Christine Falls

A Novel

Quirke (Volume 1)

Benjamin Black

Picador

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The hero of Christine Falls, Quirke, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman’s corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke reluctantly begins looking into the woman’s history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned--first subtly, then with violence--to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man. The first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville’s writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.

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Chapter One It was not the dead that seemed to quirke uncanny but the living. When he walked into the morgue long after midnight and saw Malachy Griffin there he felt a shiver along his spine that was to prove prophetic, a tremor of troubles to come. Mal was in Quirke’s office, sitting at the desk. Quirke stopped in the unlit body room, among the shrouded forms on their trolleys, and watched him through the open doorway. He was seated with his back to the door, leaning forward intently in his steel-framed spectacles, the desk lamp lighting the left side of his face and making an angry

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Christine Falls by Benjamin Black--Audiobook Excerpt

Listen to this audiobook excerpt from Benjamin Black's thriller novel Christine Falls, narrated by actor Timothy Dalton. Benjamin Black is a pseudonym of Booker Prize-winning author John Banville, and Christine Falls, the first novel in the Quirke series, brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville's writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.

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Praise for Christine Falls

"A page-turner told in prose so beautiful you'll want to read some passages repeatedly. Intricately plotted, beautifully written."--The Boston Globe

 

"Measured, taut, and transfixing . . . Benjamin Black's plotting is methodical, detailed, and always gripping. You can smell the smoke in Quirke's favorite pub and touch the cool walls in a Boston convent he later visits."--USA Today
 
"Swirling, elegant noir . . . Crossover fiction of a very high order . . . Rolls forward with haunting, sultry exoticism . . . toward the best kind of denouement under these circumstances: a half inconclusive one."--The New York Times 
 
"Offers a subtler, deeper satisfaction than just finding out whodunit. . . . What's most disconcerting of all about Christine Falls is the atmosphere of moral claustrophobia enveloping it."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A dark, ambitious crime novel . . . It’s going to make more than a few readers flip the book over to look at the author photo to make sure Banville’s really pulling the strings."--Newsday
 

"Crime fiction rarely lives up to the term 'literary,' but [Christine Falls] is the happy exception."--Entertainment Weekly 

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About the Author

Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, most recently the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin.

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Available Formats and Book Details

Christine Falls
A Novel
Quirke (Volume 1)
Benjamin Black

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Picador
January 2008
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780312426323
ISBN10: 0312426321
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 384 pages
$15.00
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Unabridged Compact Disc

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Unabridged Compact Disc
Macmillan Audio
March 2007
Unabridged Compact Disc
ISBN: 9781427200723
ISBN10: 1427200726
Audio Run Time: 9:30
$39.95

Unabridged Digital Audio

Learn more about this edition
Unabridged Digital Audio
Macmillan Audio
March 2007
Unabridged Digital Audio
ISBN: 9781427200730
ISBN10: 1427200734
Audio Run Time: 9:30
$19.95

Hardcover

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Hardcover
Henry Holt and Co.
March 2007
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780805081527
ISBN10: 0805081526
6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 352 pages
$25.00

e-Book Agency

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e-Book Agency
Henry Holt and Co.
March 2007
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429906227
ISBN10: 1429906227
352 pages
$9.99
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