The Drowned, John Banville
The Drowned, John Banville
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

The Drowned
A Novel

Author: John Banville

Narrator: John Lee

Unabridged: 8 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2024


Synopsis

Amazon Editors' Pick: Best Literature and Fiction books of October

From the renowned Booker Prize winner and nationally bestselling author of Snow comes a richly atmospheric new mystery about a woman’s sudden disappearance in a small coastal town in Ireland, where nothing is as it seems.

"John Banville is one of my favorite writers alive, and I pick up his books whenever I need a reminder how to write a good sentence.”—R.F. Kuang

“He had seen drowned people. A sight not to be forgotten.”

1950s, rural Ireland. A loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn’t approach but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person case, as a husband claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea.

Called in from Dublin to investigate is Detective Inspector Strafford, who soon turns to his old ally—the flawed but brilliant pathologist Quirke—a man he is linked to in increasingly complicated ways. But as the case unfolds, events from the past resurface that may have life-altering ramifications for all involved.

At once a searing mystery and a profound meditation on the hidden worlds we all inhabit, The Drowned is the next great Strafford and Quirke novel from a beloved writer at the top of his game.

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 novels written under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. 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 Shannon M (Canada) on October 23, 2024

This book is being marketed as a standalone and as a mystery. It is neither. There are constant references made to the Rosa Jacobs case that was investigated a year earlier by Dr. Quirke, the pathologist, and DI St John Strafford. THE DROWNED appears to be the second instalment of the Rosa Jacobs ca......more

Goodreads review by Michael on November 16, 2024

John Banville wrote the “serious” books, the award winners. “The Sea,” a book I cherish, won the Booker Prize in 2005. His alter ego, Benjamin Black, wrote crime novels, the entries trapped in that genre, most featuring a pathologist, Quirke. Later, too, he employed detective St. John Strafford. The......more

Goodreads review by Dave on October 19, 2024

The Drowned is technically the third and probably final volume in John Banville's Quirke/Strafford series. It is the fifth Stafford book, and the tenth Quirke book, just to confuse you. Oh, and some of these books are listed as having been authored by Banville's pseudoynm, Benjamin Black. As of toda......more

Goodreads review by Karen on November 27, 2024

This book is actually a continuing series with Banville’s major characters, the pathologist Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford taking center stage. But it can be read as a stand-alone. Although, some reviewers have recommended reading “The Lock Up” to refresh readers, and, to be reminded of so......more

Goodreads review by Julie on January 25, 2025

You've got to be in the mood for lugubrious, atmospheric, slow-drip drama and Darlings, deep in the Big Dark of January, I was. This is not the story to begin the Quirke/St. John Strafford series if you haven't yet discovered the world of Banville's 1950's Ireland–the backstory will lose you complet......more