Review of 'Ratlines' by Stuart Neville

Ratlines by Stuart Neville
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ratlines is a complex and thrilling novel. Neville expands on the traditional murder-mystery plot to build something which is a much wider adventure story, pulling in excellent historical detail and a realistic depiction of post-WW2 Ireland. Albert Ryan is a great hero character, and all of the villains and allies are complex and interesting.

The 'Ratlines' of the title hint at a more expansive story than Neville delivers, so that while it seems to broaden in the middle the novel shies away from delivering everything it could and focuses on the narrow rivalry between hero and villain: which is both a bad and a good thing.

Recommended for crime fiction fans, plus anybody interested in historical fiction. Oh, and it's got the most horrific visceral torture scenes I've read, if you like that kind of thing.


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