Review: Tiernan’s Wake by Richard T. Rook

Michael, an Irish-American lawyer, is stymied and bored. He keeps a candle lit for the spirits of his ancestors, and he’s considering retirement, or at least a change…and then an envelope with a crooked red shamrock changes his world.

Instead of dealing with wills and real estate, Michael finds himself chasing down the history of an Irish pirate queen, trading mysteries and riddles with an enigmatic old professor, and discovering the truth of his own convoluted family tree. It’s quite a change from a regular day at the office, and it involves a lot of fine whiskey to boot.

Beginning and ending with introspection, Tiernan’s Wake has a slow, calm, and very sensible sort of narrative. There may be some drinking and smoking, but it’s all top shelf whiskey and Cuban cigars. Although there is always something for the characters to lose, it is rarely a life or death situation. Even when it is, the solution isn’t a rushed quest or a dramatic plea. The only solution is a good doctor.

Mixed with the adventure in this story is the study of time and history, and the shadow of death: the present becomes history, and some characters fade into the past tense. This natural progression balances well with the characters’ devotion to history, so the excitement of a historical discovery weighs against worries over the health of a friend. Although the novel ultimately revolves around the hunt of a pirate queen’s treasure, there are still plenty of real world concerns readers will empathize with, including cancer, spousal abuse, and the complexities of adult friendships.

Michael sets the story’s pace. His views as a lawyer and the nature of his investigations provide a quick, clipped canter that keeps the story moving without losing depth or insight. The only problem is that this canter keeps to the facts, and it does not speed up or slow down throughout the story, even when a few middle sections get a bit swampy. The beginning is very interesting, and you want to know how the story will end, but it’s easy to lose focus during the excessively realistic details of day-to-day life as a researcher.

That said, the story reads very smoothly, and there are only a handful of errors. The greatest drawback is the number of multi-paragraph speeches characters tend to make, with a few missing quotation marks adding to the muddle. Everyone talks like they are in a novel, which gives the book the feel of erudition, if not realistic speech, as their thoughts are packed into single, expository statements that appeal in the same way creative nonfiction narratives do. It isn’t very relatable as a fiction style, and tends to pull the reader out of the story at times.

Given the book’s cerebral nature, the story’s ideal audience is the seasoned academic, though it can certainly be appealing to anyone looking for an intellectually challenging read. Characters tease each other with logic puzzles and convoluted schemes that are fun to pick apart. It even pokes fun at academic snobbery, so it isn’t an exclusionary novel in any sense. It isn’t an adrenaline-spiking page-turner, but it has a rewarding storyline, and a compelling cast of intelligent characters.

Overall, Tiernan’s Wake is a satisfying and entertaining novel specifically because of its intellectual rigor. It’s an adventure story with a greater emphasis on intellectual pursuits than non-stop action – making it both more true to life and more enriching in its examination of the past.

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