About The Book
THEY DID IT TO THEMSELVES
BUT SOMEONE WAS WATCHING
The Macnamara sisters hadn’t been seen for months before anyone noticed. It was Father Timoney who finally broke down the door, who saw what had become of them. Berenice was sitting in her armchair, surrounded by religious tracts. Rosaleen had crawled under her own bed, her face frozen in terror. Both had starved themselves to death.
Francesca Macnamara returns to Dublin after decades in the US, to find her family in ruins. Meanwhile, Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine are convinced that there is more to the deaths than suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows that someone was watching the sisters die…
My Review
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I loved this novel that was set in Dublin in the 1980s. It was quite refreshing to read a detective novel where the police had to rely on finding a pay phone to speak to colleagues rather than just use a mobile. Only a small thing but it is easy to forget how it used to be.
The lack of technology was a recurring theme throughout the novel. Not just with the police, the distance between New York and Dublin seemed larger when you have to rely on the postal way of communicating. And when a tragedy such as the one that occurred in this novel it seemed to make it more devastating. The deaths of the two sisters are strange, even more so when you are aware that the author has based this on true events. I’m not sure how much is fact but it is a chilling and baffling case. Especially if you are like the two detectives ( and me) and don’t follow any religion.
Despite not knowing much about the faith it didn’t stop me thoroughly enjoying the story, I liked the lead characters a lot, Considine , who refused to accept the attitude to female police officers and Swan who was a bit of a loner, struggling to connect to his fellow officers and in some ways his wife. They communicated well, with neither overstepping boundaries and were able to see each other’s point of view without arguing. I think that both of these characters have huge potential and I am looking to getting to know them more.
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