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One night, pathologist Garret Quirke catches just a glimpse of Christine Falls. Following a going-away party for one of the nurses in the hospital where he works, he stumbles, drunk and tired, down to his office in the basement, where he catches his brother, Mal, tampering with one of his files. Too drunk to question his brother, he decides to go home. On the way out, he trips and pulls the sheet off a body and sees a woman who died much too young—just as his wife had.
Quirke becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to Christine—and why Mal had tried to conceal the truth about how she died and what happened to the child she gave birth to, just minutes before her death. The more questions he asks, the deeper in danger he becomes. Suddenly, secrets from the past rise up and mingle with those of the present—secrets Quirke doesn’t want to face, secrets he keeps even from himself.
Claire Stafford is married to Andy, a jerk of a husband whom she tries to keep calm—because he can become mean-spirited when riled up. Claire is unable to conceive a child, so Andy reluctantly lets her adopt a baby girl from the Catholic Church. They’re told to ask no questions about where the child came from, and when the child becomes of age, they have to release her back into the service of the Church. Claire is okay with that. She has a child now, and everything will be just fine. But this child brings her more heartache than she ever dreamed possible.
Christine Falls is a haunting mystery, full of sorrow and regrets. It’s a depressing read, yet I hung in there, turning the pages, eager to uncover the next secret and discover the next surprising twist in the life of a character named Quirke, as well as that of Claire Stafford.
Though the story focuses on a man whose life didn’t go the way he wanted it to, the mystery is still back there, beckoning you to solve it. What really happened to Christine Falls? Where is her baby? What does the Catholic Church have to do with it? And why on earth did Claire marry Andy?
Poignant and evocative, Christine Falls will keep calling you back to its pages until all is revealed—but not necessarily in the way you might expect. The characters will surprise you with their final acts. After closing the book, only one word will spring to mind: wow.
