I found White Church Black Mountain difficult to get into the first time I tried, but I put it down for a few months and then revisited. Quite tense and definately a good read for a debut novel.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

What links a traumatic childhood secret with the murder of a high-ranking police officer and two young men facing terrorist death threats?
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the fragile Peace Process is still haunted by the crimes of the past. Truth and justice have become the currency through which victim and terrorist alike must purchase their closure regarding the conflict...
When Detective Inspector Dan Watson of the Historical Enquiries Team enters an interview room for a routine consultation, he is astonished by the recognition of an eerily familiar face – Eban Barnard, the younger brother of his late partner and mentor Detective Superintendent Alex, who was brutally assassinated by the Provisional IRA twenty years earlier.
What Dan learns in that room defies credulity and threatens to open up a Pandora’s Box of secrets that will unhinge the lives of all those involved – and endanger the very peace process itself.

The above blurb pretty much sums up the plot so I won't bother too much with that in this review. But I would like to talk about why this is one of the more memorable crime fiction novels I have read for quite a while.

Firstly, the setting isn't the usual London or Los Angeles. And that is highly appreciated by me. I understand the author has an extensive knowledge of the Troubles and that is clearly evident throughout this novel. Every single page drew me into the story, every timeline achieved perfect separation of time, but never made me leave the setting at all.

Secondly, this novel is slightly harder to categorise than just "crime fiction" - sure, it is that, but it also could be considered literary, or historical fiction, or political fiction, or all of the above. While the thrust of the story is a crime novel, it is also a reflection on what happens when secrets are being kept, a reflection on corruption, prejudice and retribution that engages the reader on multiple levels emotionally. And that is a very neat trait to have in your debut novel.

I would certainly recommend this book and will look for more of the authors work!


Paul
ARH