The Rules of Revelation is a novel about people dealing with their past and trying to move forward into the future, when that past still has such a hold over them. The novel is set in the town of Cork in Ireland and it is as much of a character in the story as the four main characters in the story. Which definitely gave this novel a real sense of place and how it affects the people in the book.
The story is told using these four people's points of view which helps with the story flow, however there were times while reading the novel, the perspective changed it took a while to work out whose narrative you had entered.

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/1774051634 - 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/1997042077) 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."
 
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 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

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.

Having read the first in this loose trilogy many years ago, I had an idea of what to expect. As expected, mcInerney hooks us in with her vibrant characters and heavy use of dialogue. Set in Cork,Ireland, with a large cast of dynamic, gritty characters, we get to see the inner workings of the criminal underworld of this city.

Ryan has returned to Cork with his band, trying to make it in the music business, despite his colourful past haunting him. Karine, his ex girlfriend and now mother of his child, is trying to get by and bring up her son but is distracted by Ryan’s magnetic pull. Mel, Ryan’s old next door neighbour with her own demons, also finds herself back in with the crowd, stepping in as a new band member.
We also see the perspective of Mrs Phelan, still nurturing a soft spot for Ryan, and watch her come to terms with her idea of cork as ‘city for men’ and what is has to offer.
Georgie , a young woman who managed to get away from Ireland and start a new life, is holding a grudge on Ryan and is determined to out the truth of his past. In doing so, she is encouraged to tell her own story and open up about her experiences caught up in this dark, unrelenting city and its people.

All of these characters are so real, with chapters from all of their perspectives we really get into their minds and inner thought processes. It gives us a dynamic, well rounded view of everyone. At the beginning of each section we also get a passage in first person from Ryan talking to karine about his experiences over the time he was away and his writing of the new album.

There is so much going on in this novel it is difficult to know where to start, but I think that is the beauty of it. We obviously are dealing with the darker parts of cork life, the drugs, the sex and the violence, but despite this there is an endearing quality to all involved. The idea of escaping your past self is very important, with each of our characters in a way wanting to rid themselves of their past and make a new life for themselves. This is an ongoing struggle within the book, with each person ultimately having to confront their demons.

The novel is messy, intense and loud and it was a romp. Not necessarily a book for me in tone and subject matter, but I can appreciate the character work here and would say it’s worth a read just for that.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review this. Really enjoyable book that bounces around all over the place. Set in Cork with great characters and gritty unapologetic prose, I’d happily recommend this book for anyone looking for a good read!

This is the third in an unofficial trilogy set mostly around Cork and centred on an young ex-drug dealer/thug now turned singer about to hit the big time. Someone is out for revenge and wants to expose Ryan’s seedy teenage past just as he is trying to build a new life for himself and his family. Brilliantly written and not shy to tackle any subject.
I have to admit I didn’t know it was a trilogy and dove straight into this one and thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are so well written, they sprang to life in my imagination. The dialect is inspired. I will definitely go back and ready the previous two in order to revel in the excellence of the author’s writing

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.

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living"🔥

i think when people want to look back on Ireland in the 2010s, they'll look at this sharp, witty, moving and epic feeling series. McInerney's unforgettable characters rage and sneer and fight and love so fiercely that it is easy to get caught up in their lives and lose sight of how skillfully the interplay between the personal and political speak to a wider narrative about Ireland, from post Celtic Tiger to post Repeal, rooted in history but with its eyes on a brighter future.

I love so many of the characters, but mostly I love that Cork is an energetic, vibrant and most importantly a changing character in its own right. Another writer may have kept the context of the novels the same and let the characters develop within it, but in these novels the city itself changes before your eyes, and the characters have to navigate what it means to be from a place or a particular background that doesn't stay the same, even if that would make it easier to define yourself by it.

We see at the beginning of the series how the characters are trapped, by external forces or their own struggle, and the series goes on to offer escapes, which are short lived, and ultimately freedom or real agency can only be achieved through overcoming difficult obstacles instead of running away from them. More broadly, the series charts a country and its people trying to break away from a painful history. It seems to conclude that, though we may wish to turn our backs on this history of colonialism, revolution only making way for punishment of powerless people , we can't be free of this shame until we face it dead on and come to terms with it and how it exists in different ways to this day.

The Rules of Revelation is out now and I while I hope this isn't the last we will see for these characters, it would be a fitting and rewarding ending to my favourite series.

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.

An old and rather overused narrative of drugs and abuse and youthful mistakes that return to hunt you. A hopeful desire to save someone from the clutches of the underworld; a try to make young, tumultuous love work. And all that set in Ireland, with the background of the country's own problems: religious fights, unemployment, constant change, complications constantly brewing.

It started well enough, I've been hooked from the very first pages, as the writing is gripping and satisfactory. I really liked the idea of spinning the story through the creative process of making an album, writing lyrics anchored in real events and feelings. Starting a new chapter with the title of a song that not only adds to the album but adds to the story. Despite this being book 3 in a series(I was not aware of this before reading it) I had no issues whatsoever with understanding the dynamics between character or their back stories. I think there's enough detail there to help the reader understand what is going on. The problem was that the book has been way too long. Too many details, too many unnecessary details, have been packed here. My frustration has grown page after page until I couldn't not look at the fact I have seen/read countless variations of this story, the stereotypes started to grate and I was rather happy to be done with it.

What redeemed this novel for me was Maureen. I totally loved her brand of crazy! But I guess you can say I am biased, as I really love old ladies with their 'I don't give a heck attitude!'. You go Maureen!!! (I would love to go on a tour of Cork with Maureen as my guide, hahahaha!!)

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this :)

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.

The Rules of Revelation is the third volume of a trilogy that started with the Women’s Prize Winning The Glorious Heresies. As Ryan Cusack, former teen drug dealer, returns to Cork to become a musician, he is faced by his ex with a child and many shadows from his past. As raw and gritty as McInerney’s previous novels, it is more about family secrets, change and the past returning than gangland and has a redemptive quality as the characters try to move on to something else. Always imbued with dark humour and a language that kicks a punch, the novel creates yet another wonderful portrait of Cork and of a few memorable characters. The author is excellent at capturing its vitality and distinctive landscape, its grit, and the social change it is going through. McInerney’s wonderful use of language will challenge you but will open ther door to a very unique world.

I think it helps if you have read at least the first volume, but it can work also without. If anything, the novel is rather long. Also, I am not a lover of series and sequels and I am looking forward to something different from this gifted author.

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.

It's the first book I read by this author and I didn't understand it is part of a trilogy so I thought I lost something.
I struggle to read as I found the style of writing a bit difficult and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Like a number of other readers, I unfortunately hadn't realised this was the third book in a series and found it difficult to work out the back stories of the characters and how this impacted on their present lives. I liked the author's style of writing but found the plot quite difficult and the changes in narrative viewpoints confusing.
Thank you to netgalley and John Murray press for an advance copy of this book

I got The Rules of Revelation by Lisa McInerney, from Netgalley for a fair and honest review.


The Rules of Revelation is a novel about people dealing with their past and trying to move forward into the future, when that past still has such a hold over them.

The novel is set in the town of Cork in Ireland and it is as much of a character in the story as the 4 main characters in the story. Which definitely gave this novel a real sense of place and how it affects the people in the book.

The story is told using four people's points of view which helped with the story flow, however there were times while reading the novel, That when the perspective changed it took a while to work out whose narrative you had entered.

This meant that there were plenty of times when I had to go back to see if I can work out when it changed. I am not against multiple views to a story but what put me off slightly here was the difficulty of telling when the change happened.

Having in said that I the way the book dealt with how the aftermath sexual assault was dealt with, was really well done along with all the other issued raised in the book.


There were times at the start of the book that i felt like not finishing the book but while the book is not perfect, I have since found out it is part of a series, so that may have been some of the causes of my struggle with the book.

Having said that when i got to the end of the book I found it well worth the difficulty i had getting into the story.

I did not realise when I requested this book that it was the second in a series. I have not read the first. I have to confess to this read being somewhat of a slog because of that fact. The characters have a backstory which I did not know, and I felt like I was launched halfway into a story. The setting felt real and gritty but the use of colloquial language meant I was missing the nuances of discussions. The viewpoint of narration changes from one character to another and from first person to third person which I found disconcerting.

I feel sure I missed the true richness of McInerney's writing because of my minsunderstanding. Her characters seemed complex and interesting but there was not enough recap in this novel for me to really get to know them. I think this would be a much better read, if the first novel had been enjoyed earlier. I think I need to go back to this one when I have finished 'The Glorious Heresies' and my enjoyment would be much higher.

Although I'd missed the second instalment, I thoroughly enjoyed being reunited with Lisa McInerney's characters. I had forgotten how, before even Sally Rooney did it, Lisa had devised such a wonderful and powerful love story between her protagonists Karin and Ryan. Her visceral descriptions of relationships are so true to life you come to feel that, as a reader, you're really living it all alongside her characters and feel sorry to part with them when you finish the book. Her style is so witty, so funny, so astute in its social considerations, and yes, so very Irish. Cork feels alive on the page, and Lisa McInerney's trilogy would undoubtedly be a great read while taking a trip to the city.

I did not realise this novel is part of a trilogy. It may explain why I found it difficult to engage with the novel.
I never really got into the story. I found the style of writing quite off-putting. Definitely out of my comfort zone but not feeling inclined to try the other books in the series.

I did not realise this is part of a series and I really think it would help to have read the previous two.

The start is hard going, due to the dense narrative and colloquial language. That said, once you get your head around a few characters it does become much clearer.

The book is fairly long but does also cover some really important themes alongside the main story.

If you can power through the narrative (or have read the previous books) it is worth a read. If you want an easy read give it a miss.