Quirke and his psychiatrist second wife, Evelyn. That is the part that is fairly long as it sets the scene for a tense and worth waiting for latter part. Quirke spots a doctor in a local hospital who he believes to be a friend of his daughter Phoebe and was declared to be murdered. She is connected to a very influential Republican family in Ireland and this opens up a very well written and absorbing part of the book. Her name is April and that is the clue from the title rather than any question of the book being about a spring holiday. The excitement builds up as there are repercussions in San Sebastián and Dublin. This is a very good read and I recommend it.

A happy marriage and a holiday in Spain has done little to temper Quirke's misanthropic view of the world, although he seems to have reigned in the drinking - for now. Of course, even on vacation, he has an eye for a suspicious event and this time a familiar looking young Irish woman catches his eye. The repercussions which follow lead to a devastating conclusion.
Banville paces his plot but the clever, playful character portrayals will keep readers engaged although unfortunately some of their actions aren't always believable. Still, April in Spain is an enjoyable and entertaining read from a fine writer.

John Banville is now writing crime fiction under his own name and it seems to have been the perfect decision for him, because warmth and enjoyment of his craft leaps from the pages of April in Spain. This book shows Quirke as a very human, sometimes exasperating, often hilariously drawn character, basking in the Spanish sun and the glow of a new relationship. In some ways the 'crime' is secondary to the character study but the East End hitman lends the book an air of 1950s cinematic glamour and the ending is both shocking and truly moving. Very enjoyable.