Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of The Drowned.
Real rating 3.5 stars.
This is my first read of the Stafford/Quirke series by John Banville. There a several references to the previous book/case but I'm not sure it would be essential to read the previous books, I followed it fine I think.
The writing felt a bit draining, no one in 1950s ireland seemed happy at all, everyone in this was anxious, grieving or depressed. The crime took up only a small portion of the book with character stories and lives being the main story here.
Overall I would recommend this book, the author has a wonderful way with words and I was glued to it.

Thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for ARC..

Nineteen-fifties rural Ireland is the setting for the opener of this complex, muted but powerful police procedural and meditation on loss and grief. Detective Inspector Strafford is called in from Dublin, and the investigation has repercussions for his personal life and state of mind, as well as those involved. Although I have. little patience with the view that Banville elevates crime fiction to an art form (he's certainly not alone in that), his prose is astounding and the description of place and mood and the murky internal workings of humans is second to none. There are difficult themes here including sexual violence and gynaecological conditions, and not everyone will stick with the slow pace. This is now the fourth in this series, so those new to Banville as crime writer may want to start elsewhere - but here is as good a place as any.

It’s taken me sometime to read this book. I find it to heavy on the descriptive narrative and a slow storyline. IMO the author is concentrating on describing rather than telling the story.. Throughout I was unsure of the decade which the story related too, to me it read as if it’s set 1930’’s but the further I read the more it became apparent it was a later timeline.

I found The Drowned to be a very slow burner. It was very wordy and I lost patience with the lack of action at times.
I hadn't realised that this book was part of a series and I don't think it works too well as a standalone as I felt that I should have known the main characters better and understood references to their pasts.
Although I won't go looking for the earlier novels in this series I do acknowledge the writer's skills which produced an atmospheric novel with very well drawn characters even if it wasn't to my taste.

Enjoyed parts of this book but mostly found it quite boring and difficult to read. Some of the descriptions went on way too long for my liking, however the 'active' parts were pretty good.

A really enjoyable read from an author I’m a big fan of. I love the author’s style of writing & the rural 1950’s Ireland setting. A very atmospheric read with a great premise full of lies, secrets and hidden tales.

John Banville is a well-established writer but I'd somehow overlooked his books, so I couldn't resist the chance to dip my toe in the water when The Drowned was offered on NetGalley.

It's not always easy to drop into a later title in a series, but I don't think this is the case with The Drowned; Banville slides enough history in to explain the current situations and relationships without it sounding like a lecture - plus it tempts you to go back and catch up with earlier works. The writing is strong - fluid and descriptive without being flowery - and I loved the story. The big "but" for me is not loving the characters; almost all have a nasty streak that leaves an unpleasant taste behind and makes you wonder if you really care what happens to them. That said, it's a solid tale and kept me engaged throughout.

I also have my reservations about there not being a strong sense of place in terms of descriptions of the landscape and towns. I didn't form a strong picture in my mind about the locations and yet I'm very familiar with Ireland, so I found that a little strange. I could also have done without the townies all being smart and the locals boozed-up thick "culchies". While that might have been how city folk viewed country people in the 50s, the author could have brought that into his characters' prejudices rather than writing it universally through The Drowned.

But still, despite my reservations, I will read more of Banville and might even attempt the full Strafford and Quirke series.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

This is the first book I've read by this author and whilst I did like it, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read other books in the series first to get a feel for the characters.

3.5 stars

John Banville’s writing is always excellent. His storytelling is equally good, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into his characters’ world as each novel and series progresses. Such a vivid, believable, atmospheric Ireland of the 1950s is displayed in his Quirke novels, you have no doubt where you are or how dramatically different Ireland was just a few generations ago.

'The Drowned' is not a crime novel in the traditional sense – a murder, a puzzle, a resolution – Banville’s genius in this genre is the development of his characters and how they respond to developments in the case; there is very little ‘detecting’ actually done. He is more like Simenon than any other crime writer in this respect, but his books could never be confused with Simenon or any other writer; Banville has a truly singular voice, and combined with the setting and perspective of the characters makes him almost certainly unique in crime fiction.

If you are not new to the Quirke books you will know genius in this series is to involve the ‘new’ character of Strafford – the opposite in almost every respect to the ‘original’ protagonist of Quirke (opposite to the extent that I wouldn’t be totally surprised if we end up with a Fight Club style conclusion to the series), but both gravitating to, and around Quirke’s daughter and their very different relationships to her. Strafford gives the series a fresh and dramatically different perspective.

But it is the trueness of the author’s prose that sets Banville apart from virtually any other author writing in the genre – Banville can’t help but be a ‘literary’ writer even if he claims not to have to put the same work into producing his Quirke novels than his ‘genuine’ literary novels. They are vivid and sometimes beautiful to read.

This is a book where it would be entirely believable to find it had been written 60 years ago, indeed has more in common with crime fiction of the 50s and 60s than contemporary crime, but the fact of its current period of authorship means that we are given glimpses of the reality of the time that may have been missed or probably avoided by an author writing in the 1960s. It is a great story but more than that, it is profound and an important document of a lost country and an entirely changed people.

I received an ARC of thei book via netgalley and am grateful for the opportunity to read it.

Quirke is a pathologist and Stafford a detective and the case they are investigating entails the disappearance (presumed suicide) of a woman in coastal Ireland. There is obvious history between the two MCs both good and bad I seem to think. The investigation is started by a local alcoholic and abusive garda who seems to have been shipped to the most out of the way location in the hopes of limiting his influence. Yet he seems to wield this same influence over obviously superior colleagues and, moreover to get away with it. To me Stafford is inept does not seem to fit his status as detective and merely appears as a shadowy character - maybe his character and status are defined in a previous book.

Running through the hazy investigative narrative are more personal story lines. Stafford is in a relationship with Quirke's daughter and also married but separated from his wife who wants a divorce.

For me there was no drive, no oomph in the narrative. It felt almost banal


When I requested this book it there was no indication that it was number 5 in 1 series and number 10 in another. The fact that this is in a series and that allusions are constantly made to a previous case rather spoils the enjoyment of the book. At the same time I am not tempted to go back and read others in the series.

As this was an author I never read before but the style was very good and atmospheric. However I felt I should have read his previous books as although this felt like a stand alone I wasn’t aware of the characters. Therefore I can’t give a proper review as I feel I should read some of his other books first. Did love the era and the setting if this book and I am sure there will be excitement around this book if you have read previous titles from this author.
So my score reflects only along this book .

The first I have read by this author and I will not rush to read another. Set in an unspecified time, I would guess in the 50s on the Irish East coast, The case is fairly unclear as a man appears ssaying that his wife had run off into the sea. That there is something off about him and others involved is obvious but beyond stating that, the investigating detective doesn't really do more than talk to a few locals and get bogged down by his personal life.
I did like the meandering text which gives a good picture of Ireland and the attitudes of that era. Not sure about the plot which had twists and turns and an extra death thrown in which did not add much to the story for me. Perhaps because I haven't read others, I did not get the style and the details started to get me down. Looking at the bigger picture, things do come together in a way but there are also open ends.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

I am trying to figure out what it is that I like about John Banville’s writing and particularly this latest of the Quirke / Strafford series. It’s not as though the plot is particularly devious nor is the “who done it” suspense particularly suspenseful. The police procedure is not a big feature and the main characters are quite depressive and not at all likable in the conventional sense. What is masterful is Banville’s journey into the minds of highly flawed characters and their daily struggle to cope with who they are and how they fit into the world that surrounds them. It is painful at times but then often hilarious. His writing is vivid and addictive and I find I really want to know what is coming on the next page. Not just to see how the story unfolds but also to see how these fascinating characters unfold. This may not satisfy the needs of all murder mystery enthusiasts but I find it compelling and cannot wait until his next book in the series. And I say this wile being a big fan of Reginal Hill, Colin Dexter and Ann Cleeves!
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing access to this book.

I love John Banville's books, and it is a joy to read another one. The author's writing really evokes a sense of time and place, and the storyline is depressing, but compelling. I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

These novels are a wonderfully immersive world and this novel pulls together a number of strands and back storylines. Yes they are crime novels but they also tell of the human condition and how events echo and reverberate down the years. They are wonderful and everyone should read them at once. Even if they are not readers of the crime genre

The writing is sublime. I am a member of a crime book club and we read a novel a month. This means we read literary crime, holiday crime and literary crime. John Banville is like quality dark chocolate. Deeply satisfying, lingers with you and is, potentially, good for you. Quite a lot of crime novels are like cheap milk chocolate which seems good in the moment but can leave you feeling slightly queasy.

Thinking about the way so many things came together I am now slightly worried this might be the last in the series. I do hope not

I think this is book number 4 in the Quirke/Stafford series and I’ve read them all. I enjoy the setting, 1950s Ireland split between Dublin and Wicklow. The locations are familiar. The setting is atmospheric. I enjoyed the details of a past world.

The crime involved feels incidental. More of the book is dedicated to Quirke and Stafford’s personal lives than any crime solving. It’s not clear to me what happened to the child or why it is relevant to the story.

I also feel you have to know a lot of detail from prior books, you are not reminded about details (who is Molly?), to truly appreciate all the subtleties of the story.

One evening in rural Ireland a loner comes across an abandoned car in a field. There he encounters an Englishman who claims his wife has fled the car, and thrown herself into the sea. The police are called and Detective Inspector Strafford is dispatched from Dublin to investigate the woman’s disappearance. But there is something clearly amiss. Several of the characters appear to be hiding something, and Strafford has to call on his old ally, pathologist Quirke, to help unravel the tight knot of complexities and buried resentments.

The Quirke series of crime novels first began in 2006 with Christine Falls, published under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. Six further books followed, after which Banville dropped the pseudonym and published April in Spain using the name John Banville, which also featured (alongside Quirke) the younger police detective St John Strafford. Since then there has been The Lock Up and Snow. The Drowned is the fourth entry in the Quirke & Strafford series.

I adore these books. Sometimes I come across reviews of them, clearly written by fans of historical detective fiction, and they generally criticise the melancholy tone and the glacial pacing of the plot. Which is to miss the point by a long chalk. These novels are literary character studies featuring unsatisfied and deeply flawed men, with 1950s Ireland – and all the political and religious complexities that come with that – as its backdrop. They are snippets of life from a bygone time. They’re superbly written character examinations of what makes us human. The detective aspect is almost always secondary. Sometimes the mystery isn’t at all that compelling. It’s certainly not the thing that drives the storyline.

In this particular novel there’s a character whose past would generally make him deeply unsympathetic. And yet Banville’s skill as a writer allow us to feel for him, to see the world through his eyes, and to realise that things are not just black and white; there are shades of darkness in all of us. Strafford’s relationship to Quirke’s daughter Phoebe evolves, and we are taken into uncomfortable territory with the novel’s progression. I admire Quirke, even if I find him a little too curmudgeonly, and yet I really like St John Strafford and enjoy their uneasy relationship.

John Banville’s prose is an absolute delight. He writes with a deeply satisfying style, precise and yet unpretentious. This is what real storytelling is, when the author demands we follow him on the journey not because we’re curious about what might happen in the story, but by the fact that we care about what will happen to his characters. The Drowned is yet another masterpiece of historic fiction and comes highly recommended.

I thought this book started off well but it soon became confusing. Hence the three stars. I also thought the ending was a bit of an anti climax.

Because i always try to be balanced I do have to say that Banville's writing style is excellent...there's nothing confusing or superfluous...just what you'd expect of a Booker nominated author, but...

I'm just not at all sure whether I misread the blurb on this book before I decided to read....thinking it was a mystery focussed book. Yes it all starts out promising with a missing person and a few key characters with possibly ulterior motives...but then it all disappears and we find ourselves for the next 260 pages or so flitting in and out of the characters personal lives...in fact the subject of the original missing person mystery isn't really solved until the very end of the book...and then a hugely disappointing and banal explanation and motives!

Even as a book concentrating on human stories it fails, with very little of any interest whatsoever.

This is the fourth novel in the fabulous Strafford and Quirke series from the pen of John Banville and once again it doesn’t disappoint. It only takes a few pages and I am back in 1950’s Ireland where Inspector Strafford has been called in to look into a missing person case, but when he see that it involves the professor whose assistant was recently murdered he begins to think that there may be more to this case than first meets the eye.
John Banville cannot be thought of as only a crime writer for his characters are complex individuals and his scene setting and descriptive prose is exquisite.
This book is a delight to read.