Title: Tiernan’s Wake
Author: Richard T. Rook
Publisher: AudioArcadia.com
ISBN: 978-0-244-05133-4
Pages: 370
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adult Fiction
Reviewed by: Joe Kilgore
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Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
When discussing a novel written in the twenty-first century about an American pursuing questionable lineage dating back to the sixteenth century, it may seem odd to quote a German writer born in the nineteenth century. But frankly, it feels appropriate. Hermann Hesse is said to have written, “Without words, without writing and without books, there could be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.” Hesse’s quote hits the nail on the head as it relates to Richard T. Rook’s Tiernan’s Wake, for this is a book rich in history, but even richer in humanity.
Michael is a Boston lawyer no longer enthralled with his vocation. Though comparatively successful financially, given the years of detail, repetition, and the changing nature of the business from being based on human, face to face interaction to nowadays based on computerized contact has left him with the feeling his thirty-plus years as an attorney may well be more than enough of a commitment. For some time he’s been less enamored with his job and more intellectually engaged with tracing his Irish ancestors. One day he receives a mysterious envelope from a historian in Ireland who seems to know a lot about him and his genealogical pursuits. The envelope contains a lot of money and a proposition—a proposition which will set Michael on a quest to help unearth secrets from the past that just might affect his own future.
Richard T. Rook does an exceptional job of surrounding his protagonist, Michael, with a fascinating supporting cast. Aedan is the enigmatic Irishman who almost seems too good to be true. He’s exceptionally clever, wealthy, particularly generous, and lives life to the fullest. Sara is Michael’s wife, an artist as quick with a quip as she is with a brush stroke. Michael’s law partner is Glenn, is battling what may be inoperable cancer. Their assistant-cum-associate, Anna, is a tall, dark beauty of Hungarian extraction who keeps her own counsel while keeping Michael and Glenn at the top of their form. Add a Japanese fixer, a nonagenarian ex-professor, sleuths, nuns, innkeepers, plus an eclectic assortment of long-dead relatives and you have the makings of pages populated with a cast of interesting characters. They all figure into a search for information about the famous female pirate, Grace O’Malley, whose secret political machinations may have changed the course of history.
Rook has constructed a compelling mystery thankfully bereft of car chases and gun battles. Rather than spicing his story with gratuitous physical action, he relies on intense intellectual pursuit and convincing emotional attachments to move his narrative along. Writing with humor, and a style which doesn’t try to draw attention to itself, his choice of words fit snugly into each character’s individual persona. Rook’s subplots also blend seamlessly into his story, and one continually remains interested in what happens to both tangential and prominent players.
Tiernan’s Wake is a rare book for today’s times. Combining wit and charm with affable prose and tart dialogue, it adds its own branch to the family tree of good stories well told.
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