Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan
Celebrated Australian author Dervla McTiernan has plotlines that twist like whirligigs in a high wind in her most recent novel, Three Reasons for Revenge.
A Missing Woman and a Murderous Web of Revenge
It begins like an ordinary crime story when Alexis Turner, a downcast young woman with features obscured by an overly large hoodie, walks into the Melbourne West Police Station requesting to speak to Detective Sergeant Judith Lee. She is recorded reporting that she is a college student who was assaulted by clinical psychologist Robert Walker in his office during a consultation about her panic attacks. DS Lee readily gives credence to her account, as it is eerily similar to a complaint made a decade earlier that hadn’t been thoroughly investigated. Surprisingly, Alexis vanishes by the next day.
Three people will receive dubious “gift packets” anonymously. Walker’s television anchorwoman wife receives the first package, a video of an explicit sexual encounter between Walker and an unidentified woman, which also appears posted online, placing her job in jeopardy. Soon after, Walker is shot dead. Single dad Jack Miller, whose girlfriend Miriam had committed suicide a decade ago, finds the second package containing the gun used in killing Walker left on his doorstep. Before Jack can contact the police, an anonymous tip leads Detective Senior Sergeant Rocky Jansen to arrest him for the murder.
Three Packages and a Deadly Game of Secrets
The murder weapon had been among several legally owned and registered guns stolen from Steve and Alison Gifford, a pleasant couple who had been foster parents of twenty-five years standing. The third beautifully wrapped package containing an elegant jar filled with gourmet marshmallows was delivered by courier to socialite and fashion influencer Elsa Anderson, who planned to care for Jack’s son Cam while his father awaited trial.
There are several tangled, nuanced storylines revealing murders past and present, intrigues and loose threads of connections between the package recipients. DS Judith Lee may herself be targeted after being pulled into this macabre game of revenge as she relentlessly searches for the missing woman Alexis Turner, who clearly was not as she had presented herself. Judith has triggered the ire of Assistant Police Commissioner Eddie Fraser and his vengeful beat cop son Luke Fraser after she reported Luke’s connections with dealers and personal drug use. This spoiled golden boy had been a professional soccer player whose career had been cut short by a knee injury. Despite being unqualified, his dad paved the way for him to join the Victoria Police Department. Her motorcycle was vandalized, Judith was terrorized and Eddie vowed to ruin her career.
Three Reasons for Revenge starts fast and accelerates in this exhilarating complex character study with an intricate plot featuring an intelligent, appealing protagonist who could easily carry a series if Dervla McTiernan chooses to pursue that option. You’ll be tempted to stay up late to finish this thriller.
About Dervla McTiernan:
Dervla McTiernan is the number one internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed author of seven novels, including What Happened to Nina? and The Murder Rule, which were both New York Times thrillers of the year. Dervla has won multiple prizes, including a Ned Kelly Award, Davitt Awards, a Barry Award, and an International Thriller Writers Award. Dervla is also the author of four novellas, and her audio novella, The Sisters, was a four-week number one bestseller in the United States. She lives in Australia with her family.
