Winner of the 2019 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Crime Novel.
As 1995 dawns in the North of Ireland, Belfast is a city of army patrols, bombed-out buildings, and “peace walls” segregating one community from the other. But the IRA has called a ceasefire. So, it’s as good a time as any for Monty Collins and Father Brennan Burke to visit the city: Monty to do a short gig in a law firm, and Brennan to reconnect with family. And it’s a good time for Brennan’s cousin Ronan to lay down arms and campaign for election in a future peacetime government.
But the past is never past in Belfast, and it rises up to haunt them all: a man goes off a bridge on a dark, lonely road; a rogue IRA enforcer is shot; and a series of car bombs remains an unsolved crime. The trouble is compounded by a breakdown in communication: Brennan knows nothing about the secrets in a file on Monty’s desk. And Monty has no idea what lies behind a late-night warning from the IRA. With a smoking gun at the center of it all, Brennan and Monty are on a collision course and will learn more than they ever wanted to know about what passes for law in 1995 Belfast. An inscription on a building south of the Irish border says it all: “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
Emery’s writing is impeccable, sophisticated and polished; the accents subtle enough to set the reader in Belfast without sounding staged or overdone. Though politically complex, Emery has a way of making this war accessible, even understandable. The gritty details are difficult to read. She sets us down in the thick of it, with all the graffiti, the ruins, the prison beatings, and massacres. At times, you can almost smell the smoke of the bombs, feel the despair, taste the blood. And in the end, when the heavens fall and come crashing down around Father Brennan, his realizations link all the puzzle pieces together. For at the heart of this book is a political murder mystery rife with red herrings.
Wendy Hawkin, The Ottawa Review of Books
The two cases intersect with devastating results. Emery doesn't pull any punches when it comes to politics. The dialogue is smart and the story brutally emotional.
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
... A dark novel, by far the darkest yet in Emery's 10-book series, guaranteed to leave even the most casual reader deeply disturbed ... Though the Heavens Fall is a fine example of how, in the hands of a skilled and dedicated writer, a novel can enlarge our understanding of complex issues in the real world. Clearly one of the finest reads of 2018.
Jim Napier, The Rap Sheet
Emery develops a wide range of characters really well . . . Though the Heavens Fall keeps us on our toes until the bitter end. And based on that ending, the sequel will be a must-read too.
Atlantic Books Today
Fans won't want to miss this strong installment in a fine series.
Booklist
Anyone looking for a mystery series to read would be well advised to consider the Collins-Burke mystery series by Anne Emery. . . . Filled with lots of suspense, a good plot and some history, Though the Heavens Fall is another excellent novel in this entertaining series!
The Hamilton Spectator