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Ryan Cusack #3
The Rules of Revelation
REUNIONS. RECRIMINATIONS. RECKONINGS.
Ireland. Great nationalists, bad mothers and a whole lot of secrets. Ryan Cusack is ready to deliver its soundtrack.
Former sex-worker Georgie wants the truth about Ryan's past out there but the journalist has her own agenda.
Mel returns from Brexit Britain, ill-equipped to deal with the resurgence of a family scandal.
Karine has always been sure of herself, till a terrible secret tugs the rug from under her.
Maureen has got wind that things are changing, and if anyone's telling the story she wants to make sure it's her.
A riotous blast of sex, scandal, obsession, love, feminism, gender, music, class and transgression from an author with tremendous, singular talent.
Ireland. Great nationalists, bad mothers and a whole lot of secrets. Ryan Cusack is ready to deliver its soundtrack.
Former sex-worker Georgie wants the truth about Ryan's past out there but the journalist has her own agenda.
Mel returns from Brexit Britain, ill-equipped to deal with the resurgence of a family scandal.
Karine has always been sure of herself, till a terrible secret tugs the rug from under her.
Maureen has got wind that things are changing, and if anyone's telling the story she wants to make sure it's her.
A riotous blast of sex, scandal, obsession, love, feminism, gender, music, class and transgression from an author with tremendous, singular talent.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
30 people are currently reading
611 people want to read
About the author
Lisa McInerney
23 books324 followersLisa McInerney’s work has featured in Winter Papers, The Stinging Fly, Granta and BBC Radio 4 and in the anthologies Beyond The Centre, The Long Gaze Back and Town and Country. Her debut novel The Glorious Heresies won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second novel, The Blood Miracles, is published by John Murray in April 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
April 7, 2021
2.5.
Ryan Cusack is returning to Ireland to record an album with his band Lord Urchin but he has plenty of reasons for being wary of returning to Cork although his ex Karine and young son Diarmaid are not why. Maureen Phelan’s son Jimmy definitely doesn’t want Ryan to return but Maureen will be his guardian angel for reasons of her own. Journalist Georgie has her own reasons for wanting to make his life difficult. Mel joins Ryan’s band and has reasons of her own for animosity towards him. The story is told from multiple perspectives.
First of all, I hadn’t appreciated this is part of a trilogy and this is a case where I think it’s absolutely necessary to read the two preceding books and I think those readers who have will have a different and more positive reaction to the novel than myself. For much of it my head is in a total spin as it seems a baffling, confusing tale of secrets, sex, drugs and gender with some obsession thrown in for good measure. It’s extremely long, way too long if I’m honest as it takes the long route round the River Lee and then plods back again. The constant switching of narrative and the bewildering number of characters added to my dazed confusion and frustration, making me feel dizzy. It lacks much action, it’s definitely character driven but it jumps about so much it’s hard to pin it down. I do like some of the dialogue, some of which is very funny and I love the colourful Irish dialect. I enjoy how 68 year old Maureen reflects on a much changed Ireland since she was a girl and I find her thoughts interesting and thoughtful.
Overall, though I can’t say I enjoy this book much as I find it laborious going and I nearly didn’t finish it. In the words of Led Zeppelin it leaves me ‘Dazed and Confused’.
With thanks to NetGalley and apologies to John Murray Press. I received this arc in return for an honest review.
Ryan Cusack is returning to Ireland to record an album with his band Lord Urchin but he has plenty of reasons for being wary of returning to Cork although his ex Karine and young son Diarmaid are not why. Maureen Phelan’s son Jimmy definitely doesn’t want Ryan to return but Maureen will be his guardian angel for reasons of her own. Journalist Georgie has her own reasons for wanting to make his life difficult. Mel joins Ryan’s band and has reasons of her own for animosity towards him. The story is told from multiple perspectives.
First of all, I hadn’t appreciated this is part of a trilogy and this is a case where I think it’s absolutely necessary to read the two preceding books and I think those readers who have will have a different and more positive reaction to the novel than myself. For much of it my head is in a total spin as it seems a baffling, confusing tale of secrets, sex, drugs and gender with some obsession thrown in for good measure. It’s extremely long, way too long if I’m honest as it takes the long route round the River Lee and then plods back again. The constant switching of narrative and the bewildering number of characters added to my dazed confusion and frustration, making me feel dizzy. It lacks much action, it’s definitely character driven but it jumps about so much it’s hard to pin it down. I do like some of the dialogue, some of which is very funny and I love the colourful Irish dialect. I enjoy how 68 year old Maureen reflects on a much changed Ireland since she was a girl and I find her thoughts interesting and thoughtful.
Overall, though I can’t say I enjoy this book much as I find it laborious going and I nearly didn’t finish it. In the words of Led Zeppelin it leaves me ‘Dazed and Confused’.
With thanks to NetGalley and apologies to John Murray Press. I received this arc in return for an honest review.
March 5, 2023
A strange book. Really disliked the overlong character soliloquies or whatever, but at the same time I read the last third of this book in a single sitting. Not enough plot to be a thriller, but too much plot to be purely "literary". Three books in and they're all still mulling over the early events of the first book, but then there's a lot to mull over.
There's a lot of gender politics and I think McInerney gets them mostly right. I liked Ryan's interview when he remembers being fourteen and says, "Once your voice breaks you’re not a child, you’re a fucking problem." I liked Maureen's tourism business. It almost seemed a bit too quirky at first, but you think about it for a second and you gotta figure that's how all those tour guides start out. I loved the craic, and how the sarcasm permeates every line to the point you almost stop noticing it. I hated the music storyline. People being in a band feels like a real throwback, not something people are still doing, although maybe they are in Ireland or maybe I'm just out of touch.
I don't know what McInerney is doing next, but I hope we see more of the Cusacks and their Cork.
There's a lot of gender politics and I think McInerney gets them mostly right. I liked Ryan's interview when he remembers being fourteen and says, "Once your voice breaks you’re not a child, you’re a fucking problem." I liked Maureen's tourism business. It almost seemed a bit too quirky at first, but you think about it for a second and you gotta figure that's how all those tour guides start out. I loved the craic, and how the sarcasm permeates every line to the point you almost stop noticing it. I hated the music storyline. People being in a band feels like a real throwback, not something people are still doing, although maybe they are in Ireland or maybe I'm just out of touch.
I don't know what McInerney is doing next, but I hope we see more of the Cusacks and their Cork.
March 19, 2021
I would not normally be attracted to a novel featuring a city’s criminal underworld, but McInerney manages to spin comic and literary gold out of the dross of this unholy alliance of sex, drugs and rock & roll set in Cork. Having relatives there myself and knowing the city well, I can attest to the pitch perfect use of dialogue, if not the seamy lowlife aspect! Although the same cast of characters appear in each of her three novels, it’s not necessary to have read the previous two - but I would advise it, all the same, for the sheer delight of reading the spell-binding prose.
My thanks go to the publisher for the chance to read the ARC via NetGalley
My thanks go to the publisher for the chance to read the ARC via NetGalley
May 29, 2021
The Rules of Revelation is the third (and final?) novel in a series that began with The Glorious Heresies (2015) and continued with The Blood Miracles (2017) and I would strongly recommend reading the others (but particularly the first) before reading this one. Indeed, although a reluctant re-reader, with hindsight, revisting the first may have been sensible, as six years after reading the excellent The Glorious Heresies, while I had a prompted recollection of incidents from that novel, I felt much less of a connection to and investment in the characters.
The Glorious Heresies - my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - was wonderful, oddly comic and life-affirming despite the depressing subject matter, with multiple storylines and shifting perspectives between a range of fascinatingly sketched characters. From my review:
The Blood Miracles, set c5 years later, was rather disappointing by contrast. It zoomed in on Ryan Cusack (now aged 20), and his long-suffering girlfriend Karine, at the expense of the wider cast, and became a more conventional (and not terribly successful) thriller - as my review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) concluded:
The Rules of Revelation begins:
Cork City made its own music. Amid its hearts beating, its throats noising, its port sounds and traffic and footfall, it might have been difficult to isolate the sounds of one man’s ambition, only that his foot fell heavier now, by God he’d filled out a bit. The problem was that he heard the music that his city made and had a bone to pick with it. Maybe it would have been wise to have kept him away. But that was the way of things, and this was only the start of it.
The name of this soloist was Ryan Cusack. He had black hair, brown eyes, tragus piercings, five siblings, three fillings, two passports and a dead mother. He was coming up on twenty-four years of age. He was Karine D’Arcy’s ex-boyfriend, best friend, biggest problem, childhood sweetheart. He was the bane or the love of her life and the father of her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Diarmaid. He made the breath catch in her throat. He made her want to kick holes in doors.
Ryan has been in exile of sorts first moved around my his bosses and later of his own accord - Jimmy had moved him from Cork to Naples to Dublin to Liverpool. He kept moving even when Jimmy got sick and was forced into convalescence: Berlin, then Seoul, which she thought was mad carry-on - and has stopped drug dealing and has formed a virtual band, recording together online rather than in person. Now the band, including Ryan, have returned to Ireland to record a studio album together - and Ryan's track notes (addressed to Karine) are interspersed within the narrative, including one inspired by 덕수궁 돌담길 in Seoul:
Track 2: Deoksugung Doldam-gil There’s an urban legend about the stone wall road of Deoksugung Palace that says any couple that walks it will break up ...
His Korean exile seemingly chosen by character (and author?) due to the off commented on links between the two countries, Ireland being the Korea of Europe:
Seon-mi knew about you and Diarmaid, which would have been a dealbreaker except she’d never planned on bringing me home to Eomma and Appa.
...
She says, Ireland must be a very traditional country. I says I’m not sure what you’d call it, but we’re divided north and south, in an abusive relationship with the old empire neighbours, good at emigration, fond of the gatt, drenched by the rain, like a bit of Mass on occasion but believe fiercely in ghosts. You tell me.
But Ryan's Irish past proves difficult to escape, with several characters from book 1 converging here. From the blurb (Mel, Melinda the daughter of Tara Duane from book 1, although known as Linda then):
Mel, unsure of her sexuality and gender identity, has been roped in as a session guitarist, seemingly coincidentally and rather to Ryan's discomfort, while Georgie's return is specifically linked to Ryan's own, as she is determined to expose his drug dealing past, as she tells a journalist:
‘A lot of us got caught in Cork’s undertow. Some of us drowned. Personal grudge . . .
Girl, you’re right. On behalf of those of us who got caught in the undertow, I’m asking you for help in making sure the ones who thrived on it don’t continue to.
The novel is set in 2019 and, more so I think than the previous novels, this is a novel about Ireland itself (with some rather odd Brexit nods):
It was said that Ireland was reinventing herself, as if this was some rare event and the country wasn’t in a constant state of dithering. Postcolonial, post-Catholic, post-Tiger, post-Brexit, junctures tracked by little ould invigilators peering out windows with net curtains bunched in their fists, and every new collapse portending a new wave of Notions. It was said that Ireland always knew what she was, even if she didn’t stick with it for long. But how could she? What was she at, legalising same-sex marriage and revolting over women’s healthcare and céad míle fáilte and fuck off back to where you came from and divide et impera and bishops on the school board and wanting everything and claiming to have fuckall? It was 2019 and a funny time to be Irish. At no time in Ireland’s history was it not a funny time to be Irish.
Cork itself is also a character in the novel, Maureen in particular, via guided tours for visitors, trying to reclaim the feminine side of the city in (friendly on the author's side) reaction to Kevin Barry's assertion, which Maureen initially shares, of the city's essential masculinity: https://granta.com/raingods-green-dar...
McInerney's own take on The Rules of Revelation:
For anyone new to McInerney I'd strongly recommend not starting here but with The Glorious Heresies.
As someone who has read the trilogy, this fell rather between book 1 and 2, although a re-read of book 1 may have made a difference. Personally the most fascinating parts of the novel were those set in Seoul - nice to see 'eomma and appa' in a book which is what my children would call my wife and I- and the parallels with Ireland, but these were only a small part of the text.
2.5 stars
The Glorious Heresies - my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - was wonderful, oddly comic and life-affirming despite the depressing subject matter, with multiple storylines and shifting perspectives between a range of fascinatingly sketched characters. From my review:
At the novel's start Maureen Phelan, mother of Jimmy, a local gangster, kills an intruder into her house (former site of one of Jimmy's brothels) Robbie o'Donovan, boyfriend of Georgie Fitzsimmons, a call girl who worked there. Jimmy calls in an old acquaintance Tony Cusack to clean up the mess, only to find that matters are made worse, and that the lives of others, notably Tony's 15 year-old son Ryan, a small-time dealer, and their neighbour Tara Duane, become entangled in the mess.
The Blood Miracles, set c5 years later, was rather disappointing by contrast. It zoomed in on Ryan Cusack (now aged 20), and his long-suffering girlfriend Karine, at the expense of the wider cast, and became a more conventional (and not terribly successful) thriller - as my review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) concluded:
The problem is that McInerney, so good at character sketches, with an ear for language and imagery and the ability to sketch a whole city, is no crime thriller writer.
The Rules of Revelation begins:
Cork City made its own music. Amid its hearts beating, its throats noising, its port sounds and traffic and footfall, it might have been difficult to isolate the sounds of one man’s ambition, only that his foot fell heavier now, by God he’d filled out a bit. The problem was that he heard the music that his city made and had a bone to pick with it. Maybe it would have been wise to have kept him away. But that was the way of things, and this was only the start of it.
The name of this soloist was Ryan Cusack. He had black hair, brown eyes, tragus piercings, five siblings, three fillings, two passports and a dead mother. He was coming up on twenty-four years of age. He was Karine D’Arcy’s ex-boyfriend, best friend, biggest problem, childhood sweetheart. He was the bane or the love of her life and the father of her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Diarmaid. He made the breath catch in her throat. He made her want to kick holes in doors.
Ryan has been in exile of sorts first moved around my his bosses and later of his own accord - Jimmy had moved him from Cork to Naples to Dublin to Liverpool. He kept moving even when Jimmy got sick and was forced into convalescence: Berlin, then Seoul, which she thought was mad carry-on - and has stopped drug dealing and has formed a virtual band, recording together online rather than in person. Now the band, including Ryan, have returned to Ireland to record a studio album together - and Ryan's track notes (addressed to Karine) are interspersed within the narrative, including one inspired by 덕수궁 돌담길 in Seoul:
Track 2: Deoksugung Doldam-gil There’s an urban legend about the stone wall road of Deoksugung Palace that says any couple that walks it will break up ...
His Korean exile seemingly chosen by character (and author?) due to the off commented on links between the two countries, Ireland being the Korea of Europe:
Seon-mi knew about you and Diarmaid, which would have been a dealbreaker except she’d never planned on bringing me home to Eomma and Appa.
...
She says, Ireland must be a very traditional country. I says I’m not sure what you’d call it, but we’re divided north and south, in an abusive relationship with the old empire neighbours, good at emigration, fond of the gatt, drenched by the rain, like a bit of Mass on occasion but believe fiercely in ghosts. You tell me.
But Ryan's Irish past proves difficult to escape, with several characters from book 1 converging here. From the blurb (Mel, Melinda the daughter of Tara Duane from book 1, although known as Linda then):
Mel comes back to Cork from Brexit Britain, ill-equipped to deal with the resurgence of a family scandal. Eleventh-hour revolutionary Maureen won't stop until she's rewritten her city's history. Former sex worker Georgie is urged to tell her story by a journalist with her own agenda. And Karine prepares for her ex-boyfriend's return, knowing that Ryan’s going to warp all around him... and that she's going to help him do it.
Mel, unsure of her sexuality and gender identity, has been roped in as a session guitarist, seemingly coincidentally and rather to Ryan's discomfort, while Georgie's return is specifically linked to Ryan's own, as she is determined to expose his drug dealing past, as she tells a journalist:
‘A lot of us got caught in Cork’s undertow. Some of us drowned. Personal grudge . . .
Girl, you’re right. On behalf of those of us who got caught in the undertow, I’m asking you for help in making sure the ones who thrived on it don’t continue to.
The novel is set in 2019 and, more so I think than the previous novels, this is a novel about Ireland itself (with some rather odd Brexit nods):
It was said that Ireland was reinventing herself, as if this was some rare event and the country wasn’t in a constant state of dithering. Postcolonial, post-Catholic, post-Tiger, post-Brexit, junctures tracked by little ould invigilators peering out windows with net curtains bunched in their fists, and every new collapse portending a new wave of Notions. It was said that Ireland always knew what she was, even if she didn’t stick with it for long. But how could she? What was she at, legalising same-sex marriage and revolting over women’s healthcare and céad míle fáilte and fuck off back to where you came from and divide et impera and bishops on the school board and wanting everything and claiming to have fuckall? It was 2019 and a funny time to be Irish. At no time in Ireland’s history was it not a funny time to be Irish.
Cork itself is also a character in the novel, Maureen in particular, via guided tours for visitors, trying to reclaim the feminine side of the city in (friendly on the author's side) reaction to Kevin Barry's assertion, which Maureen initially shares, of the city's essential masculinity: https://granta.com/raingods-green-dar...
McInerney's own take on The Rules of Revelation:
I think this is the most personal of my three novels, in that it's about art, and making art when you don't come from a background that actively encourages it, finding your voice in a world that you're not entirely comfortable in. The novel is set in a newly confident Ireland, after those two huge referendums [marriage equality and abortion rights], and it was exciting to be able to pull the lens back a bit and focus on a version of Ireland that actually might allow my characters in, for a change. I wanted to celebrate how Ireland has changed so fast for the better, and explore what that might mean for five stubborn and perceptive misfits, but equally I was driven to acknowledge genuine disparity, especially that between contemporary, commercialised feminism and working-class life, and focus on people on the periphery of feminism, either left behind by it, or not quite at peace with it as a movement or philosophy.
For anyone new to McInerney I'd strongly recommend not starting here but with The Glorious Heresies.
As someone who has read the trilogy, this fell rather between book 1 and 2, although a re-read of book 1 may have made a difference. Personally the most fascinating parts of the novel were those set in Seoul - nice to see 'eomma and appa' in a book which is what my children would call my wife and I- and the parallels with Ireland, but these were only a small part of the text.
2.5 stars
January 7, 2023
I know I´ll fail to do this book justice with this review.
It´s a great,heart wrenching,insightful final book in her trilogy (the first two are The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles).Written in exquisite prose-I´m a fast reader, but needed to savour each word-it wraps up all the threads that started in book one,while also leaving them "open".
In times when many authors decide to tackle certain issues just to sell books,and do it badly, McInerney manages to seamlessly,subtly and with compassion write about trauma,drugs, child abuse (sexual or parental),gender identity,feminism,parents,and lots more. Her characters are perfectly delineated,almost dissected. She makes you think, and question yourself, and that´s what makes reading so wonderful.
Plus,there´s one of the best love stories I´ve ever read,best as in engaging,and best in that it´s real.
For me, she´s by far the most talented Irish writer alive, and hope a) she keeps writing and b) more readers "discover" her.
It´s a great,heart wrenching,insightful final book in her trilogy (the first two are The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles).Written in exquisite prose-I´m a fast reader, but needed to savour each word-it wraps up all the threads that started in book one,while also leaving them "open".
In times when many authors decide to tackle certain issues just to sell books,and do it badly, McInerney manages to seamlessly,subtly and with compassion write about trauma,drugs, child abuse (sexual or parental),gender identity,feminism,parents,and lots more. Her characters are perfectly delineated,almost dissected. She makes you think, and question yourself, and that´s what makes reading so wonderful.
Plus,there´s one of the best love stories I´ve ever read,best as in engaging,and best in that it´s real.
For me, she´s by far the most talented Irish writer alive, and hope a) she keeps writing and b) more readers "discover" her.
June 29, 2021
The Rules of Revelation is the third in the trilogy set in Cork. This book ties up all loose ends and the characters from the earlier books make appearances. The characters bare their souls to you as we follow the tumultuous history of Ireland. There is love, obsession, art, patriarchy, new laws that govern the country, and more.
Lisa McInerney is a wonderful writer. I still remember how I was completely mesmerized by The Glorious Heresies. But as is usual in books with sequels, some things that I loved in the first book fall short. I miss that effortless wit. The third book ties up loose ends. But I didn't care or remember some characters (a personal bias), which affected the reading. The character sketches were alright — one of McInerney's strengths — though. This is a book that might speak differently to diff readers. I want to read the three books back to back and see how my enjoyment changes... One day.
The Glorious Heresies remains my absolute favourite. It is such a masterful novel. So would rec you read that 100%. If you love it too, you might be tempted to continue the trilogy.
3.5 stars
Lisa McInerney is a wonderful writer. I still remember how I was completely mesmerized by The Glorious Heresies. But as is usual in books with sequels, some things that I loved in the first book fall short. I miss that effortless wit. The third book ties up loose ends. But I didn't care or remember some characters (a personal bias), which affected the reading. The character sketches were alright — one of McInerney's strengths — though. This is a book that might speak differently to diff readers. I want to read the three books back to back and see how my enjoyment changes... One day.
The Glorious Heresies remains my absolute favourite. It is such a masterful novel. So would rec you read that 100%. If you love it too, you might be tempted to continue the trilogy.
3.5 stars
May 13, 2021
I loved "The Glorious Heresies" and didn't realise there were more books in the series so I haven't yet read "The Blood Miracles". No matter, as "The Rules of Revelation" stands on its own merit. Set in a post-Brexit Cork, the book revisits ghosts of the past. This is a different, more progressive Ireland than the one we left in the first book. I loved seeing how the characters have evolved. Maureen Phelan is the unexpected star of the show, bringing with her an abhorrence of patriarchy and a keenness to explore women in history, especially those not traditionally visible. "The Rule of Revelation" is about identity, society and how our upbringing impacts us throughout life. I adore the relationship between Ryan and Karine. I'm going to miss them! Now I look forward to revisiting the books and reading them in order.
May 14, 2021
The Rules of Revelation is the third novel from award-winning writer McInerney set in Cork against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Ireland, with a riotous cast of idiosyncratic characters. Ireland’s having an identity crisis, rent’s through the roof, and Cork is producing a profligate number of poets. A band called Lord Urchin bursts onto the scene with an insufferable mission statement, and four lives are turned inside-out. Mel comes back to Cork from Brexit Britain, ill-equipped to deal with the resurgence of a family scandal. Eleventh-hour revolutionary Maureen won’t stop until she’s rewritten her city’s history. Former sex worker Georgie is encouraged to tell her story by a journalist with her own agenda. And Karine prepares for her ex-boyfriend’s return, knowing that he’s going to warp all around him and that she’s going to help him do it.
This is a novel about art and its relationship to class and transgression, about trauma, gender, obsession and love. And about great nationalists, bad mothers, and a debut album that might drive the whole of Ireland mad. Lisa combines prose with an irrepressible energy and a tenderness for the fragile bravado of her characters. While reeling from their pasts and anxious about their futures, they are as deeply charismatic as they are damaged. I finished The Rules of Revelation on the best kind of a reading high—dazzled by language, thoroughly entertained and caring deeply.
I think this is the most personal of McInerney's novels yet, in that it's about art, and making art when you don't come from a background that actively encourages it, finding your voice in a world that you're not entirely comfortable in. The novel is set in a newly confident Ireland, after those two huge referendums [marriage equality and abortion rights], and it pulls the lens back to focus on a version of Ireland that actually might allow these quirky characters in, for a change. It celebrates how Ireland has changed so fast for the better, and explores what that might mean for five stubborn and perceptive misfits, but it equally acknowledges genuine disparity, especially that between contemporary, commercialised feminism and working-class life, and focuses on people on the periphery of feminism, either left behind by it, or not quite at peace with it as a movement or philosophy. Highly recommended.
This is a novel about art and its relationship to class and transgression, about trauma, gender, obsession and love. And about great nationalists, bad mothers, and a debut album that might drive the whole of Ireland mad. Lisa combines prose with an irrepressible energy and a tenderness for the fragile bravado of her characters. While reeling from their pasts and anxious about their futures, they are as deeply charismatic as they are damaged. I finished The Rules of Revelation on the best kind of a reading high—dazzled by language, thoroughly entertained and caring deeply.
I think this is the most personal of McInerney's novels yet, in that it's about art, and making art when you don't come from a background that actively encourages it, finding your voice in a world that you're not entirely comfortable in. The novel is set in a newly confident Ireland, after those two huge referendums [marriage equality and abortion rights], and it pulls the lens back to focus on a version of Ireland that actually might allow these quirky characters in, for a change. It celebrates how Ireland has changed so fast for the better, and explores what that might mean for five stubborn and perceptive misfits, but it equally acknowledges genuine disparity, especially that between contemporary, commercialised feminism and working-class life, and focuses on people on the periphery of feminism, either left behind by it, or not quite at peace with it as a movement or philosophy. Highly recommended.
April 23, 2021
The Rules of Revelation by Lisa McInerney is the much awaited third book in what she calls her ‘unholy trinity’, following on from the brilliant The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles. Publishing May 15th with John Murray Press, Kevin Barry describes it as having ‘all the crackle and verve and mad vivid life we’ve come to expect but it’s so open-hearted and warm, too, and utterly engrossing – it’s her best work to date, which is really saying something.’ This trilogy of books is set in my hometown of Cork and from the very beginning it is a series that I have become almost proud of, if that makes any sense. Although from Galway (we can forgive her that!) Lisa McInerney has an obvious grá (love) for Cork and a knowledge of its people that shines through in her writing, very much bringing the city alive.
I’ve been on a journey with Ryan Cusack since he first entered my radar when he was a young lad of fifteen. The eldest of six, the odds were stacked against Ryan. With his Italian mother dead and his father a raging alcoholic, and a runner for a gangland boss, Ryan sees the world very differently to other teenagers his age. He is angry with the hand dealt him but makes a decision that he will not be like his parents and will find a path through the chaos. Ryan chooses drug-dealing as an option, a way of amassing cash fast.
Ryan Cusack embarks on a journey riddled with violence and passion, one that puts his life in very precarious situations. But also he learns what to love someone really means. Lisa McInerney described The Glorious Heresies as a landscape and The Blood Miracles as a portrait, two very apt characterisations as we travel with Ryan from a teenager to a young adult. Now arriving back into Cork with the ambition of becoming a successful musician, Ryan has many demons to face. He has made lots of enemies over the years who will not be happy to see him back in the city. He has a young son with his now ex Karine but their relationship is not finished yet. Too much water has gone under the bridge for these two, their history is forever binding.
The Rules of Revelation is a redemptive story for Ryan Cusack, and for many other characters in this trilogy, as they find a path forward, a way to move on with their lives. Yet again Lisa McInerney transports the reader right into the streets of Cork with a real sense of place present at all times. The Cork black sense of humour filters through all three books in this series with Maureen Phelan, the matriarch of the story, really having her moments. Her antics, her opinions, her attitude make her a treasure, an iconic personality in the series. The Rules of Revelation also has a very meaningful edge to it. Less brutal than its predecessors, there is a feeling of coming home, a feeling of pride. This is our country. This is the city I live in. This is home.
“I think this is the most personal of my three novels, in that it’s about art, and making art when you don’t come from a background that actively encourages it, finding your voice in a world that you’re not entirely comfortable in. The novel is set in a newly confident Ireland, after those two huge referendums (marriage equality and abortion rights), and it was exciting to be able to pull the lens back a bit and focus on a version of Ireland that actually might allow my characters in, for a change… I wanted to celebrate how Ireland’s changed so fast for the better, and explore what that might mean for five stubborn and perceptive misfits, but equally I was driven to acknowledge genuine disparity, especially that between contemporary, commercialised feminism and working-class life, and focus on people on the periphery of feminism, either left behind by it, or not quite at peace with it as a movement or philosophy.” – Lisa McInerney
The Rules of Revelation offers a sense of closure to Ryan’s story but I’m hoping that someday Lisa McInerney might revisit Cork again and let us all know how the gang are getting on. There is talk of it hitting our TV screens at some stage which is seriously exciting news so I have everything crossed. Lisa McInerney writes characters that are unpolished, gritty and toughened by their surroundings, yet loyal to these surroundings right to their very core. Cork is known as The Rebel County. We like to call it The Real Capital of Ireland. We never like to be told what to do. We are fierce proud of our roots and I am in complete awe of Lisa McInerney’s ability to capture the spirit of Cork.
Audacious, authentic and absolutely bloody wonderful, all three books are individual yet expertly interwoven creating a remarkable picture of an Ireland in the midst of change. An intense reading experience, Lisa McInerney captures something very unique, something very special indeed.
“Proximity to danger is not something I feel with any consistency. I’ve sat in to cars with fellas who swore to kill me. I’ve stood over fat lines of coke and felt like my heart was going to burst and still crouched to snort another. Reality is a pier alongside which you bob in your skiff. Sometimes you can gauge the distance. Sometimes you miss the jump.” – Ryan Cusack
The Rules of Revelation is uncompromising in its description of people and place. Its rawness is tangible. Ryan’s hurt is unmistakable. Ryan’s truth is unflinching. It is what it is. With a mix of wonderfully flawed characters, The Rules of Revelation is another engrossing read from Lisa McInerney. There is an energy off these books that I just love. Am I biased? Unashamedly so. And just so you all know, us Corkonians are really very nice when you get to know us!
I’ve been on a journey with Ryan Cusack since he first entered my radar when he was a young lad of fifteen. The eldest of six, the odds were stacked against Ryan. With his Italian mother dead and his father a raging alcoholic, and a runner for a gangland boss, Ryan sees the world very differently to other teenagers his age. He is angry with the hand dealt him but makes a decision that he will not be like his parents and will find a path through the chaos. Ryan chooses drug-dealing as an option, a way of amassing cash fast.
Ryan Cusack embarks on a journey riddled with violence and passion, one that puts his life in very precarious situations. But also he learns what to love someone really means. Lisa McInerney described The Glorious Heresies as a landscape and The Blood Miracles as a portrait, two very apt characterisations as we travel with Ryan from a teenager to a young adult. Now arriving back into Cork with the ambition of becoming a successful musician, Ryan has many demons to face. He has made lots of enemies over the years who will not be happy to see him back in the city. He has a young son with his now ex Karine but their relationship is not finished yet. Too much water has gone under the bridge for these two, their history is forever binding.
The Rules of Revelation is a redemptive story for Ryan Cusack, and for many other characters in this trilogy, as they find a path forward, a way to move on with their lives. Yet again Lisa McInerney transports the reader right into the streets of Cork with a real sense of place present at all times. The Cork black sense of humour filters through all three books in this series with Maureen Phelan, the matriarch of the story, really having her moments. Her antics, her opinions, her attitude make her a treasure, an iconic personality in the series. The Rules of Revelation also has a very meaningful edge to it. Less brutal than its predecessors, there is a feeling of coming home, a feeling of pride. This is our country. This is the city I live in. This is home.
“I think this is the most personal of my three novels, in that it’s about art, and making art when you don’t come from a background that actively encourages it, finding your voice in a world that you’re not entirely comfortable in. The novel is set in a newly confident Ireland, after those two huge referendums (marriage equality and abortion rights), and it was exciting to be able to pull the lens back a bit and focus on a version of Ireland that actually might allow my characters in, for a change… I wanted to celebrate how Ireland’s changed so fast for the better, and explore what that might mean for five stubborn and perceptive misfits, but equally I was driven to acknowledge genuine disparity, especially that between contemporary, commercialised feminism and working-class life, and focus on people on the periphery of feminism, either left behind by it, or not quite at peace with it as a movement or philosophy.” – Lisa McInerney
The Rules of Revelation offers a sense of closure to Ryan’s story but I’m hoping that someday Lisa McInerney might revisit Cork again and let us all know how the gang are getting on. There is talk of it hitting our TV screens at some stage which is seriously exciting news so I have everything crossed. Lisa McInerney writes characters that are unpolished, gritty and toughened by their surroundings, yet loyal to these surroundings right to their very core. Cork is known as The Rebel County. We like to call it The Real Capital of Ireland. We never like to be told what to do. We are fierce proud of our roots and I am in complete awe of Lisa McInerney’s ability to capture the spirit of Cork.
Audacious, authentic and absolutely bloody wonderful, all three books are individual yet expertly interwoven creating a remarkable picture of an Ireland in the midst of change. An intense reading experience, Lisa McInerney captures something very unique, something very special indeed.
“Proximity to danger is not something I feel with any consistency. I’ve sat in to cars with fellas who swore to kill me. I’ve stood over fat lines of coke and felt like my heart was going to burst and still crouched to snort another. Reality is a pier alongside which you bob in your skiff. Sometimes you can gauge the distance. Sometimes you miss the jump.” – Ryan Cusack
The Rules of Revelation is uncompromising in its description of people and place. Its rawness is tangible. Ryan’s hurt is unmistakable. Ryan’s truth is unflinching. It is what it is. With a mix of wonderfully flawed characters, The Rules of Revelation is another engrossing read from Lisa McInerney. There is an energy off these books that I just love. Am I biased? Unashamedly so. And just so you all know, us Corkonians are really very nice when you get to know us!
April 6, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in Lisa McInerney’s Cork series (The Glorious Heresies) but didn’t read the second one. I thought that might be a problem for my embarking on this, her third, but didn’t find it so. She injects just enough of the characters’ back stories for it to stand alone - and in a convincing way, as the action moves along, not with an early potted history chapter that so irritates those who are already up to speed.
I was delighted to see the same characters centre stage - I am thinking here of Ryan, of course, and Karine and Maureen. This is part love story, part social commentary (on past and present Ireland and specifically the city of Cork), part individual struggles with identity, told from multiple characters’ viewpoints. Ryan narrates his thoughts directly to Karine in chapters headed with titles of songs from the band’s album.
I thought I needed a good self to sell to the girl I loved because she had to believe that I was a solid fella. A grown man couldn’t be broken. I didn’t understand. I wasn’t broken, but I was in bits. And once you understood them all, that was it. I was complete. A musician, a miscreant, a bad son and a good dad. And yours.
So, an effective structure here, alternately fast and slow paced according to a character’s mood, with sharp, witty dialogue and characters to invest in. Highly recommended.
With thanks to John Murray Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
I was delighted to see the same characters centre stage - I am thinking here of Ryan, of course, and Karine and Maureen. This is part love story, part social commentary (on past and present Ireland and specifically the city of Cork), part individual struggles with identity, told from multiple characters’ viewpoints. Ryan narrates his thoughts directly to Karine in chapters headed with titles of songs from the band’s album.
I thought I needed a good self to sell to the girl I loved because she had to believe that I was a solid fella. A grown man couldn’t be broken. I didn’t understand. I wasn’t broken, but I was in bits. And once you understood them all, that was it. I was complete. A musician, a miscreant, a bad son and a good dad. And yours.
So, an effective structure here, alternately fast and slow paced according to a character’s mood, with sharp, witty dialogue and characters to invest in. Highly recommended.
With thanks to John Murray Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
August 9, 2022
McInerney won the Women's Prize for Fiction for the first book in this series The Glorious Heresies. I had a hard time getting into this, the third book in the series. I couldn't remember who was who except for Ryan and his (ex) Karine. But thanks to a smart discussion in my book club last night, I was able to appreciate a lot of what McInerney does in this novel. There's A LOT about gender including a rather funny reflection by a character who identifies as non-binary that she sometimes gets confused and finds it exhausting to deal with others, even members of her own rock band, around this issue. It's tricky to write about this sensitive topic and inject humor. It doesn't ever feel as though McInerney is disrespectful. But it may offend some people. There are endless complaints about misogyny of Cork culture, and male dominance of everything. I found the part where an older woman who "accidentally" starts leading tours of the city, stumbles on to the history of Mother Jones. Mary Harris was born in Cork before the Famine drove her to America. Maureen, the somewhat ersatz tour guide, starts asking younger Cork residents if they have heard of her and they all have. Maureen guides mostly young Germans who wholeheartedly buy into this "genuine" Cork resident and her mostly invented narratives of the sights of Cork.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
March 21, 2021
The Rules of Revelation is a novel about secrets, the past, and the future, as Lisa McInerney delivers the third in her series of books about Cork and one teenage drug dealer now turned musician. Ryan Cusack is back in Ireland, looking to create an album with his new band, but there's still someone in Cork looking for him, wanting him to keep quiet about the past. However, that's not so easy when Georgie is also back in Cork, trying to make Ryan's drug dealing past common knowledge, and another old secret relating to Ryan puts pressure on both his band and his ex-girlfriend. Still, there's one old lady trying to look out for Ryan.
I wasn't sure whether to read The Rules of Revelation, as I enjoyed the previous two books in the series, but I read them in the wrong order (I happened to read The Blood Miracles without knowing it was a sequel) and found it hard to keep track of the plot in the first one. I couldn't remember the other two and wasn't sure how it would go, but I'm glad I did pick this one up, as I found it enjoyable and much easier to get into the world of the characters even when I'd forgotten them than I expected.
The other two felt notable in being more up to date small time gangster stories, and The Rules of Revelation also feels up to date, but less of a gangster narrative this time. Instead, it's a lot more about secrets and scandal, sex and gender, and how to reinvent yourself. It wasn't too hard to distinguish between the different narrators and it worked quite well to bring the stories together, though Georgie's felt like it lost steam partway through. The stakes never felt particularly high, but that suited the fact it isn't a book about gangsters, but about people trying to forge new paths even with their pasts on display.
I did find the book a bit too long, as it does meander and give a lot about what the characters are thinking, but it gripped me more than I expected as I thought I was going to spend most it trying to remember who the characters are. The start had to do quite a lot of 'here's the major things you need to know about this person' seeing as they weren't being introduced from scratch, but I appreciated being given the information even if it was a bit slow.
As someone who likes gangster narratives, but also likes books that address actual modern issues and aren't stuck with a dated mindset, I appreciated The Rules of Revelation for being up to date and looking more at the treatment of female characters, sex, trauma, class, and gender that makes up the fallout from the previous two books. I found it readable without remembering the previous two books, but other people might prefer to feel like they knew the full histories of the characters and ensure they've read the other two books first.
I wasn't sure whether to read The Rules of Revelation, as I enjoyed the previous two books in the series, but I read them in the wrong order (I happened to read The Blood Miracles without knowing it was a sequel) and found it hard to keep track of the plot in the first one. I couldn't remember the other two and wasn't sure how it would go, but I'm glad I did pick this one up, as I found it enjoyable and much easier to get into the world of the characters even when I'd forgotten them than I expected.
The other two felt notable in being more up to date small time gangster stories, and The Rules of Revelation also feels up to date, but less of a gangster narrative this time. Instead, it's a lot more about secrets and scandal, sex and gender, and how to reinvent yourself. It wasn't too hard to distinguish between the different narrators and it worked quite well to bring the stories together, though Georgie's felt like it lost steam partway through. The stakes never felt particularly high, but that suited the fact it isn't a book about gangsters, but about people trying to forge new paths even with their pasts on display.
I did find the book a bit too long, as it does meander and give a lot about what the characters are thinking, but it gripped me more than I expected as I thought I was going to spend most it trying to remember who the characters are. The start had to do quite a lot of 'here's the major things you need to know about this person' seeing as they weren't being introduced from scratch, but I appreciated being given the information even if it was a bit slow.
As someone who likes gangster narratives, but also likes books that address actual modern issues and aren't stuck with a dated mindset, I appreciated The Rules of Revelation for being up to date and looking more at the treatment of female characters, sex, trauma, class, and gender that makes up the fallout from the previous two books. I found it readable without remembering the previous two books, but other people might prefer to feel like they knew the full histories of the characters and ensure they've read the other two books first.
June 27, 2022
gonna miss these brilliant characters. 🥺
May 30, 2021
This book is subtitled “Ryan Cusack #3” and this is because it is part three (of, I assume, a trilogy) that began with The Glorious Heresies and then continued with The Blood Miracles. I really enjoyed the irreverent comedy of The Glorious Heresies and the way it followed a cast of characters whose lives intertwined. When The Blood Miracles changed the focus to a single character (Ryan Cusack himself) I found that worked a lot less well for me. Because of my lack of enjoyment of The Blood Miracles, I made a decision not to re-read the first two parts of the trilogy in preparation for this final part. This turns out to be a mistake and I would very much recommend that anyone reading this book also reads the first two parts beforehand.
The Rules of Revelation reverts to the multi-character approach as several characters from the first two books progress their stories. Once again, these stories overlap, although to my mind they also have more independence to them. The main story follows, as you’d expect, Ryan Cusack as he deals with trauma that we already know about from earlier books. Also, we have always known that Ryan is musically gifted and here he is front man for a band that is getting together to record an album (this is what brings most of the characters back together for this book). The narrative is interspersed with explanations from Ryan, written to Karine, of the origins of the tracks on the album.
What this book lacks, from my perspective, is the energy, drive and comedy that was in The Glorious Heresies but not in The Blood Miracles. It seems to want to make some points about gender, about Ireland, about Brexit that sometimes don’t sit very comfortably with the rest of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed The Blood Miracles but, for my tastes, it fell well short of the The Glorious Heresies.
2.5 stars rounded up.
My thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.
The Rules of Revelation reverts to the multi-character approach as several characters from the first two books progress their stories. Once again, these stories overlap, although to my mind they also have more independence to them. The main story follows, as you’d expect, Ryan Cusack as he deals with trauma that we already know about from earlier books. Also, we have always known that Ryan is musically gifted and here he is front man for a band that is getting together to record an album (this is what brings most of the characters back together for this book). The narrative is interspersed with explanations from Ryan, written to Karine, of the origins of the tracks on the album.
What this book lacks, from my perspective, is the energy, drive and comedy that was in The Glorious Heresies but not in The Blood Miracles. It seems to want to make some points about gender, about Ireland, about Brexit that sometimes don’t sit very comfortably with the rest of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed The Blood Miracles but, for my tastes, it fell well short of the The Glorious Heresies.
2.5 stars rounded up.
My thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.
May 16, 2021
Essentially this is a very long-winded wrap up of loose threads from The Glorious Heresies; I can't imagine anyone connecting with it easily if they hadn't read at least the first of its two predecessors, and while there are good things about it (I adored Maureen's thread, and Ryan redeems himself somewhat after a low point in The Blood Miracles) a lot of it feels quite unnecessary.
December 16, 2025
an incredible trilogy of books, so funny and with sharp and powerful social commentaries on Ireland, the state of it post crash and the years afterwards, the way it treats its women and the cycle of violence and drugs in some working class lives. absolutely amazing.
August 15, 2022
loved so much. i have confirmed that i love cork city in real life and i also think this was the best in the series. i want to be maureen when I grow up
May 8, 2021
After finishing this book I now have a renewed appreciation for the whole series, starting with The Glorious Heresies, followed by Blood Miracles and finishing with The Rules of Revelation.
In all three of these books, the shining light has been the character of Ryan and following his journey across the books has been wonderful, from his upbringing amidst crime and violence in Cork, Ireland, to losing himself in a criminal life full of danger, to his subsequent redemption and hope for a better life in this book.
I would not recommend reading this book as a standalone as, while McInerney does a good job of recapping events from the previous books, there is a whole level of detail and backstory that will be missing so I highly recommend reading the series from the start to get the most from the story.
I really enjoyed picking up on many of the characters stories but the main draw for me is always Ryan, who is a troubled, flawed yet endearing character, and his on/off relationship with girlfriend Karine which was depicted so beautifully yet realistically in this book.
This is not a plot-driven story yet the character development is brilliant and the ending felt perfect for what has been a fantastic series.
Thank you to Netgalley and John Murray Press for the ARC.
In all three of these books, the shining light has been the character of Ryan and following his journey across the books has been wonderful, from his upbringing amidst crime and violence in Cork, Ireland, to losing himself in a criminal life full of danger, to his subsequent redemption and hope for a better life in this book.
I would not recommend reading this book as a standalone as, while McInerney does a good job of recapping events from the previous books, there is a whole level of detail and backstory that will be missing so I highly recommend reading the series from the start to get the most from the story.
I really enjoyed picking up on many of the characters stories but the main draw for me is always Ryan, who is a troubled, flawed yet endearing character, and his on/off relationship with girlfriend Karine which was depicted so beautifully yet realistically in this book.
This is not a plot-driven story yet the character development is brilliant and the ending felt perfect for what has been a fantastic series.
Thank you to Netgalley and John Murray Press for the ARC.
May 20, 2021
Bouncing back and forth between Cork, London, Italy & Seoul: multiple timelines and a multitude of damaged, charismatic, beautifully flawed characters. All circling the infamous Ryan Cusack - drug dealer turned Rockstar. Each narrative offers you a slice of Ryan; a piece of his past, a glimmer of his character - while at the same time giving you their story and a commentary on the new progressive Ireland, it’s underbelly, it’s politics and the violent truth of the criminal underworld - more than a nod to its history but a deep look into what it is becoming.
McInerney’s prose are course, foul-mouthed, witty, and evocatively dark - yet she still manages to give her stars a sentimental, fully formed, almost redemptive air.
We hear little directly from Ryan, small glimpses in the missives written to his ex-girlfriend Karine, about the emotion behind his lyrics, their reason for being but these snippets complete him, we see him in stunning technicolor and the tragic hero that he is.
For me, the heart of this piece is Maureen:
‘Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living’
‘The dead are dead’ Maureen grouched ‘and a prayer is just a bad poem learned by rote’
The formerly expelled would-be matriarch, 'Maureen has got wind that things are changing and if anyone’s telling the story she wants to make sure that it’s her' - but before she does, she needs to find out what the story is. Through her, the changing landscape of Ireland is prodded at and analysed - often from a feminist viewpoint you see her eyes open and an understanding of the subtleties of change, of what it really takes to move forward. Our gangsters mother, our protagonists saviour - Maureen tentatively holds the diametrically opposed cornerstones of this story in her hands; the omnipresent spectre, the gangland boss and the one that got away, the one who wants more for himself and for Cork... what will she do with that fragile power...
I went into this book entirely blind, I had missed the fact this is the third book in McInerney's series. The series that starts with Glorious Heresies, the award winning book that has been sitting on my shelf for an age!! Did this lessen my enjoyment of it? absolutely not; this books sits perfectly on its own and if anything, the fact that I knew nothing of what had come before made me work harder and appreciate it all the more. Will I go back and read the other two? Yes I most certainly will, Lisa McInerney's writing is sublime; her style is rapid and disruptive and therefore unsettling at times, but you are fully rewarded for your efforts. - her characters are human, damaged and at the bottom of the pile; yet they engender hope, a real sense of how far we have come and the work we still have to do.
Thanks to #netgalley and #johnmurraypress for this advanced copy in return for an honest review - it was utterly breathtaking.
McInerney’s prose are course, foul-mouthed, witty, and evocatively dark - yet she still manages to give her stars a sentimental, fully formed, almost redemptive air.
We hear little directly from Ryan, small glimpses in the missives written to his ex-girlfriend Karine, about the emotion behind his lyrics, their reason for being but these snippets complete him, we see him in stunning technicolor and the tragic hero that he is.
For me, the heart of this piece is Maureen:
‘Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living’
‘The dead are dead’ Maureen grouched ‘and a prayer is just a bad poem learned by rote’
The formerly expelled would-be matriarch, 'Maureen has got wind that things are changing and if anyone’s telling the story she wants to make sure that it’s her' - but before she does, she needs to find out what the story is. Through her, the changing landscape of Ireland is prodded at and analysed - often from a feminist viewpoint you see her eyes open and an understanding of the subtleties of change, of what it really takes to move forward. Our gangsters mother, our protagonists saviour - Maureen tentatively holds the diametrically opposed cornerstones of this story in her hands; the omnipresent spectre, the gangland boss and the one that got away, the one who wants more for himself and for Cork... what will she do with that fragile power...
I went into this book entirely blind, I had missed the fact this is the third book in McInerney's series. The series that starts with Glorious Heresies, the award winning book that has been sitting on my shelf for an age!! Did this lessen my enjoyment of it? absolutely not; this books sits perfectly on its own and if anything, the fact that I knew nothing of what had come before made me work harder and appreciate it all the more. Will I go back and read the other two? Yes I most certainly will, Lisa McInerney's writing is sublime; her style is rapid and disruptive and therefore unsettling at times, but you are fully rewarded for your efforts. - her characters are human, damaged and at the bottom of the pile; yet they engender hope, a real sense of how far we have come and the work we still have to do.
Thanks to #netgalley and #johnmurraypress for this advanced copy in return for an honest review - it was utterly breathtaking.
April 5, 2021
Ryan Cusack, musician, polyglot, returns to his hometown of Cork, Ireland, after a time spent in Seoul. He's putting a band together, Lord Urchin, and stands at the brink of success. Returning to Cork brings its challenges, one of those being avoiding a possible death sentence after a time drug dealing for Jimmy Phelan, criminal extraordinaire.
All the characters from the previous two novels come hurtling back into Ryan's life in one way or another, and chaos ensues. Georgie, Mel/Linda, Maureen, Karine. His life is complicated - current relationships, ex relationships, familial set ups and dodgy situations abound. It's messy. It's Irish. It's funny and irreverant.
The chapters are song titles, and I assumed it was Ryan narrating the explanations, but I wasn't sure. It's not an easy read, either. The colloquial Irish means the reader has to make an effort, and it's not always easy to understand. I didn't find it as amusing as the two previous offerings, but this one has its own charm, and it especially has Maureen.
I love Maureen as a character. Ever since she whalloped Georgie's boyfriend over the head and did him in, I've loved her. She talks about Cork being a place for a man, but there is a strong women's theme running throughout this book; there's mention of Mother Baker and the Magdalene laundries for fallen women (of which Maureen is one). It's also about exile, and returning.
There is plenty going on in this novel. It helps to have read the previous books, and I would reccommend it if you are to get the most out of this one.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a prepublished copy in return for an honest review.
All the characters from the previous two novels come hurtling back into Ryan's life in one way or another, and chaos ensues. Georgie, Mel/Linda, Maureen, Karine. His life is complicated - current relationships, ex relationships, familial set ups and dodgy situations abound. It's messy. It's Irish. It's funny and irreverant.
The chapters are song titles, and I assumed it was Ryan narrating the explanations, but I wasn't sure. It's not an easy read, either. The colloquial Irish means the reader has to make an effort, and it's not always easy to understand. I didn't find it as amusing as the two previous offerings, but this one has its own charm, and it especially has Maureen.
I love Maureen as a character. Ever since she whalloped Georgie's boyfriend over the head and did him in, I've loved her. She talks about Cork being a place for a man, but there is a strong women's theme running throughout this book; there's mention of Mother Baker and the Magdalene laundries for fallen women (of which Maureen is one). It's also about exile, and returning.
There is plenty going on in this novel. It helps to have read the previous books, and I would reccommend it if you are to get the most out of this one.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a prepublished copy in return for an honest review.
June 16, 2021
The Rules Of Revelation is the third book in the Ryan Cusack series, following The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles. I haven't read either of the first two books but heard that it could still be read as a standalone.
The book is set in Cork and follows the story of Ryan Cusack. He has a son, Diarmaid, with a woman named Karine and is out of the country due to some things he had done in his past life with regards to drugs and drug dealing. He is making waves with his band, Lord Urchin, and we also hear stories from Mel, Georgie and Maureen.
I don't want to give too much away but it is a very character driven book and you do need to give it your full attention. It isn't fast paced, which is what I look for in a book, but I ended up caring so much about these characters and wanted to see what the story was between them.
The story for each character is built well and McInerney writes beautifully. The writing is funny, especially any scenes with Maureen, but serious too. It covers a lot of socio-economic factors so it has a lot of depth to it. We hear about sex work, gender bias, class issues and sexism, to name a few.
My favourite parts were Ryan's chapters where he would be explaining tracks from his album to Karine.
I will definitely go back and read The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles because I need to hear more about these characters. I am also very excited to hear there are plans for a TV adaptation. I think it will work really well.
The book is set in Cork and follows the story of Ryan Cusack. He has a son, Diarmaid, with a woman named Karine and is out of the country due to some things he had done in his past life with regards to drugs and drug dealing. He is making waves with his band, Lord Urchin, and we also hear stories from Mel, Georgie and Maureen.
I don't want to give too much away but it is a very character driven book and you do need to give it your full attention. It isn't fast paced, which is what I look for in a book, but I ended up caring so much about these characters and wanted to see what the story was between them.
The story for each character is built well and McInerney writes beautifully. The writing is funny, especially any scenes with Maureen, but serious too. It covers a lot of socio-economic factors so it has a lot of depth to it. We hear about sex work, gender bias, class issues and sexism, to name a few.
My favourite parts were Ryan's chapters where he would be explaining tracks from his album to Karine.
I will definitely go back and read The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles because I need to hear more about these characters. I am also very excited to hear there are plans for a TV adaptation. I think it will work really well.
May 27, 2021
I really wanted to love this book but I failed completely to do so. It took me nearly 3 weeks to drag myself through its turgid prose. It hung like a rotting albatross around my neck, sucking the life and enthusiasm for reading out of me. It was absolutely not for me.
Would it have made a difference if I'd read one of the earlier books in the series? I rather doubt it. It just dragged, meandered, dragged a bit more. It's fair to say that there wasn't a single character I could say I liked or cared even a little bit about. It was full of small people with big memories and even bigger grudges.
Since it was about a band, I'll draw on one of my favourites with a quotation: "Nothing ever happens. Nothing happens at all. The needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before".
I curse my stupidity for not quitting this book early on. It was a torture to wade through it.
So why 2 stars rather than 1? The writing is not ineligant. I just wished there could have been a bit more plot. Actually, ANY plot. would have done.
Thank you and 'sorry' to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. This one was not for me even the littlest bit.
Would it have made a difference if I'd read one of the earlier books in the series? I rather doubt it. It just dragged, meandered, dragged a bit more. It's fair to say that there wasn't a single character I could say I liked or cared even a little bit about. It was full of small people with big memories and even bigger grudges.
Since it was about a band, I'll draw on one of my favourites with a quotation: "Nothing ever happens. Nothing happens at all. The needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before".
I curse my stupidity for not quitting this book early on. It was a torture to wade through it.
So why 2 stars rather than 1? The writing is not ineligant. I just wished there could have been a bit more plot. Actually, ANY plot. would have done.
Thank you and 'sorry' to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. This one was not for me even the littlest bit.
May 1, 2022
I can’t get enough of modern Irish fiction at the moment and McInerney is one of their every best. The energy and anger of the characters fizzes off every single page. Brilliant prose, strong story, Cork as a backdrop in all its gritty glory. Unforgettable
March 23, 2023
I didn't love this book but nor was it terrible. I mainly enjoyed the language of Cork, Ireland. The rest was a tad boring.
February 16, 2024
i probably would have enjoyed this more if i had realised it was the third in a trilogy and i had read the other 2 first
April 15, 2021
This was a very hard going read and although I could admire the raw and gritty setting and the fluency of the language, it was very difficult to get into. This is the first thing I have read by Lisa McInerey, which may have been part of the problem, as the book is the third in a series about these Cork based characters.
There was a whole back history to these people that I was not invested in and although some of the events of previous books were explored and dissected a bit in this book, I did not fully understand how their characters had been shaped by those experiences.
I found the rapid change of viewpoint confusing and disrupting and the author seemed to live more in the heads of her characters rather than their lives. There is a particular style of writing in the current generation of Irish writers that is unique to them but can be a bit alienating if it’s not the rhythm of language that you’re familiar with.
This meant I was focusing more on the style of the narrative rather than the story itself. I would probably recommend that readers start with the other two books first before coming straight into this one.
Thank you to Netgalley and John Murray Press for an e ARC of The Rules of Revelation in return for an honest review
There was a whole back history to these people that I was not invested in and although some of the events of previous books were explored and dissected a bit in this book, I did not fully understand how their characters had been shaped by those experiences.
I found the rapid change of viewpoint confusing and disrupting and the author seemed to live more in the heads of her characters rather than their lives. There is a particular style of writing in the current generation of Irish writers that is unique to them but can be a bit alienating if it’s not the rhythm of language that you’re familiar with.
This meant I was focusing more on the style of the narrative rather than the story itself. I would probably recommend that readers start with the other two books first before coming straight into this one.
Thank you to Netgalley and John Murray Press for an e ARC of The Rules of Revelation in return for an honest review
July 31, 2021
Entertaining trilogy, spearheaded by the brilliant Glorious Heresies. The energy dips a bit by the third book, but by then I was totally invested in the quick fire Irish wit and a cabal of well built characters.
March 4, 2021
Really enjoyed this book. It's the third in a trilogy about the people inhabiting the seedier side of Cork. The first two books were mainly about sex (or sex workers) and drugs (or drug dealing) and this one is mainly about rock and roll. The same colourful characters appear in all three novels and it's been a joy to follow them through their ups and downs. I feel as if I've really got to know them. They're very entertaining and Lisa McInerney doesn't call herself 'The Sweary Lady' for nothing! This final book in the trilogy doesn't tie everything up but leaves the characters where they are so there could easily be more to come - but what comes after sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? Maybe they're best left alone now.
January 4, 2023
The Rules of Revelation is the third and final book in a series, starting in 2015 with The Glorious Heresies in 2015, which was followed by The Blood Miracles in 2017. I haven't read either of those- but was reliably informed this could still be enjoyed as a stand-alone book. I would say this is true, but there are a whole bank of characters with differing rich back stories to get to know - these are touched upon in the opening chapters, but I have to add that I did have to really take my time to get through these initial pages slowly, and to try to remember who everyone was and how they were connected.
Once I had this mostly secured in my mind I could really get drawn into the book. Based in Cork, the story follows Ryan Cusack, who left Cork for Seoul leaving behind a criminal past, and has been briefly living in Korea writing music with part of his band - he returns to record his music with the band, hoping he can base himself back where his ex-girlfriend Karine and their young son are living, to make a go at a new life and a new future. With his tough history behind him, and a career in the music industry ahead, there are a few people who don't wish to let him have success and are out to disrupt these intentions. As the book progresses we learn more about some great supporting characters, I especially loved Maureen and her desire to make a name for herself in a very male led Cork, as the 'mother' of her generation.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but think if you have the benefit of the first two books under your belt, you will find it much easier to navigate your way through the story and the nuances in the plot.
I occasionally found it difficult to keep a reading rhythm when the character POV changed mid chapter, and had to do a little re-reading, but soon got used to this style of writing.
I think if I had my time again, I would like to have read the previous two book first, but I enjoyed the authors descriptive writing style overall (once I got used to the POV changing without markers), and the characters felt weighty and solid.
Thank you to Lisa McInerney, Tandem Collective & John Murrays for sending me a copy of the book to read. All views here are my own & I was not obliged to post this review in exchange for the gifted copy.
Once I had this mostly secured in my mind I could really get drawn into the book. Based in Cork, the story follows Ryan Cusack, who left Cork for Seoul leaving behind a criminal past, and has been briefly living in Korea writing music with part of his band - he returns to record his music with the band, hoping he can base himself back where his ex-girlfriend Karine and their young son are living, to make a go at a new life and a new future. With his tough history behind him, and a career in the music industry ahead, there are a few people who don't wish to let him have success and are out to disrupt these intentions. As the book progresses we learn more about some great supporting characters, I especially loved Maureen and her desire to make a name for herself in a very male led Cork, as the 'mother' of her generation.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but think if you have the benefit of the first two books under your belt, you will find it much easier to navigate your way through the story and the nuances in the plot.
I occasionally found it difficult to keep a reading rhythm when the character POV changed mid chapter, and had to do a little re-reading, but soon got used to this style of writing.
I think if I had my time again, I would like to have read the previous two book first, but I enjoyed the authors descriptive writing style overall (once I got used to the POV changing without markers), and the characters felt weighty and solid.
Thank you to Lisa McInerney, Tandem Collective & John Murrays for sending me a copy of the book to read. All views here are my own & I was not obliged to post this review in exchange for the gifted copy.
December 16, 2024
Including this last instalment, I read 1,044 pages in total for this Ryan Cusack trilogy. The first two novels in the series are The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles . I read the trio over two months
Masochist? Completist? Somnambulist? I fear that I am all three.
I was interested, but not surprised, that reviews in the national papers were hardly laudatory (Alex Preston’s here, most closely reflected my sentiments https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...)
The cast of characters is still predominantly a youthful one. When the reader first met the cast of characters they were teenagers, owning the world and making the same mistakes as every generation. Rules of Revelation is set in 2019, and that’s only seven years since we were introduced to Ryan and the gang.
Nothing much has changed, and while the average twenty four year old is not markedly different from the seventeen year old school leaver, it means that there’s no so much the writer can do to shake up the younger version.
So why do it?
If the second instalment was a pitch for those readers who did find some connection with Ryan, and Karine, Maureen (the token older generation figure) and Jimmy Phelan, then this last part is just more of the same. It’s a storyline that has little more to give.
Ryan loves Karine. Karine loves Ryan. It does make you wonder why; and there’s no depth of relationship that features, for example, in Sally Rooney’s work.
So many things increasingly irked me. The two lovers who we gather are fated to be with one another, do have significant others. But Dylan Maloney, and Natalie Grogan (particularly) don’t even fade away gracefully, or disappear abruptly. Once they are no longer necessary for the narrative McInerney just parks them on the side and there no sense of resolution whatsoever.
I was already bored by the separate story lines, concerning Georgie Fitzsimmons and Maureen Phelan. They, separately, are a foil to the supposedly dominant Ryan. But the reflections of these two women on life’s injustices, and the nature of local villainy, had all been laid before the reader in part two of the trilogy. There’s nothing new here.
There’s some searching for a deeper life through the musical career now taken up by Ryan (the band, “Lord Urchin”); in that art and honesty are the underlying rules of revelation that give the novel its title.
How can this truly have depth, though, when Ryan is the character through whom this new life is to be realised? His stock response to virtually everybody, when asked to give reasons or explanations for his poor decision making, and erratic actions, is “I don’t know”.
Lisa McInerney edits the seminal literature magazine, “The Stinging Fly”, showcasing Ireland’s emerging talent. She is a good and funny contributor at literary gatherings.
I’m sure that more to come from her and like others I very much hope that she shakes off Ryan Cusack in time for her next published work.
Masochist? Completist? Somnambulist? I fear that I am all three.
I was interested, but not surprised, that reviews in the national papers were hardly laudatory (Alex Preston’s here, most closely reflected my sentiments https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...)
The cast of characters is still predominantly a youthful one. When the reader first met the cast of characters they were teenagers, owning the world and making the same mistakes as every generation. Rules of Revelation is set in 2019, and that’s only seven years since we were introduced to Ryan and the gang.
Nothing much has changed, and while the average twenty four year old is not markedly different from the seventeen year old school leaver, it means that there’s no so much the writer can do to shake up the younger version.
So why do it?
If the second instalment was a pitch for those readers who did find some connection with Ryan, and Karine, Maureen (the token older generation figure) and Jimmy Phelan, then this last part is just more of the same. It’s a storyline that has little more to give.
Ryan loves Karine. Karine loves Ryan. It does make you wonder why; and there’s no depth of relationship that features, for example, in Sally Rooney’s work.
So many things increasingly irked me. The two lovers who we gather are fated to be with one another, do have significant others. But Dylan Maloney, and Natalie Grogan (particularly) don’t even fade away gracefully, or disappear abruptly. Once they are no longer necessary for the narrative McInerney just parks them on the side and there no sense of resolution whatsoever.
I was already bored by the separate story lines, concerning Georgie Fitzsimmons and Maureen Phelan. They, separately, are a foil to the supposedly dominant Ryan. But the reflections of these two women on life’s injustices, and the nature of local villainy, had all been laid before the reader in part two of the trilogy. There’s nothing new here.
There’s some searching for a deeper life through the musical career now taken up by Ryan (the band, “Lord Urchin”); in that art and honesty are the underlying rules of revelation that give the novel its title.
How can this truly have depth, though, when Ryan is the character through whom this new life is to be realised? His stock response to virtually everybody, when asked to give reasons or explanations for his poor decision making, and erratic actions, is “I don’t know”.
Lisa McInerney edits the seminal literature magazine, “The Stinging Fly”, showcasing Ireland’s emerging talent. She is a good and funny contributor at literary gatherings.
I’m sure that more to come from her and like others I very much hope that she shakes off Ryan Cusack in time for her next published work.
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