I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review This book has all the requisites for a stunning crime thriller: weary pathologist with complicated personal life; dedicated cop; suspicious suicide; terrified girl; and potential cover-up by the powers-that-be and /or the Roman Catholic church. But, somehow for me it did not gel. Perhaps if I had read the other books in the Quirke series, I might have been more drawn to the characters, but approaching it as a stand-alone book, I felt almost no empathy for any of the characters – particularly not for Quirke, the hero. To be a good book, it needs to engage the reader. You don’t have to like the characters or the story line, but you do have to care about where they are heading. I was not engaged, didn’t care about the people or what was happening and only finished the book, because I feel it is unfair to review a book – particularly a crime novel – if I hadn’t seen how it turns out.