The Silver Swan is a sequel to Christine Falls, both written by Booker Prize winner Benjamin Black. It's better to read the first part first. Set in 1950s Ireland, two years after the events in Christine Falls, our hero pathologist Garret Quirke receives a message from his old college friend, Billy Hunt, who asks him not to do a post mortem on the body of his late wife, Deirdre (a.k.a. Laura Swan), who has been found in Dublin Bay, presumably a suicide.
The author loves details: about Laura Swan's past, Quirke's relation with his estranged daughter Phoebe, and the people around them. It seems to me the novel is more a study on the issue of moral corruption than a whodunit. We only learn about the true killer in the last chapter. It's a story of blackmail which leads to double murder. I think the characters in The Silver Swan are not as many as in Christine Falls, but in both novels, sentences are wonderfully written. If you are looking for a fast paced novel, this is not for you; but if you are a language lover, you will love this book.
Timothy Dalton who reads the book has a crunchy voice. I couldn't finish one disc in one go for I usually fell asleep after 7-8 chapters (each disc is appr. of 20 chapters) and had to continue on the next day.
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