Christine Falls: A Novel

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		Christine Falls: A Novel
		Christine Falls: A Novel

基本信息·出版社：Picador
·页码：384 页
·出版日期：2008年01月
·ISBN：0312426321
·条形码：9780312426323
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语

内容简介 在线阅读本书

The hero of Christine Falls, Quirke, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman’s corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke reluctantly begins looking into the woman’s history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned--first subtly, then with violence--to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man. The first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville’s writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.

作者简介

Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, most recently the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin.

编辑推荐 Michael Dibdin, Guardian
'If there's any justice, Banville should be able to add the CWA
Gold Dagger to his heap of trophies.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard
`This superb novel has all of Banville's "unrelieved bleakness"
but its air of menace... lend it an unexpected page-turning compulsion' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Independent on Sunday Top Fifty
`Our critics choice of the hottest tickets' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Andrew Taylor, Spectator
`Banville writes beautifully, and his sense of time and place
seems immaculate. Christine Falls is dark and often unbearably sad.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Patricia Craig, Arts & Book Review
'In Black's hands, the impulse of social criticism makes a
compelling alternative to the usual thriller-writer's drive' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Daily Telegraph
'a superbly dark mystery set in 1950's Dublin' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Dalton uses all his pacing and vocal skills and his wonderful, deep Welsh tones to keep listeners engaged and on edge through this mystery set in 1950s Dublin and Boston. He skillfully sustains our empathy for widowed Dublin coroner Quirke, the alcoholic, angry and acerbic narrator who drags himself into solving the mystery of Christine Falls's death in childbirth and the disappearance of her newborn—a scenario that parallels Quirke's own experience. Black (pseudonym of Booker Prize–winner John Banville) is a fine writer, reminiscent of P.D. James in his care for language and his emphasis on psychologically complex characters, including Mel, Quirke's obstetrician stepbrother; Sarah, Mel's wife (and sister of Quirke's dead wife), whose love for Quirke is reciprocated; and Mel and Sarah's confused daughter, Phoebe. Black weaves his characters through a neat and original plot that descends into the dark depths of Quirke's family history and rises to the highest ranks of the Catholic church. Detective fiction readers will love Black's writing and Dalton's reading, and look forward to more from both.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Christine Falls may be Benjamin Black's debut crime novel, but it's not his first book: Black is the nom de plumeof John Banville, the Booker Prize?winning author of The Sea (****1/2 Jan/Feb 2006). As expected, Banville's lyrical writing stands out (and is more accessible than in The Sea), but the expressive style doesn't eclipse the dark, suspenseful plot. Set during the all-powerful reign of the Catholic Church, the novel touches on themes of sexual repression, grief, and lost opportunities. Readers expecting a fast-paced crime novel may initially be surprised by Banville's slow, deliberate rendering of the plot and the complex characters—but they will certainly look forward to the next novel in this projected series.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile
Timothy Dalton offers an excellent, fine-tuned narration of this first in a planned series of crime novels by Booker Prize winner John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black. The series will feature Garret Quirke, an alcoholic Dublin pathologist as quirky as his name. The dark, densely plotted novel focuses on illegal transatlantic trafficking in orphans by prominent Catholics who want to create a stockpile of future priests and nuns. Dalton differentiates his Dublin and Boston Irish accents beautifully. He's also adept at creating believable personality studies of a wide range of characters, including women, the very young, and the old. His narration, which grabs the listener's attention from the first, never flags. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist
Benjamin Black is really Booker Prize winner John Banville, and Christine Falls is his inaugural volume in a crime series starring Quirke, a lonely, hard-drinking Dublin pathologist. An orphan, Quirke was raised by a socially prominent Catholic judge, and his brother-in-law is Malachy Griffin, Dublin's most prominent obstetrician. Quirke is surprised and suspicious when he finds Mal in the morgue, late at night, writing a death certificate for one of Quirke's new arrivals, a young woman named Christine Falls. He performs an autopsy and learns that Mal's statements about the cause of death are patently false, prompting him to begin an investigation into what unfolds as a monstrous, transcontinental scandal orchestrated by pillars of Dublin's Catholic society. Christine Falls is deeply atmospheric. Clydesdales drag drays through the streets of 1950s Dublin, and the pubs are "fuggy with turf smoke." Nearly all the characters are painstakingly detailed and developed--even though they're likely to be morally mysterious. But readers' advisors should take note: crime-fiction fans who favor garden-variety mysteries may find this complex and deeply ruminative novel more than they bargained for. Thomas Gaughan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A page-turner told in prose so beautiful you'll want to read some passages repeatedly. Intricately plotted, beautifully written."--The Boston Globe

 

"Measured, taut, and transfixing . . . Benjamin Black's plotting is methodical, detailed, and always gripping. You can smell the smoke in Quirke's favorite pub and touch the cool walls in a Boston convent he later visits."--USA Today "Swirling, elegant noir . . . Crossover fiction of a very high order . . . Rolls forward with haunting, sultry exoticism . . . toward the best kind of denouement under these circumstances: a half inconclusive one."--The New York Times 
 
"Offers a subtler, deeper satisfaction than just finding out whodunit. . . . What's most disconcerting of all about Christine Falls is the atmosphere of moral claustrophobia enveloping it."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A dark, ambitious crime novel . . . It’s going to make more than a few readers flip the book over to look at the author photo to make sure Banville’s really pulling the strings."--Newsday 

"Crime fiction rarely lives up to the term 'literary,' but [Christine Falls] is the happy exception."--Entertainment Weekly 

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