The Lazarus Bell

Illaun Bowe #2

by Patrick Dunne

A beautiful carved wooden Madonna, sealed tightly into a lead coffin is discovered in a plague graveyard in the sleepy village of Castleboyne - a fascinating, but routine call-out for archaeologist Illaun Bowe. That is, until they take the coffin out of the ground and a black liquid oozes out from the casing, accidentally spilling over one of the workers, Terry Johnston. After a couple of days, he begins to display symptoms of an odd, and distinctly unpleasant illness, which will kill him in 24 hours. But not before his skin breaks out in pus-filled lesions, and his organs fail, one by one...Soon hysteria breaks out in Castleboyne, with a quarantine being imposed on the town by the Dept of Health and nasty tabloid speculation that the disease has been brought to the area by the new immigrant population. Illaun has to get to the bottom of what was in the coffin to reassure herself that a deadly disease hasn't been unleashed upon the community because of her carelessness. Then a young boy is brought into the hospital, with the same symptoms as Terry...As the summer temperatures soar, the hysteria is fuelled by the finding of a torso floating in the River Boyne, which would appear to be that of an African woman, killed for ritual purposes. Meanwhile, someone is making it dangerously clear to Illaun that they want that statue...

Genres: Fiction, Thriller

436 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jeanette Blom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuk geschreven, leest makkelijk met goede verhaallijn

[Mick Travel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leider hat dieser Krimi mich nicht überzeugt. Es hatte den Anschein für mich als habe sich Dunne hier zu viele Dinge im Plot vorgenommen. Vor allem das Ende war dann auch so wenig überraschend wie Weihnachten am Ende des Jahres. Auch konnte ich mich nicht mit seinen Charakteren anfreunden, die für mich nicht sehr glaubwürdig waren. Schade, da ich die Atmosphäre des Buches eigentlich mochte.

[Docgastro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Von Anfang bis Ende spannend und toll zu lesen. Ein Page-Turner vom irischen „ King of Crime“.

[Erinyeen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Idee an sich ist gut, aber es zieht sich etwas. Die Sprache ist teilweise etwas umständlich.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much like a horror for me, disease, death and mutilation. But it's set in Ireland, so it gets a star.

[Ilirwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, the second book I'd read by Patrick Dunne, was as fascinating as the first one. The first I read in translation, this time in English. I'm not quite as impressed with this version. There were some minor flaws, passages that seemed a bit clumsy. Less than subtle info dumps, for instance. But the plot worked and the characters too, except possibly for the fact that I'm not one hundred percent convinced by Illaun as a female. The author is good, one of the best when it comes to writing in the first person with someone of the opposite, but still, it doesn't work all the time. Even so, this book is definitely good enough. I can recommend it to anyone who would like to try a new setting for an excellent mystery.

[Steffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

sounded really interesting but didnt like the ending

[Gea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ook dit tweede boek van Patrick Dunne nogmaals gelezen. Erg leuk vond ik dit boek en een tikje beter dan Keltisch graf. Heel erg jammer dat er niet meer boeken zijn vertaald van deze auteur.