Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Putting the Ire in Ireland

The Drowned by John Banville

August 30, 2025 by Zirza 1 Comment

Autumn is beginning to make its entry in rural Ireland. An expensive car stands in the middle of a field. An oddly-dressed man runs up, tells a passer-by and the inhabitants of a nearby house that his wife has left the car after a tiff and has jumped off a cliff, drowning herself into the chilly Irish sea. But something is off, and the man’s behaviour is suspicious. Days pass, and the woman is not found. It is unclear if she has ever even existed. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: 1950s Ireland, Ireland, john banville, Quirke, St John Strafford, Strafford and Quirke, The Drowned

Zirza's CBR17 Review No:52 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: 1950s Ireland, Ireland, john banville, Quirke, St John Strafford, Strafford and Quirke, The Drowned ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

The Rain in Spain

April in Spain by John Banville

July 3, 2024 by Zirza Leave a Comment

Dublin-based pathologist Quirke is vacationing, at the insistence of his psychiatrist wife, on the Spanish coast. It’s the 1950s, and this is still Franco’s Spain, but the city of San Sebastian is sedate and quiet and comfortably warm. Quirke isn’t sure he’s made for vacationing and when he spots a familiar face in the crowd, he can’t help but investigate – because that face belongs to a woman named April Latimer, and April Latimer has been dead for years.  Banville is what one might call […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: April in Spain, john banville, Quirke, Spain, Stratford and Quirke Series

Zirza's CBR16 Review No:33 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: April in Spain, john banville, Quirke, Spain, Stratford and Quirke Series ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Binge

The Blackbird by Richard Stark

Dead Connection by Alafair Burke

The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black

April 7, 2021 by Jake 3 Comments

Anytime I finish a tome (in this case, Don DeLillo’s Underworld), I tend to binge read in order to get back in the swing of things. Here are three books I picked up over the weekend… The Blackbird *** Someone asked on Twitter recently that if you could take three traits from a writer for yourself, what would they be? I should have mentioned Donald Westlake’s amazing versatility. Just consider the Grofield series: first a heist tale, then a locked room mystery, now a spy thriller, […]

Filed Under: Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Alafair Burke, Alan Grofield, Benjamin Black, Dead Connection, Donald Westlake, Ellie Hatcher, espionage, Ireland, mystery, New York City, Quirke, Richard Stark, The Blackbird, The Silver Swan

Jake's CBR13 Review No:52 · Genres: Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Alafair Burke, Alan Grofield, Benjamin Black, Dead Connection, Donald Westlake, Ellie Hatcher, espionage, Ireland, mystery, New York City, Quirke, Richard Stark, The Blackbird, The Silver Swan ·
· 3 Comments


Recent Comments

  • Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
  • Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
  • Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
  • Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
  • Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.
See More Recent Comments »

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