Customer Reviews

The Rising

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Rising is a very good police procedural set in rural Ireland; specifically the north-west of the Republic on the border with the North. Location is vital as the influence of the Troubles hangs heavy over this story. Are paramilitaries behind the vigilante group; or the "community activism"? What are their motives? Have they really reformed or are they simply driving out the opposition so that they have the drugs business to themselves?

This is the morass that a fairly ordinary man, Inspector Benedict Devlin has to deal with. He investigates the death of a local drug dealer which might be linked to the vigilantes. The attraction of Devlin is that he is so ordinary. He is not the maverick loaner, nor is there for him the drink or drugs problem or womanising. Instead he faces problems with his children and feels guilty about not valuing his wife enough and his work gets in the way of his personal life.

There is a very good yarn here. There are twists and turns aplenty, but they are all believable. More to the point, the detection done by Devlin is clever and astute without him becoming some kind of super hero. The feel of the narrative and characterisation is similar to Peter Robinson's "Banks" series, although it has to be conceded that Brian McGilloway is not quite in that class.

The Rising is an accomplished story with a very good central character and good supporting cast which will be enjoyed by any fan of good police procedurals.

I have only just recently started getting more into `detective' stories, as I have never been a big fan of them. However tastes change with time, and I am glad mine has, as I have now found Brian McGilloway's creation of Inspector Devlin.

This reminds me very much of the Graham Hurley novels, and that they obviously have recurring themes, characters and places within them, set in around the Garda in Ireland, very near the border if the North. This I found having picked the series up in book 4, but it does not detract from the story.

Inspector Devlin is called out to a burning barn, where the subsequent discovery of a dead body turns out to be a drug dealer. Devlin now becomes involved the drug problems of the area, and has to also confront others who are dealing with the drug problems in local communities - the so called 'The Rising'. More bodies connected with the world of drugs are discovered, and Devlin realises that there is more to the whole problem of the first body discovered in the barn, and that perhaps some people closer to home are involved. However the truth is not always the right answer.

Devlin has a family, a wife and two children, and as readers we see him try and juggle this with his detective work, and the pain it causes when his daughter shows she is growing up and wants to go her own way. This leads to pain for the family, and at times I felt like shaking Devlin and telling him to concentrate on his family which seems to be slowly falling apart.

The story is a believable one, and there is nothing in it that I found stretched the events of real life anyway. The whole story and plot is kept very real and very in the 'here and now'. Where you think it is going to go, it will not and the eventual conclusion is somewhat frustrating and justice may not be done for now, but I think it is written for the possibility for the next in the series.

Well written and recommended to anyone who likes a good tasty detective novel. I am off to catch up with the previous three books now..........

Burning barns, dead bodies, drug dealers and a vigilante group of ex-paramilitaries calling themselves 'The Rising' make this, the fourth in the Garda Inspector Devlin series of novels a well written and compelling read. As the investigation unfolds there are enough twists to keep it interesting and the plot moving along at a good pace. A secondary storyline where a former colleague of Devlin's asks for his assistance when her son goes missing had me wanting to read the previous books to find out more about their past relationship

What I really liked about this book was that it had a realism about it. Devlin's not an 'all-action hero', he's an overworked family man who has problems the same as the rest of us. His relationship with his teenage daughter is strained and this in turn has him and his wife Debbie at loggerheads - all very real, believable and makes Devlin a great character.

This is the first I've read of Brian McGilloway's Devlin series, though I must admit to having been tempted with them in the past whilst browsing and the first in the series Borderlands has been on my wishlist for a while. I had no problems reading it as a standalone even if I do now want to go back and read the previous ones. A definite recommendation for crime/mystery lovers.

A well constructed story that is written with finesse. The plot unfolds slowly as over 2 months a couple of cases are investigated concurrently. This is a novel that is best enjoyed at a leisurely pace.

The case involves thorough investigation of a series of drug related deaths in Derry Northern Ireland. Woven within the drug intrigue is a politcal angle where John Morrison seems to be orchastrating the Rising, an anti-drug neighbourhood watch. But all is not as it seems.

The Inspector Devlin is easy to understand and associate with if married with children. A very human Inspector has a typical family life with a daughter approaching her difficult teens, a young boy, and a frustrated wife.

If you are looking for thrilling page turning action then look elsewhere...Tripwire: A Jack Reacher Novel, this is a more refined page turner.

I'd not heard of this detective before, nor the author, so I decided to order this from Amazon Vine to sample something new. I was not disappointed.
This is the fourth book in the Inspector Devlin series, but having not read the previous three did not hinder my enjoyment of this novel: it's a superb stand-alone story.
It involves Garda Detective Benedict Devlin being called out to a burning barn, inside of which a body of a local drug dealer is discovered. However, the death is found to be non-accidental, & thus the mystery begins. As it unfolds, we have a disappearance of a teenage boy, son of Caroline, an ex-colleague of Devlin's, whose body then washes up on a beach; a second murder of another drug dealer; and the involvement of a group of ex-paramilitaries who call themselves The Rising, upon whom suspicion falls for the deaths of the drug dealers.
The story is greatly enhanced & fleshed-out by informing the reader of Devlin's relationship with his wife & their children, especially daughter Penny. Devlin is a very human detective, & I particularly enjoyed his battle to come to terms with his little girl becoming a young woman: over-protective, struggling to communicate with her on the same level, making bad decisions but learning from them. The rather rocky relationship with wife Debbie held my attention also, the latter proving to be a strong, fair character who is the cement that keeps the family unit bonded.
It's a very well written book, using straight-forward, everyday language. The story is involving & has twists & turns aplenty to keep you guessing & wanting to turn the next page over. I enjoyed it so much that I now intend ordering the first three Devlin books, especially wanting to discover what history Devlin & Caroline have!

Once again Brian McGilloway has come up trumps with the latest Inspector Devlin novel. This has the usual multi-stranded plot lines which Ben works his way through whilst his private life appears to be unravelling. I felt that his boss Harry Patterson was more believable than in the previous book.

Ostensibly the plot revolves around a community action group `The Rising' who are seeking to eradicate the stranglehold on their neighbourhood of local drug dealers. However, this group is led by a small band of men who have less than savoury pasts and who are actually seeking to strengthen the grip of one major drug dealer, the outwardly respectable businessman Vincent Morrison, by disposing of the competition. Morrison is a nemesis to our moral yet maverick detective Devlin, who soon gets to the root of this conspiracy but also finds himself embroiled on a personal level with Morrison due to the growing relationship between Morrison's son John and Devlin's daughter Penny. Penny is approaching the devilish teenage years apace and all the seeds of rebellion are wonderfully sown as Devlin comes into conflict with his daughter over this youthful dalliance ultimately leading to a gripping emotional drama at the conclusion of the book putting Devlin's familial relationships at the very heart of this novel.

This book also sees the reappearance of Devlin's former colleague Caroline Williams who has always had a special place in Devlin's heart in the previous will they, won't they plot lines. There is heartbreak for Caroline with the senseless death of her teenage son Peter and through the actions of Caroline's ex-husband we see her pushed to her emotional limits and Devlin has no other option but to become more involved. This story line is particularly well realised and really tugs on the reader's heartstrings as Caroline is such an empathetic character and depicts the loyalty that Devlin has to those closest to him outside of his police role.

Brian McGilloway's books are always a wonderful combination of fictional drama blended with an adherence to factual history but I felt this book in particular marked a slight departure in style from the author. Indeed, what struck me most about the book was how emotionally fraught it was in comparison to the rest of the series and how, through the interlinking plot lines, the theme of family was so prevalent, amongst the `good' and the `bad' characters which made this book resonate with the reader on a much deeper level. A great read.

The book is a good police procedural set in Ireland. The book starts with Devlin being called to a burning barn and the body of a well known drug dealer and moves on from there. Of course not all is as it seems...

...is it ever!!

I won't talk more about the plot as others have done that in their reviews. The book is well written with an easy down to earth style. The troubles in Ireland are a key part of the story but there is now drum banging or pontificating about them. They are covered as part of the background and no more.

The tale moves at a good pace and is in the main believable. It twists and turns to the end and kept me hooked enough to not turn out the light til the end!

Overall I would recommend the book if you like your crime novels gritty and realistic. I will be looking out for more from Brian McGilloway in the future

I was doubtful about this book mainly because of its setting in Ireland and the involvement of the "troubles" in the story line. Having said that, the Author has managed to create the atmosphere of the time (without overwhelming the reader with the problems in Ireland) and provided a good, gritty well written crime story as well.
Not in my top ten but very good and well worth a read.

Perhaps "thriller" is not the correct description of a novel like this. Inspector Ben Devlin of the Irish An Garda is the hero in this realistic police story. Devlin is a dedicated officer but at the same time his family suffers from his frequent absence from normal family life. He has a struggle to accept that his teenage daughter is growing up and his distance from his family causes rifts when he tries to lay down the law. It meets with coldness and resentment from his wife. An old collegue reappears in his life when her young son dies under mysterious circumstances fuelled by drugs and alcohol. I have not read any of the other books in the series but got the impression that he had a soft spot for her. Nevertheless, Devlin is not your run of the mill fictional detective. He is not a hard-drinking, foul mouthed womaniser. He is a human character. All the characters in the story are realistic with good points and bad.
Without going into the plot, Devlin is working on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic in an area still reeling from the troubles of the past. He has become involved with a supposedly anti-drug organisation called the Rising. But are they all they seem to be? Run by criminals with attrocious records, it seems that they are out to control the drug business themselves when local small-time dealers are found murdered.
It is an easy to read, enjoyable book, which does not sweep the reader off his or her feet with impossible scenarios. It is easily the most realistic police detective story I have ever read.
I enjoyed it and I might well consider having another look at what Brian McGilloway has to offer.