Holy Orders, John Banville
Holy Orders, John Banville
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
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Holy Orders
A Quirke Novel

Author: John Banville, Benjamin Black

Series: Quirke #6

Narrator: John Keating

Unabridged: 9 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/20/2013

Synopsis

When the body of his daughter’s friend is brought to his autopsy table, Quirke is plunged into a world of corruption that takes him to the darkest corners of the Catholic Church, in one of The Wall Street Journal’s “Ten Best Mysteries of the Year.”

1950s Dublin. A battered body discovered floating in a canal is quickly identified as Jimmy Minor, an up-and-coming investigative journalist for the Clarion and a good friend to Phoebe, the daughter of pathologist Quirke.

Determined to find Jimmy’s killer, Quirke enlists his sometime partner, Inspector Hackett. As they dig deeper into the stories Jimmy was pursuing and the secrets he was poised to reveal, and Quirke is haunted by the memories of his own grim childhood in a priest-run orphanage, the two men will see just how far the Church and its supporters will go to protect their own interests.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Co.

About John Banville

JOHN BANVILLE was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of numerous novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Booker Prize, and the DI Quirke mysteries. In 2011 he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, in 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature, and in 2014 he won the Prince of Asturias Award, Spain’s most important literary prize. He lives in Dublin.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 31, 2021

In this sixth book in the 'Dr. Quirke' series, the pathologist helps the police investigate the murder of a journalist. We also learn more about Quirke and his daughter. The book can be read as a standalone. ***** Young journalist Jimmy Minor is found beaten to death in Dublin and the pathologist, Dr......more

Goodreads review by Julie on March 19, 2014

Disappointed by Vengeance, Quirke #5, I nearly gave this a pass. And for suspense, for the crime noir this purports to be, it does not deliver. There's rich story to be mined in the corrupt priest angle and even more in the Tinkers/Travelers community, but these threads make guest appearances and ar......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on August 22, 2013

4.5 stars Thanks to Librarything's early reviewers' program, I received a copy of this book from the publisher -- my many thanks to LT and Henry Holt. In this sixth installment in the Quirke series, a trysting couple take a walk along the towpath by a canal, coming across a body wedged in between the......more

Goodreads review by Carol on July 13, 2020

The story had a great beginning...a murder to solve and characters that we had come to trust and like playing their usual roles...but then it all changed. About halfway through the book Quirke's daughter wanders into the story...and not necessarily bringing anything to greatly impact what was alread......more

Goodreads review by David on December 30, 2013

Quirke does not change, ever. Nor do the demons he carries and evokes involuntarily throughout his work as a forensic pathologist in nineteen-fifties Dublin. The haunted man's fragile consciousness allows a form of nearly-lost love for his daughter and his actress companion, though he would prefer t......more

Quotes

“Dalton's soul-stirring Shakespearean intonation was ideal for earlier books in the series, as they largely were told from the point of view of the protagonist Quirke, a brooding, alcoholic pathologist. But with that perspective subsequently having been paired with the additional perspective of Quirke's daughter, Phoebe, I now realize John Keating – who most recently read Black's ‘A Death in Summer' – is perfect for these alternating voices.” —The Star-Ledger

Awards

  • Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year
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