The Good Turn

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Maintaining a healthy community, that takes a bit of discretion. You have to leave room for people to be human. To make the odd mistake. You have to be able to tell the difference between someone destructive, or dangerous, and someone who’s generally a contributor, and who just wanted to let off a bit of steam. The dialogue within the story is beautifully composed, really showing the feelings of the characters as they explore their mysterious find in the abandoned factory. With the chapters being nice and short, the book lends itself really well to whole class reading activities; my group of children enjoyed the story and really felt for the characters as their stories unfolded. This is a brilliant book for year 5/6 with a great sense of adventure, friendship and standing up for what you believe in.”

For 9+ readers, this gripping, thoughtful update to the Blytonesque "secret society" genre engages squarely with racism and social injustice.' Guardian The book moves along at a brisk pace, helped by switching between the three plot points. The ending was fabulous.I enjoyed the way the author planned the book. Cormac and his protégée Peter Fisher are split up by events early on and the book is told from alternate points of view. It is obvious to the reader that each of them knows things the other needs to know and the tension builds right up to the end. The book is a police procedural which shows clearly the ways the police should and should not work. It is very well done. Even though there are a lot of differences, I felt like this book is a new version of the Famous Five. Yes, there are three characters in the book, not five (and no Timmy the dog). No, there isn't a private island, they don't have picnics with ginger beer (though there is a camping picnic) and in The Good Turn, it's about three neighbours who want to do good deeds in their neighbourhood, rather than cousins who enjoy spending the school holidays together at Kirrin Cottage. The characters are well defined, you could almost smell the inside of Wesley's house and the cacophony of noise, compared to Margot's house where it's just her and her dad. Josie is brilliant, sassy, confident, most of the time, and is big enough to apologise when she has to. I hope there are more adventures for The Copsey's.

Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery - the approximate delivery time is usually between 1-2 business days. THE AUTHOR: Dervla McTiernan was born in County Cork, Ireland to a family of seven. She studied corporate law at the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Law Society of Ireland, and practiced as a lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now works for the Mental Health commission. In 2015 she submitted a story for the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto competition and was shortlisted. This inspired her to complete the novel that would become The Rúin. She lives in Perth with her husband and two children. (Courtesy of Harper Collins)

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From that point on, as they investigate and also try to earn badges for their activities, and tensions mount at home, things start to spiral desperately out of control for the Copseys. I thought the crime/mystery plot was really well done. I had no idea just who Peter and Cormac should trust. Even when I thought I might guess some plot points, I still wondered if I might be incorrect with my assumptions. And, as I said, McTiernan really pulled all the plots together cleverly; it all made sense and was connected in the end with no unnecessary cliffhangers left to annoy the reader. There was an interesting blend of very believable characters, and a great variety of cases. The main character, Cormac Reilly, has a great talent for pissing people off, particularly his superiors. Garda Peter Fisher has a sharp mind and a kind heart. I hope that Anna and Tilly will feature in future story lines.