Garnethill
by Denise Mina
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Book Summary Information
Author: Denise MinaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-09-20
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of Garnethill
Book Review: AN INTRIGUING AND UNLIKELY HEROINE....
Summary: 5 Stars
When Maureen O'Donnell is just about to end her affair with Douglas Brady, her therapist boyfriend, he is found murdered and tied up in her flat. She is the prime suspect, despite her alibi during the time period estimated.
An incest survivor, Maureen has been a patient at a psychiatric hospital. Her experiences have made her less than credible, but then others seemingly have set out to frame her as well.
With no other option, Maureen and her pal Leslie set out to uncover the identity of the killer. Along the way, they realize that another heinous set of crimes is at the root of the murder, compounding the motivations and the path leading to the killer.
What does Maureen uncover as she tries to figure out what happened to Douglas? How do her family members add to the quandary she is in? And how will the police who are dogging her footsteps suddenly become her allies?
Almost immediately, I felt as though Maureen could have been someone I knew. Perhaps even a friend or family member. She was so richly drawn, and I felt as though I hovered nearby as she very carefully uncovered the necessary clues and then set out to bait the killer.
An intensely compelling read, Garnethill, by Denise Mina, is the first novel in a trilogy; I can't wait to read the rest. I definitely awarded this book five stars.
Summary of Garnethill
"A shattering first novel... You can't look away from it."--New York Times Book ReviewMaureen O'Donnell wakes up one morning to find her therapist boyfriend murdered in the middle of her living room and herself a prime suspect in a murder case. Desperate to clear her name and to get at the truth, Maureen traces rumors about a similar murder at a local psychiatric hospital, uncovering a trail of deception and repressed scandal that could exonerate her - or make her the next victim.
"I can't think of a more interesting - and less likely - crime hero than Maureen O'Donnell, the damaged but determined center of Denise Mina's marvelous debut mystery. . . . The book bristles with angry energy and the spare urban poetry of its unique language." -
"A groundbreaking book...its emotional rawness and visceral honesty pack a punch more potent than any boxer-turned-PI could provide."--Washington Post Book World
"This raw, powerful story is an exceptional debut." -Kansas City Star
"A compelling story. . . . This is the reason we read mysteries." -Rocky Mountain News
Garnethill (the name of a bleak Glasgow suburb) won the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel--the British equivalent of the Edgar. It's a book that crackles with mordant Scottish wit and throbs with the pain of badly treated mental illness, managing to be both truly frightening and immensely exhilarating at the same time.
Maureen O'Donnell, surely one of the most unlikely crime solvers in recent history, comes from a family so seriously dysfunctional that it deserves a television series of its own. Her mother is an overly dramatic alcoholic who "could scene-steal from an eclipse"; her brother Liam is a bumbling drug dealer; and the black sheep of the family is a sister who went to London and became a Thatcherite. The troubled but gutsy Maureen decides to dump her boyfriend, Douglas--an abusive (and married) psychologist she met while a patient at a sex-abuse clinic. After a night of drinking with a friend who's a social worker, Maureen wakes up to find that Douglas has been tied to a kitchen chair in her flat with his throat slashed. As someone with both a motive and a history of mental illness, Maureen is the most likely suspect--until a second, similar murder occurs that links the crimes to a local psychiatric hospital. Denise Mina, who has a background in health care, law, and criminology, is definitely a writer to watch. --Dick Adler
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