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    Holy Orders: A Quirke Novel
    Holy Orders: A Quirke Novel
    Holy Orders: A Quirke Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Holy Orders: A Quirke Novel

    Written by Benjamin Black

    Narrated by John Keating

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    When the body of his daughter's friend is brought to his autopsy table, Quirke is plunged into a world of corruption that takes him to the darkest corners of the Irish Church and State.

    "At first they thought it was the body of a child. Later, when they got it out of the water and saw the pubic hair and the nicotine stains on the fingers, they realized their mistake."

    So begins the latest Quirke case, a story set in Dublin at a moment when newspapers are censored, social conventions are strictly defined, and appalling crimes are hushed up. Why? Because in 1950s Ireland the Catholic Church controls the lives of nearly everyone. But when Quirke's daughter Phoebe loses her close friend Jimmy Minor to murder, Quirke can no longer play by the Church's rules. Along with Inspector Hackett, his sometime partner, Quirke investigates Jimmy's death and learns just how far the Church and its supporters will go to protect their own interests.

    Haunting, fierce, and brilliantly plotted, Holy Orders is Benjamin Black writing at the top of his form. His inimitable creation, the endlessly curious Quirke, brings a pathologist's unique understanding of death to unlock the most dangerous of secrets.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781427231680
    Author

    Benjamin Black

    Dr Benjamin Black is a descendent of Iranian, Jewish, and British roots. His family heritage of persecution and forced migration led him to a career in medical humanitarian relief. He is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist based in London and a specialist advisor to international aid organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières, government departments, academic institutions, and UN bodies. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic he provided frontline healthcare to pregnant women and supported the development of international guidelines. Benjamin teaches medical teams around the world on improving sexual and reproductive health care to the most vulnerable people in the most challenging of environments.

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    Reviews for Holy Orders

    3.5/5

    105 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      One of the better Quirke books. Strangely so many people getting dizzy.
    • 3/5
      No matter how superb the writing is, I am SO tired of deeply flawed characters. Really? Quirk manages to hold down a job? The murder of the young journalist was a good start but then it went down hill. I wanted a mystery. I loved Black's Black Eyed Blonde. But this is the second Quirk I've read and I think it's the end for me.
    • 3/5
      The story had a great beginning...a murder to solve and characters that we had come to trust and like playing their usual roles...but then it all changed. About halfway through the book Quirke's daughter wanders into the story...and not necessarily bringing anything to greatly impact what was already becoming an interesting plot line...although I do have to admit that the murder of her friend was an addition. However along with Quirke's fragile and strained relationship with the major church in Ireland...we now see Quirk's relationships with his family and his deeply flawed personality examined in glowing detail. What it boiled down to was that we were presented with 250 pages of high trauma and then the mystery gets solved in the last 30 pages. If I hadn't read the first 5 books in this series it would never have received the 3 star rating. I know how much better this author can be.
    • 2/5
      Yes, nice writing, yes there are the basics of a good narrative somewhere in there but I found the introversion of the 2 main characters pretty insufferable. I hope that doesn't say more about me than about the book. The story was OK, but it seemed that the murder happened in the first 10 pages and the solution was described in the last 10 pages, so, for me, the bit in between was dull, introspective and dare I say, easy infilling by a writer who should be doing much better. I selected this for holiday reading as I had read one of these before and thought that I had enjoyed it - not so sure now! Accidentally I think, but another attempt at an Irish thriller. 4/10.
    • 2/5
      I was very disappointed with this one. The prose remains as eloquent as ever, but where is the plot? I sense boredom on Banville / Black's part; the ending suggests the series is nearing its conclusion.
    • 5/5
      Quirk's physical and mental deterioration continues. He has more issues with his daughter and becomes involved in the investigation of the killing of a young reporter.A dark tale which turns union the evil done to children by the priests of Ireland.
    • 5/5
      I can't believe that this is the first Benjamin Black title that I have read. I do remember the debut novel CHRISTINE FALLS being published and the speculation that Benjamin Black was somebody who had already made his name in another genre. (Among others things the Man Booker Prize for 2005).HOLY ORDERS taps into what has become an international theme of the Catholic Church abusing the children supposedly under its care. It is something Quirke is familiar with having had an institutional upbringing himself. Mixed in with this theme is Quirke's own failure with regard to his relationship with his daughter.It makes good reading.
    • 5/5
      The sixth book in the Quirke series by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville) opens with a body floating in a canal in Dublin – what first appears to be a child, but is later identified as someone Quirke knows – a friend of his daughter, Pheobe. The death is ruled a homicide, the victim bludgeoned almost beyond recognition. What begins with a murder investigation, devolves into uncovering corruption in the Catholic Church and forces Quirke to deal with his dark demons from childhood.Holy Orders is perhaps Black’s most darkly psychological novel to date in this acclaimed series. Finally, readers begin to understand the factors which have made Quirke such a cold, distant and troubled character. Even Pheobe, his damaged daughter, has secrets of her own which surface in this novel about sexual identity, facing one’s mortality, and the power of the Church in 1950′s Dublin.Quirke is vulnerable in this book – he begin experiencing hallucinations and questions not only his physical health, but his emotional well-being too. But just as the reader begins to hope for resolution, a twist in the story (right at the end) catapults the reader into uncertainty.This is perhaps my favorite book in the Quirke series to date. Black/Banfield is at his literary best with deeply introspective prose and spot on character development. Holy Orders is haunting and resonates with a sense of doom and catastrophe. Quirke, who has always been the stalwart protagonist, reveals a more vulnerable side to his personality and his very survival feels threatened. “I might be going away myself,” Quirke said, glancing at the sky. “Away? Where to?” He smiled. “Like you, I’m not sure.”-from Holy Orders-Readers who like their stories tied up with a neat bow at the end, might find themselves a little frustrated with how Black/Banfield wraps this one up. On the other hand, those who love a great series will find themselves anxiously awaiting the next installment.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      I don't generally pick up a series so far on--HOLY ORDERS is the sixth Quirke novel--but the premise snagged me, and I'm glad it did. I'll be reading the first five in the series as soon as possible. The series begins with CHRISTINE FALLS.There are plenty of deeply flawed, self-destructive sleuths out there, but Quirke has an appeal all his own. An alcoholic pathologist, he teams up with Inspector Hewitt to solve the murder of his daughter's friend. This is 1950s Dublin, and Quirke finds himself butting heads with the Church's powers that be and dealing with some of his own troubled past as he digs deeper.Black (a pen name for John Banville) draws 1950s Dublin masterfully. It's rainy, grim, and overshadowed by the Catholic Church. Quirke and Hackett are a delightfully complex pair: "They looked at each other, and had they been other than they were they would have smiled." I'd say that sums up their relationship. Quirke's struggles to relate to his daughter are poignant. The mystery is tightly paced and satisfying. I enjoyed Quirke and look forward to more.Source disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher.
    • 4/5
      Honestly, I did not think I was going to like this book...wondered why I had requested it in fact. I though it was going to be another tires anti-Catholic rant.I must admit, pretty much I was wrong.It is set in Ireland in the 50s and the role of the Church is, I think, pretty accurately described, too political, too powerful.Were misdeeds covered up? Yes, just as they were and still are among all sort of groups that have power, whether it is the government, or colleges or the local school board.So that issue dealt with, it is, IMHO, quite a good book, with Dr. Quirk, an excellent character. Sure he is a self destructive alcoholic with severe interpersonal relation issue...but he is still quite likable.And the plot, while not terribly surprising, was still very good.Perhaps what I liked best was its portrayal of Ireland in the 50, that I though it was right on the money. Damp, and gray and rather seedly with a lot of smoking and a lot of drinking.And that wonderful, cliff hanging ending..excellent.
    • 5/5
      Thanks to Librarything's early reviewers' program, I received a copy of this book from the publisher -- my many thanks to LT and Henry Holt. In this sixth installment in the Quirke series, a trysting couple take a walk along the towpath by a canal, coming across a body wedged in between the canal wall and a barge. The Guards are sent for, and it isn't long until the body winds up in Quirke's morgue at Holy Family Hospital. Quirke doesn't see it until the next morning, and when he pulls back the sheet, he is surprised to find the body is that of Jimmy Minor, a reporter for the Clarion and friend of Quirke's daughter Phoebe. Minor had suffered severe beatings before being dumped into the water. The case is inspected by Inspector Hackett, who enlists Quirke's help. This setup is nothing new; Hackett and Quirke have teamed up before. A clue surfaces early during a search of Minor's apartment, a letter from the Fathers of the Holy Trinity in Rathfarnham, but just why Jimmy wanted to talk to one of their priests is a complete mystery. At the Clarion, Jimmy's editor remembers that Jimmy had recently been to Tallaght on a trip in connection with a local group of Tinkers (Irish Travellers). As Quirke investigates, he has to deal with his own issues, most importantly, his health, both mental and physical; daughter Phoebe also meets up a with surprise of her own from Jimmy's past. The action takes place in 1950s Dublin, where it's always raining and where the Catholic church controls pretty much everything. The press is no exception; here, for example, the Church resorts to a "belt of the crozier," a form of financial blackmail, to keep unwanted stories out of a newspaper. It's an Ireland "hidebound by rules and regulations formulated in the corridors and inner chambers of the Vatican and handed down...as if graven on tablets of stone." As Quirke tells Phoebe, it's a place of two worlds, the one that he and Phoebe and "all the other poor idiots think we live in, and the real one, behind the illusion," where people behind the scenes run and control things, "keeping the meat grinder going." Quirke realizes he has a foot in each world -- in fact, throughout this novel there is a lot of duality -- twins, reality and hallucination, city people and country people, clergy and everyone else, heart and soul, past and present. As always, Black's characterizations are intense, especially with Quirke. He's always dealing with people telling him how uncaring, cruel and cold he is, but for one thing, he can't shake his past, "where he had been most unhappy." As the investigation progresses, and Quirke finds himself at the home of the Fathers of the Holy Trinity, he realizes that the past abuses he'd suffered, "body and soul," do not allow him to think "calmly or clearly" when it comes to the clergy. For another thing, he's worked with the dead long enough, having "sectioned them out and delved into their innards," wondering now if he'd chosen his profession to get nearer to "the heart of the mystery," a secret which ultimately the dead do not yield. While Quirke waxes existential about being and not being, daughter Phoebe is also struggling with her own emotions and comes into her own as a real person. What I really love about this entire series of novels, and what is made very much apparent in Holy Orders, is that the crimes take a back seat to how they affect everyone left behind in their wake. Black wanders through everyone in Jimmy Minor's orbit, exploring the newspaper where he worked, the people investigating his death, his friends, his family, etc., all converging into a photo of sorts of a specific time and place that Benjamin Black portrays so very well with his writing. I love his use of natural imagery & symbolism (plants, birds, water) throughout the story, and the atmosphere he creates is sustained until the very end. The issues he writes about that take place in the 1950s are also relevant in our modern world -- but I'll leave you to discover what I mean. The Quirke series as a whole is excellent; Holy Orders continues that trend. It takes the normal flow of the series and adds something different to it. I can't say what goes on here in too much detail, but once you read it, you'll understand why. I will say that this book is definitely not a mainstream novel of crime fiction for a number of reasons -- most especially the characters, who, for the most part, are complicated and if you haven't read the earlier books in this series, starting here is not a good idea. It also trends more to the literary side rather than to straight-up crime writing, a style that may not be to other crime readers' tastes. However, I can definitely say that if you want something way out of the ordinary, you will certainly get that in the books by Benjamin Black.
    • 5/5
      I was utterly thrilled to win this from LibraryThing. You guys introduced me to Benjamin Black's novels and I'm eternally grateful. I've gotten about half the Quirke series this way.I won't say who the victim is in this one in case anyone who reads this is a bit behind in the series. I was quite saddened though.But because of a murder, Quirke is once again brought into conflict with the Church and it's practices and how far people will go to hide the sins committed therein. And of course it brings up memories of his time at Carricklea. But the memories seem more intense this time, more real and then he starts imagining things. So it's got me wondering if the series may be coming to an end soon. Though it appears that we'll see at least one more book.
    • 4/5
      Holy Orders is not strictly a mystery and not strictly a piece of fiction. The mystery meanders through the major character's life as a backdrop while the main action concerns what Quirke is experiencing in his head which is beautifully constructed by Banville. The only false note of the novel is Quirke's daughter, Phoebe, who seems unable to talk, relate to or interact with anyone. I've read only the first of the Quirke series besides this one, so I'm hoping that the backstory from the intermediate books will tell the story.
    • 5/5
      This is a book about hidden power, and especially the hidden power of the Catholic church in Ireland in the 20th century. Banville goes back to the roots of 'Christine Falls' and focuses on the personalities of Quirke and Phoebe to great effect. Like that of Chandler, the writing crackles with wit, sophistication and one-liners. There are touches of melodrama but these are excusable given the theme of repression. It is a compelling read, a fast one and a worthy one.
    • 1/5
      Beautifully written, but a disappointment. Written as the beginning of another book, the "mystery" is a shell. The bulk of the story has to do with inner turmoil by both Quirke, the brooding pathologist-investigator who is usually the center of the story, and his sometime daughter, Phoebe, who is also wrapped up in her own problems, neither of which are seen through. Characters disappear, e.g. Isabel Galloway, Quirke's actress girlfriend, put off by the same enigmatic behavior that simply ends. Can we expect another book go complete the story? Perhaps, but such a book from Black (Banville) is not worthy of either the author-avatar or his real self. To paraphrase Churchill, this book is a peculiar riddle, wrapped in a whiff of mystery, inside a weird enigma.
    • 3/5
      The question is why Jimmy, a young reporter and friend of Quirke's daughter, was killed, his body mutilated and thrown into a canal. Or that would be the question if this were an ordinary mystery. But this is really another episode in the pathologist's life, another opportunity to follow Quirke, see him drinking (and worry about that) see him with his daughter (and worry about that relationship), see him with his love (or is she?), see him involved with his friend Hackett in trying to solve a murder which becomes more and more entangled with the powers of 1950s Dublin. The reader learns to care more about what happens to Quirke than who murdered Jimmy and that's a tribute to Black/Banville.
    • 3/5
      I've read the first book in the Quirke series, but not the intervening volumes, so I can't compare against the canon, so to speak.The mystery at the heart of Holy Orders is the least significant part of the book, except for the manner in which it acts as a catalyst for the internal and external struggles of the characters. (Allow me to distinguish this from other series: generally, there's the mystery, and then there's whatever's always going on with the recurring characters, and these things intersect, but not always in an extremely significant way.) The murder of Quirke's daughter's friend, and the places that investigation takes both of them (father and daughter) as people/characters, is far more interesting than the reality of the murder case. If you're looking for a straight-up mystery, go elsewhere. If you're up for some excellent character development, along with a glimpse at the shadier sides of Dublin in the mid-20th century, take Holy Orders.
    • 4/5
      This is an Early Reviewers copy. Thank you.Holy Orders, the newest Quirke novel, is as bleak as the shroud of rain drenching Dublin. A young reporter has been murdered and his naked, beaten body dumped in a canal. When Quirke see the body on the autopsy table he is shocked when he recognizes Jimmy Minor, a young reporter who was a close friend of his daughter. So begins the character driven novel that is as much a prose portrait of 1950's Dublin and its citizens as it is a murder mystery. It is as if the author used the murder as a device to cut into the sanity and psyche of his pathologist.Indeed, Quirke is losing his grip on reality as the novel progresses. He is thrown back into childhood horrors more and more, sees people who are not there, and even has conversations and shares drinks with figments of his imagination. Is it the result of his alcoholism or something more scary? Is depression making him crazy?All the while, as the sun appears only briefly between the torrents of rain this Irish spring, Quirke tries to make sense of the very few bits of evidence he and Inspector Hackett have managed to discover about a "big" story the reporter was pursuing. There were just some notes mentioning a very popular, charismatic priest whose main ministry was helping poor children get an education and whose other great social concern was the plight of the marginalized tinkers who lived a subsistence existence in a camp near Dublin.If there are no happy characters in the novel, there are certainly interesting ones. Quirke's daugher Phoebe is central to the action. She has to face her own demons....abandonment by her father, ambivalent feelings toward her boyfriend, and a stirring of passion for Jimmy's twin who has come to Dublin seeking justice. Isobel, Quirke's lover, has come back from a theatrical tour and both sense that something is lacking in their relationship. There is a dogmatic and unethical newspaper owner who bullies his editor-in-chief but succumbs to the pressure of an high-powered attorney to suppress the news when it touches certain topics. Even the irritating new bartender has a distinctive personality. They are very real, if unpleasant, people.This grim, but fascinating book should please readers of the previous Quirke books.