A suspicious death, a pregnant woman suddenly gone missing: Quirke's
latest case leads him inexorably toward the dark machinations of an old
foe
Perhaps Quirke has been down among the dead too long. Lately the Irish
pathologist has suffered hallucinations and blackouts, and he fears the
cause is a brain tumor. A specialist diagnoses an old head injury caused
by a savage beating; all that's needed, the doctor declares, is an
extended rest. But Quirke, ever intent on finding his place among the
living, is not about to retire.
One night during a June heat wave, a car crashes into a tree in central
Dublin and bursts into flames. The police assume the driver's death was
either an accident or a suicide, but Quirke's examination of the body
leads him to believe otherwise. Then his daughter Phoebe gets a
mysterious visit from an acquaintance: the woman, who admits to being
pregnant, says she fears for her life, though she won't say why. When
the woman later disappears, Phoebe asks her father for help, and Quirke
in turn seeks the assistance of his old friend Inspector Hackett. Before
long the two men find themselves untangling a twisted string of events
that takes them deep into a shadowy world where one of the city's most
powerful men uses the cover of politics and religion to make obscene
profits.
Even the Dead--Benjamin Black's seventh novel featuring the endlessly
fascinating Quirke--is a story of surpassing intensity and surprising
beauty.
