CHRISTINE FALLS
Benjamin Black
Henry Holt and Company
Thriller
ISBN-10: 0805081526
ISBN-13: 9780805081527

Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville, a critically acclaimed author who is well known in literary fiction circles. CHRISTINE FALLS is Banville's debut crime novel, a complex, dark and compelling work that is mysterious and quietly horrifying. From the very first page, one gets the feeling that nothing is quite right or as it seems --- and that it never will be.

CHRISTINE FALLS is set in the mid-20th century and centers primarily on Quirke Griffin, a Dublin pathologist who was rescued from an Irish orphanage by the esteemed Judge Garrett Griffin. The Judge raised Quirke with his own son, Mal, but favored Quirke for reasons unknown. Yet such preference, real or imagined, has done Quirke little good. Mal has become a prominent obstetrician, who is favored by his lady patients, even as he is married to an American woman named Sarah. Quirke loved Sarah even as he married her sister, who died while giving birth to their daughter.

Quirke's days have become a repetition of work, drink and sleep when he happens to catch Mal altering a file concerning a dead woman named Christine Falls. Falls is recorded as having died of pulmonary embolism, but an investigation on Quirke's part determines that in fact she died in childbirth and the newborn was spirited away. Motivated by a vague sense of duty, Quirke begins the process of unearthing the baby's fate, even as he is given vague warnings against doing so --- warnings that quickly turn violent not only for himself but for others involved.

Meanwhile, we learn through alternating chapters where the child is and into what circumstances she has fallen. Quirke's inquiry leads him from Dublin to Boston, where he uncovers a scheme that has roots in the highest levels of Dublin society, even as he is confronted with one of the deepest secrets of his own past from which he ultimately cannot escape.

CHRISTINE FALLS is a beautifully told yet dark tale. Banville uncovers secrets as if he is slowly and gently opening nesting dolls to reveal an uneasy, roiling mass of wrongness created by good intentions within. Indications are that more is forthcoming from Banville in this genre. Please let it be so.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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