Publication Date October 2, 2024

Three years ago, reviewing JohnBanville’s “April In Spain,” I wrote “Banville is an outstanding writer, and he is great at developing both setting and character — but you have to be REALLY patient or just one of those readers who likes to savor a well-written story. The ending was a surprise, which is generally the case for me — and Quirke’s story is unfinished at the end, presumably to set the stage for more  about him.” So I was pleased to receive a copy of Banville’s The Drowned from Harlequin  Trade/Hanover Square Press in exchange for my honest review. 

This latest book features Detective Inspector St. John Strafford (“Sinjun” and “with an R”) as an Irish Detective Inspector. As noted then, Strafford  “didn’t really know himself and didn’t care to.” Although he’s apparently a good detective, he “…wasn’t good at solving puzzles…always the danger, in his job, of seeing things that weren’t there, of making a pattern where there wasn’t one.”Also in this one is Dr. Quirke, a pathologist who is Strafford’s buddy…or is he? Now that Strafford is involved with Quirke’s daughter Phoebe, things may need to change.  

Interestingly, this book is sometimes identified as being part of the Quirke-Strafford series. What, what? There’s a series? Both of them are repeat characters in Banville books, and this book, while not exactly a sequel to the earlier Lock-Up, is definitely a continuation of the events in that earlier book and I  HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the earlier book first. It isn’t bad,or impossible to follow, but there are many instances where mention is made of characters, events, etc.and their actions, and the reader needs to infer relationships and connections. Not impossible to follow but there are definitely benefits from knowing who is who and what happened earlier. 

In this story, a somewhat weird loner comes across an empty car in a field by the ocean. It becomes a missing person case, as the man claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea. Detective Inspector Strafford is called on to come down from Dublin to unravel the strange events, and Quirke works with him to try to unravel the mystery. 

I suspect that if I had read the prior book recently I might have had an easier time following the people and events, and I felt like I had to look up characters and events as they came up to get who they were and where things were going. The mystery unravels slowly and might be a bit slow for many but as usual Banville’s language is beautiful and his storytelling unmatched. I am unsure about the stars on this one. The writing deserves 5, but I just wish there had been more explication before the story unraveled at its pace. So: 4 *s.