Those We Left Behind

Stuart Neville

2015 • 369 pages

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Blood has always been thicker than water for two Northern Irish brothers caught in the Belfast foster system, but a debt of past violence will be paid by not just them, but also by those they left behind. Ciaran Devine, who made Belfast headlines seven years ago as the “schoolboy killer,” is about to walk free. At the age of twelve, he confessed to the brutal murder of his foster father; his testimony mitigated the sentence of his older brother, Thomas, who was also found at the crime scene, covered in blood. But DCI Serena Flanagan, the only officer who could convince a young, frightened Ciaran to speak, has silently harbored doubts about his confession all this time. Ciaran’s release means several things: a long-anticipated reunion with Thomas, who still wields a dangerous influence over his younger brother; the call-to-action of a man bent on revenge for his father’s death; and major trouble for Ciaran’s assigned probation officer. Meanwhile, Serena Flanagan has just returned to the force from her battle with breast cancer, only to endure the pitying looks of her coworkers and a mountain of open case files. She will soon discover that even closed cases can unleash terror on the streets of Belfast.

Genre

Fiction

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Series

Featured Series

2 primary books

#1 in DCI Serena Flanagan

DCI Serena Flanagan is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2015 with contributions by Stuart Neville.

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Dan Petrosini

Stuart Neville's latest in the Belfast Novels series is called Those We Left Behind.

Naturally set in Belfast, the dark tale opens with Ciaran Devine being released from prison for a highly publicized murder he was charged with as a 12 year old. His brother Thomas, was also incarcerated for his connection to the crime but received a shorter sentence and had been already freed from custody.

Ciaran claimed he killed his foster parent to protect Thomas who was being abused by the foster father. The real facts are unknown as Ciaran is controlled by his older brother to such a degree that Ciaran is barely able to function without Thomas.

On the day of his release his probation officer, Paula Cunningham, drops him off at a halfway house unaware that the Daniel Rolston, son of the murdered father is keeping track of him.

Officer Flannagan who originally investigated the murder is drawn back in when the brothers cross paths with the Daniel. DCI Serena Flannagan, undergoing a personal health struggle which impacts her marriage has, to say the least, an unconventional relationship with Ciaran.

Neville has drawn a dark picture of Belfast during the period known as the Troubles. He leads the reader through a series of turns, never revealing too much at one time. At times unsettling, Those We Left Behind is a good read.

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