The Nameless Dead

Inspector Devlin #5

by Brian McGilloway

'You can't investigate the baby, Inspector. It's the law.'

Declan Cleary's body has never been found, but everyone believes he was killed for informing on a friend over thirty years ago.

Now the Commission for Location of Victims' Remains is following a tip-off that he was buried on the small isle of Islandmore, in the middle of the River Foyle. Instead, the dig uncovers a baby's skeleton, and it doesn't look like death by natural causes. But evidence revealed by the Commission's activities cannot lead to prosecution.

Inspector Devlin is torn. He has no desire to resurrect the violent divisions of the recent past. Neither can he let a suspected murderer go unpunished. Now the secret is out, more deaths follow. Devlin must trust his conscience - even when that puts those closest to him at terrible risk . . .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Ireland, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Procedural

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Brian McGilloway is an author hailing from Derry, Northern Ireland. He studied English at Queens University Belfast, where he was very active in student theatre, winning a prestigious national Irish Student Drama Association award for theatrical lighting design in 1996. He is currently Head of English at St. Columb's College, Derry. McGilloway's debut novel was a crime thriller called Borderlands. Borderlands was shortlisted for a Crime Writers' Association Dagger award for a debut novel.

Reviews

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Declan Cleary disappeared 30 years ago and everyone assumed that he was killed because he informed on a friend. Then Commission for Location of Victims' Remains gets a tip that Declan Cleary's body is buried on the small isle of Islandmore in the river Foyle. But instead they find the body of a baby and it seems that the baby didn't die of natural causes, but any evidence that is revealed by the Then Commission for Location of Victims' Remains cannot lead to prosecution and Inspector Ben Devlin is told that he can't investigate the dead baby since it wouldn't lead to a conviction since the perpetrator is protected from prosecution because of the law that makes people come forth with evidence of where dead bodies are buried protect them from prosecution. But Devlin can't just let go of the dead baby case and then they find more babies buried...

The story was so compelling that I couldn't stop reading the book when I started it. This is the first book in the Inspector Devlin series that I have read, but it never felt like I missed anything by not having read the previous books. From the beginning, I liked Devlin and the rest of the characters in the book and any mentioned of stuff from the past made me just more eager to read the previous book in the series.

I liked that you didn't know if the dead baby and the missing Declan Cleary were connected in any way or and why someone would kill and bury a baby. Everything also gets more complicated when a person close to Declan Cleary gets murdered. Is there someone out there that doesn't want the truth of what happened 30 years ago to come out?

Devlin also has some personal problems, his daughter is recovering from an accident and his son thinks that they prefer his sister to him and it doesn't get better when Devlin, for instance, forgets that they had planned to watch a movie at the cinema and instead get called into work and forget about that.

I liked this book very much and I'm looking forward to reading this series from the beginning!

Thanks to Witness Impulse and Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth book in the Inspector Devlin; the reader is familiar with the main characters and the writer is relaxed with his creation.
Brian McGilloway's writing is economic. Punchy descriptions and dialogue.
This is a terrific plot that does justice to the cross boarder conflicts and life after the troubles but is routed in events of the past. BM very skillfully keeps it contemporary; many would draw on a the writer's go to - the slowly revealed past as a separate story unfolding with the main narrative. The real skill is doing justice to things from the past but revealing those facts through detective work and dialogue progression so the mystery is contained and the solution rarely fully focuses until the dramatic conclusion.
The subject matter is grim with serious political struggles and religious shortcomings being touched upon sensitively and without rhetoric or justification leaving the reader to be involved and make their own mind up regarding these matters.
I like that best in novels as it allows you to be fully engaged with the story, its setting and the decisions people make in the knowledge known at the time.
This is McGilloway's skill and makes his books worth reading in terms of his historical context and thought provoking subject matter. At the heart of the story are real people. A crime and the difficulties detectives have in trying to solve the case.
Here we have the digging up of the past which uncovers a number of issues a lot of people would like to stay buried. It is how that premises unravels with the plot that makes this an exceptional novel and a intriguing crime murder mystery.
A book that does not require the reader to have read the previous stories already published; it stands alone as a gripping story from the Border region in Ireland but I guarantee once read you'll be chasing down the earlier episodes of this excellent police procedural series.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This is the second Inspector Devlin book I have read and I think I liked it more than the first one. Mr. McGilloway is extremely talented in the art of writing a thriller with endings that aren't easily figured out. He throws in so many extra things that it's hard to follow the trail of the killer(s). You think you know what is going to happen or who did what, but it turns out you are completely wrong. His stories make me think while I read them and he doesn't foreshadow a whole lot and when he does, you don't really realize he has done it until later.

I also love how the author includes real happenings in his stories. I am of Irish descent and I am so completely enthralled with Mr. McGilloway's stories about Ireland and it's history. While he is writing thrillers and mysteries and some of these things aren't pretty, I am still intrigued and interested enough to learn about the history of this land. Not every story is going to be pretty and neatly wrapped up in a lovely little bow to be shown off, and I love that Mr. McGilloway is willing to write about it. Losing a child is a tough subject to write about and tying it in to the story of a murder is not easy either. These stories are somewhat depressing to read but because Mr. McGilloway can keep the suspense in the story, you don't get bogged down with feelings of depression while reading about these subjects. The action stays pretty even as well so it's not a lot of dialogue and boring back and forth between characters.

I've seen some of the other reviews that have mentioned they didn't like Inspector Devlin's family/wife in this installment. While his wife is a bit cold and bitchy, I don't think that's a reason to detract from the story's rating. I can see both sides of the issues between him and his wife. He's working all of the time, and he neglects his family a lot. He gets a little obsessed with cases and suspects and is not invested in his family or their needs. It can be daunting at times to be involved with someone like that. On the flip side, his wife knew he was a police officer and knows what kind of man he is and that he is somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to his work. I think that the fact that the dynamic is being played out will add some more drama and tension to the stories in the future. I also think it's a great thing that Mr. McGilloway is able to invoke such feelings and emotions about fictional characters from people. I give The Nameless Dead 5 books.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nameless Dead is the fifth instalment of McGilloway’s Ben Devlin series. McGilloway has the full measure of Devlin’s world - his family, police politics and rivalries, his embedding in the social and criminal landscape of the border. The writing is very assured, with a lovely cadence and pace, and nicely balances plot, characterization, sense of place and contextualisation. With respect to the latter two, The Nameless Dead skilfully weaves together the troubles and sexual politics of the 1970s with the politics of peace and reconciliation and the social realities and landscape of the post-Celtic Tiger crash in the border counties. The plotting is particularly well done, interlacing a number of subplots to produce a layered and textured story that charts both the investigation and Devlin’s personal life. Whilst the focus is very much Devlin, importantly McGilloway also adds flesh to the series’ secondary characters, and the ongoing subplots adds to the overarching arc of the series. Overall, The Nameless Dead is a satisfying and superior police procedural in what is shaping up to be a very accomplished and enjoyable series.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Book #5 in the Ben Devlin series continues the author's theme of combining present day police investigations in the Republic of Ireland with past events tied to The Troubles.
They are called "the Disappeared", men who went missing during Ireland's bloody sectarian war & were never found. A commission was set up asking for anonymous tips as to the location of their graves so they might be recovered & provide closure for loved ones. To encourage people to come forward, there is a guarantee of no investigation or prosecution.
Islandmore, an island on the north/south border, was a popular dumping ground not just for these victims but also for unbaptized babies that couldn't be buried on church property.
The story begins as Ben is assisting the commission with a dig on the island. They got a tip concerning Declan Cleary, a man thought to be an informer who went missing in 1976. His then pregnant girlfriend Mary & their son Sean received a note pointing to the island as his final resting place. Unfortunately, they dig up more of the past than they bargained for.
Found along side Declan's remains is the skeleton of a newborn with severe deformities. Autopsy reveals the baby was murdered. And it's not the only one.
Sean is bitter that his father's killer(s) will never be brought to justice & complains to the media. Bad move. After the story hits the news, Sean & an old colleague of Declan's are found dead.
Ben is a deeply religious man & frustrated by the inability to investigate the bodies. He's also dealing with trouble on the home front. His family is tired of him always putting the job first. Sean, now 10, feels abandoned by his dad & 15 year old Penny is hanging around with a group that includes the son of a well known drug dealer. After she is assaulted by a street kid with ties to the murder of Sean Cleary, Ben is tempted to take the law into his own hands.
Complicating matters, a young woman Ben knows (from a previous book) keeps hearing a crying infant on her baby monitor. She lives in an unfinished subdivision across the street from a mysterious middle aged woman with ties to the old unwed mother's hospital.
It's a convoluted tale with individual plot lines from the past & present and the author does a great job slowly doling out the clues. It's like having a bag of puzzle pieces but no box. Some of the pieces seem straightforward but when put into the context of the larger picture they take on a completely different slant & it's only at the end when Ben learns the truth that we realize the full scope of the crimes & who the real villains are.
There are some returning characters. Old boss Olly Costello is retired but continues to be a source of info for Ben. Harry Patterson is his new superintendent & their relationship has not improved. His kids are older & he's experiencing all the joys that come with teenagers & sibling rivalry.
His wife continues to be a challenge for me. She's not very likeable & her passive/aggressive treatment of Ben is annoying. I have never felt any spark between these two. You get the feeling that if not for the kids, they would not be living under the same roof. I don't know if it's intentional but we never see any moments of tenderness between them & most of their conversations are adversarial as everything he does is wrong in her eyes.
The police procedural aspect of the story is fast paced & flows well to draw you into the the mystery. Ben himself is a compelling character, a flawed man who is committed to his job but besieged by obstacles at work & home. This is a guy who needs a vacation.
As always, the history of The Troubles is never far from current events. I've been reading Sean McKinty's trilogy at the same time which deals with that period from a Northern Ireland perspective & it's interesting to compare viewpoints.
This is a well written series & while it's not necessary to read them in order, you'll get more from each if you do.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 4 and a half star book. The story is set on an island, Islandmore, in the middle of the Foyle River between Donegal and Derry. Workers are excavating an area seeking a victim of disappearances during the Troubles, and discover the skeleton of a baby. Inspector Devlin, who works in Donegal, is like a dog with a bone. The Commission for Location of Victims' Remains (related to people who disappeared during the Troubles) does not permit any evidence from excavations to be turned over to authorities for judicial prosecution. However Devlin cannot desist and begins to investigate the death of the baby. To complicate things, at the other end of this small island is a graveyard for unbaptized babies, a cillin. Catholic law does not permit the burial of unbaptized individuals in consecrated ground, and often these cillin were outside of cemetery walls, or in this case, in a remote spot. Devlin continues to struggle with balancing his family life and his job, which is particularly difficult when raising teenagers. McGilloway provides an afterward which provides the factual information he used to create this story. It is quite impressive that he is able to weave together a number of seemingly disparate threads into a single story.


In looking for more information on Islandmore, I found this interesting note from a 1969 Dáil Éireann deposition: http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.i...

[Bruce Hatton · Rating 5 out of 5]

That main focus of this story centres around a small island in the middle of the River Foyle in the north of Ireland. The Foyle forms part of the boundary between the counties of Derry and Donegal - thus part of the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Although almost twenty years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the dark shadows of the Troubles loom heavily over both the region and this novel.
Whilst searching for the remains of a man believed to be murdered by the IRA almost thirty years ago, the excavation team unearth the remains of seven babies; subsequently discovered to have suffered from the rare skeletal deformity, Goldenhar syndrome. Gardai Inspector Benedict Devlin is determined to discover the identities of the babies and why they were buried here. However, under the Amnesty clause of the Agreement, there is an embargo on investigations into crimes committed during the Troubles.
Despite a couple of fast action sequences, this is largely a gentle, thoughtful and intricately plotted novel. Mostly it is the study of an unassuming yet resolute police officer in his search for the truth behind the dead infants.
Although this is, apparently, the fifth book in a series featuring Inspector Devlin, it works perfectly on its own and has certainly got me interested in reading the earlier novels.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read: 19-25 December 2012
Second read: 15 October 2013

Brian McGilloway's books are always entertaining, but more importantly for me, they give the reader so much to think about. He weaves his research effortlessly into the narrative. I particularly loved the way he considered the legal implications of the promise of confidentiality in the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains - if a crime clearly not related to the Disappeared is uncovered during the commission's investigation, can it be criminally investigated? McGilloway also recognizes that, even while there can be no criminal proceedings from these investigations, the truth can be painful for those still living.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I started reading and didn't want to put it down until it was finished. I like Benedict Devlin - he is a goodie without being sanctimonious, just a good man with a strong moral compass whom we can all relate to. The plot is, I think, all too plausible but I was left a bit dissatisfied at the end as all the baddies did not get their comeuppance. I know this is a ridiculous statement to make after saying the plot was plausible (how often do people get away with crime in real life?) but that's my reaction.
I've kept my dissatisfaction vague in the hope that I'll not spoil what is a good read for others. After all it is only a few pages out of a page turner

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The discovery of one of the Disappeared also uncovers a number of other unlinked bodies of babies. Inspector Devlin can’t let the murder of a baby be forgotten and his pursuit of justice puts his own career on the line.

A very good and emotional story, great read.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having reached #5 of this series, I find an Irish name fog descending. I confused the identities in a couple of strands of the narrative and had to return to re-read earlier chapters to clarify!

Whether it was this or the increasing level of plot layering across time periods, I found this novel more challenging than the others. The focus is the aftermath of Celtic Tiger, unfinished housing estates coupled with a discovery near an old Mother & Baby Unit by the Truth Commission.

[Caz Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crime fiction authors of Ireland--both the Republic and the six counties in the UK--and Scandinavia both seem to specialize in dark, nihilistic fiction with emotionally wounded protagonists trying to enforce the law in morally adrift societies. Many of the books, including "The Nameless Dead" are formally police procedurals featuring forensics, witness statements, crime scenes and door to door canvassing, but at the their core they reflect the collapse of traditional social, political, moral, and religious values. With nothing to replace these values other than the property boom and the Celtic tiger for Ireland and the Americanization of everyday life in Sweden and Norway anything that is accomplished--bringing a murderer to justice, restoring a kidnap victim to her family or interrupting the plans of a serial killer--means nothing in the larger scheme of things.

Ireland has a combination of the Troubles, the centuries long conflict between Protestant and Catholic, plus the heavy hand of the Catholic Church in the South while those in Iceland and continental Scandinavia reflect the stifling environment of long winter nights and killing winters together with rising fear of small countries being swamped by globalization and immigration.

This is the first book I have read in the Inspector Devlin series by Brian Galloway's. Taking place on the border between the two Irelands (Devlin is from the Republic but must work closely with his opposite numbers across the River Foyle. The crime scene here is on an island in the river where Devlin and his sergeant run into a cillan--an informal cemetery on unconsecrated ground for babies who died before baptism--while investigating murders that have their roots in the "disappeared", men and women from both sides of the border who were killed and their bodies dumped because they were suspected of informing on the militants of either side.

Looks like a very decent series and well worth reading based on "The Nameless Dead".

[A. Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devlin #5 has a bit more teeth than previous cases. Here, McGilloway makes use of the complicated matter of the disappeared, people presumed killed by paramilitary groups during the Troubles, but whose bodies have never been found. He handily weaves that issue with the one of unbaptized babies, whose bodies were refused burial in consecrated ground. In The Nameless Dead, the title refers to both the disappeared and the unbaptized because the secluded burial ground for the babies seems to be have been used to dispose of an accused informant. The novel explores the pain of families, and the clues of genetics, but it also reveals a legal loophole. A body is discovered that is neither one of the babies nor one of the disappeared. The law says that any evidence found during the location of the disappeared cannot be used to charge anyone with a crime. It's a law that exists in order to give peace to families and nothing more. But someone cleverly has realized it's a handy way to get away with murder. This novel in some ways is a search for identity.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the mystery and I've always liked Benedict Devlin. What annoys me increasingly in each book is the Inspector's wife. At first she was mostly supportive and understanding. She gets more harpy-like in each book. This isn't just in McGilloway's books, many books featuring a male detective/sleuth have the dubious subplot of 'trouble at home' aka 'you missed dinner again and aren't spending time with the kids.' Lady, you married a homicide detective. If you thought he'd be home for dinner every night and be available to drive the carpool, you are smoking something.

I hate it, and I think it's a lazy plot device. I hope that McGilloway either has Debbie accept Devlin's work or move the hell out. I've had it with her.

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: THE NAMELESS DEAD by Brian McGilloway [Inspector Devlin #5]

Compelling, enlightening, and heartwrenching, THE NAMELESS DEAD reawakening the ugliness if the centuries-old battles between Northern Ireland and the English national government, and between Northern Ireland and the Irish Repblic. The Commission for Location of Victims' Remains is tasked with finding all remains of The Disappeared, and returning those remains to the loved ones for proper interment. Such is the extent of the Commission's remit: by law, there cannot be any investigation nor prosecution.

THE NAMELESS DEAD is an exciting, suspense-laden, thriller, and a great introduction to this author.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading this Benedict Devlin series, but something about it has bothered me the whole time. I think it's Devlin's family; I don't like his wife and kids for some reason.

The wife and kids were the only downside to this book. The story is compelling, and the other characters are great. Even the Catholicism didn't bother me (which is surprising, because it usually does).

[Keith Curran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Profoundly intriguing, truly thrilling, deeply spooky, an entirely entertaining, "The Names Dead", is the fifth installment of Brian McGilloway's delightful, Irish-to-the-core, moody, devilish, twisty, and literaturarily essential, Inspector Devlin Series. As is often the case with this preternaturally gifted spinner of tales, this is almost TOO rich a tapestry, made up off SO many threads, and (nearly) too many fascinatingly complex, goodishly-bad, badishly-good, central and supporting characters.
All of whom are entirely plausible and redolent of the overwhelming non-choice we are all given, without warning, explanation or instruction manual, of surviving. At least until relieved. The characters; us, are all just getting by, believing, be it true or not, that our lives have purpose, our
actions justifications, and our in-action entirely the result of, not personal failings or priorities, but the
result of unavoidable obstacles. Deluded, then, we survive. Lazy, obsessive, commendable, deplorable, believed led by a spiritual authority to do whatever the help we like, or led, not entirely by our clueless selves, but with the intervention of meaning-free words like "faith", "luck", "ambition", "chosen-purpose" and "life". Regardless, McGilloway's people are always, "doing their best".

This is a ghost story. A true folk tale. An cohabitation of an Island Of The Dead, infused, by the author, with bone-tingling, mythic proportions. This work is profoundly accomplished. And, terrifying. And, beautiful. Both magical and "every day".

My love of, and work with, babies, internationally,
which has inspired in me a deep empathy for the very young, left me, reading this book, often in tears. Some of them even of joy. Because, SOMEONE must care. And, here, someone DOES.
Our friend, Inspector Devlin. He of the temper, the mind and the heart. He's rather a "The Wizard Of Oz" reduction. To that fable's both specifics and general purpose. Home. Companionship. The mind, the heart, courage and a journey. There's even a "Toto". This novel is a deeply involving and moving
tribute to the essential validity of every human life. May I suggest that you read The Devlin series, please (and, may I ask Mr. GaLloway for as many subsequent installments as he can plausibly devine)?

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars

As with all of Brian McGilloway’s novels, this one is top notch.

It is both well written and plotted and reads linearly. Sufficient information is given on the main characters to ground them in “real” life, but not so much that it intrudes on the story. The mystery starts out immediately and only increases as the story goes on.

Declan Cleary is among the “disappeared.” A tip off about his body being buried on Islandmore is received by the police. Since the commission on the disappeared is currently investigating the cillen (babies who died at birth and cannot be buried in consecrated ground), located there, it is of little hassle to also look for Declan.

Declan’s son, Sean has never met him. Declan was killed before Sean was born. But Sean is very angry at his father’s murder and fighting mad about due to the amnesty the bodies located cannot be investigated, and no one can be prosecuted for their murders.

When Sean turns up murdered in Northern Ireland, Investigator Benedict “Ben” Devlin is on the case along with his Northern Ireland friend, Hendry. The conspiracy gets bigger and there are several sub-plots driving this story. When another man is murdered, who had a connection to Sean, the tension in the story increases.

I send a hats off to Brian McGilloway who is a fine writer.

[Janice Staines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Limbo is a cruel and desolate place

This is the fifth book in the Ben Devlin series and it doesn’t disappoint. A tip-off sees Devlin searching for the body of one of the ‘Disappeared’ on the small island of Islandmore. His job is made difficult as this island is also a Cillin - a place where unbaptised children are buried and left in limbo, unable to move on to rest with God.

Devlin unearths more than he expected to as seven babies are discovered, all of them with facial deformities and one showing signs of being murdered.

Devlin is warned that he is not allowed to investigate the deaths of these historic bodies, but he discovers links to modern day crimes - and he is not able to let them go. Especially when they impact on his own family!

This is another cracking story from the author. We meet characters from the previous books and a whole lot of unsavoury new ones. We also learn more about mother and baby clinics where unmarried young girls were sent to deliver their babies... and were often mistreated as a result of their shame.

This is a difficult and sensitive story to explore, but it is handled with skill and aplomb by the author as it reaches its compromising conclusion.

[Terry Slaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

DI Benedict Devlin’s cross-border policing gets tricky when a Commission charged with exhuming the remains of The Disappeared from the Troubles also unearths not just a “cillin” (the burial place of unbaptized infants who were prohibited from burial on consecrated ground) but also the corpses of infants suffering birth defects, one of whom clearly was a murder victim. The burial place was an island in a river separating Northern Ireland from the Republic, and jurisdictional conflicts as well as the no-fault premise of the Commission contributed to official apathy toward investigation, which does not sit well with DI Devlin. And then the modern-day murders begin.

This is a well-crafted story about revenge, illicit adoption, the closed secrets of Big Pharma and the sequelae of a modern civil war.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written detective novel set in ‘present-day’ Ireland (north and south). Around the time when Despicable Me had just been released to cinemas. We follow a detective who’s working several cases at once, but the main case being the exhumation of bones from an island in a river. The kicker? These bones are part of a recovery effort to track down the ‘Disappeared’, and as such no-one can be prosecuted for any murders. But, nothing is said for those murdered because of the exhumations...

A bit of an underwhelming ending, but a great read that I couldn’t put down. Don’t read if dead babies trigger you.

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate how two seemingly diverse plots became entwined with twist endings. The author included a good family background for Devlin without becoming bogged down in daily minutiae unlike other mystery authors who pad their books with unnecessary daily details. I look forward to more Devlin mysteries. I’m particularly interested to see what happens with his teenage daughter who has already become quite a handful.

[Donne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this next chapter in the life of inspector devlin, however, it left me thinking that ireland was not a great place to be, it sounded rather a sad place with lots of sad history and was a bit cheerless. however, there are always little sparks of light and joy and that certainly lifts the book!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent segment in the series. I continue to struggle with the violence — this one had six violent crimes (4 murders, one murder attempt, and one beating). It’s only because the stories are so insightful and educational about north/south relations that I keep reading these. If you can get over the amount of violence, they are excellent books.

[Sandra McCourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It is sensitive to the ‘troubles’ of Ireland and sensitive to the causes between the borders and the treaty that was made for peace. Bodies that are named lie in graves on an island where few babies are found too but are not to be investigated due to the treaty? Well not our Devlin he continues on and solves the mystery of the dead babies without support. Great plot well told.

[Shauna Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant devlin read loved how it based around the mother and baby homes but without dragging on about it either loved how it was all based around so many difrerent crimes and how they all came together

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

La storia dell'Irlanda, dei suoi confini, i troubles ma veramente dimenticati. Le ragazze madri, sui cui corpi è stato fatto troppo.
Molte cose sono dentro questo libro e colpiscono al cuore.
Un bellissimo thriller, un libro da leggere per gli amanti dell'Irlanda e della sua storia.

[Stuart Haining · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 9% A much better part of the series, no great plot to speak of but enjoyable to learn about Ireland & NI, and an interesting back-story about undeclared burials and the aftermath of The Troubles.

[Edna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as usual!

As soon as it was available i put it before my other books that were ready to read. Why.....because I knew Brian would not let me down.