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Claire McGowan Books In Order

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Publication Order of Paula Maguire Books

The Lost (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Dead Ground (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Silent Dead (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon
Controlled Explosions (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Savage Hunger (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon
Blood Tide (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Killing House (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

The Fall (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
What You Did (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Other Wife (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Push (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon
I Know You (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
Pride & Prejudice on Social Media (With: Sarah Day) (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
Are You Awake? (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon
Let Me In (2023)Description / Buy at Amazon
Truth Truth Lie (2024)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Vanishing Triangle (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Anthologies

Off The Record 2 - At The Movies - A Charity Anthology(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
Deadly Pleasures(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon
Belfast Noir(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon

Claire McGowan is a well-established author who penned her first book in her native, Rostrevor when she was only nine years old. When penning her first novel, McGowan was still in primary school, and she admits that the novel was not interesting at all. 19 years later, McGowan wrote her first novel, The Fall, which ensured that she made a name for herself in the Northern Ireland’s list of top notch writers. According to McGowan, her first novel, The Fall was completely a surprise to her because when penning it down, she completely had no idea that she was working on a crime fiction novel. This is mainly because Claire McGowan believed that crime novels were mainly whodunits and detective novels. However, later on, Claire McGowan discovered that there were so much involved in the crime fiction genre.

Apart from dealing with moral issues such as asylum seekers the book also deals sexual violence as well. After being awarded a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University, Claire McGowan relocated to London where she worked within the charity sector.

Claire McGowan Best Books

The Lost is the first book in the Paula McGuire book series. In the Lost, Claire McGowan introduces the readers to Paula McGuire, a forensic pathologist by profession. Paula is sent to her hometown of Northern Ireland so that she can work on a case, which involved several missing girls. Instead of using her hometown, Claire McGowan instead creates a fictitious border town, which is exceedingly different from Newry, the author’s hometown. Paula McGowan has traveled all the way back to her hometown so that she can take care of her ailing father. Due to the fact that her father was a Catholic member of the RUC, he automatically became a target during the Troubles which was orchestrated by the IRA. On the other hand, Paula’s mother mysteriously disappeared one day, never to be seen again.

What is exhilarating about this novel, is that it takes place during a time when the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are working hand in hand so as to find out what happened to the missing people such as Paula’s mother, who had mysteriously disappeared during the Troubles. Some of the missing people were believed to have been captured by the paramilitaries, while other people believed that the missing people had decided to run away. In this installment, Paula’s family is not the only family that has lost a loved one. Apart from Paula, we are also introduced to other pivotal characters such as Paula’s boyfriend, Aiden who is in charge of the local newspaper. Aiden’s father who was the editor and the owner of the newspaper was murdered because the IRA were not happy with the stories that he wrote.

Upon arrival, Paula’s first job is to locate the missing 15-year-old girl, who happens to be the daughter of a real estate developer and a council member. Around this period, another teenage girl, who happens to be a member of the local Travelers community also ends up missing. Once she was briefed about the case, Paula begins to remember another case, which was much similar to this one. However, the other case happened several years ago. Because Paula understands that this is a small town, she believes the case that happened two years ago and the current one are completely unrelated. Paula begins to dig deeper and deeper going against the order of her superiors. Her superiors are unaware of the fact that because Paula is in her hometown, she will be able to make connections that no one can easily make. With that said, The Lost is a great start to a fresh an exciting series by Claire McGowan. As Claire’s second novel, this is a great addition to the reading list of any crime lover. Numerous themes in this novel focus heavily on the modern history of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland as well.

The recent scandal of the Catholic Church and the IRA, form the basis of the investigation that the new team is overseeing. It is evidently clear that Paula is a troubled character, and from the look of things, something tragic happened in her past, something that she is struggling to forget about. Until the reader is in too deep in the story, is when the author decides to reveal the backstory to the protagonist. By doing this, the author, Claire McGowan was able to add an exceedingly interesting element to the existing investigation that was taking place. As the story progressed, Paula’s growth was outstanding. You are going to want to find out much more about her, such that you will want to begin reading the second book in the series. If you are a fan of mystery novels that will keep you guessing, then the Lost is definitely the book for you.

The Dead Ground is the second installment in the Paula McGuire book series. It begins from where, The Lost, the first installment had left off from. The protagonist, Paula McGuire is still a forensic psychologist who resides in the small town of Ballyterrin, North Ireland. Paula lives with her father, who is a former policeman, while at the same time she is still chasing the ghost of her mother that has constantly been haunting her. With that said, Paula is an exceedingly likable character, who made lots of mistakes, with Aiden O’Hara, the newspaper owner, and DI-Guy, her boss. However, despite the number of mistakes that Paula has done, she still has work to do, considering the fact that a baby has been snatched from the hospital and everyone is racing against time to locate the missing baby. Apart from having the theme of pregnancy, this book also has the theme of missing babies, which proved to be both compelling and disturbing at the same time.

The family is another theme, which the author addresses in this book. The theme of the family appears in Paula’s narrative as well as in the cases that she works with her team to solve. All in all, the author, Claire McGowan has an excellent ability to ensure the characters are all rounded and exceedingly complex as well. Despite the fact that Dead Ground can be read as a standalone novel, the reader can get so much more from this book by reading the previous installment.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Claire McGowan

2 Responses to “Claire McGowan”

  1. carmel gallagher: 2 years ago

    title of follow on book from blood tide and is that the final book in the series.thank you.

    Reply
    • Graeme: 2 years ago

      It says at the top? The Killing House. Last book at this time.

      Reply

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