About the Author

Gerard O'Donovan was born in Cork and grew up in Dublin. After a brief career in the Irish civil service he travelled widely, working as a barman, bookseller, gherkin-bottler, philosophy tutor, and English teacher before settling down to make a living as a journalist and critic for, among others, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. In 2007 he was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's prestigious Debut Dagger competition.

Reviews

"It is difficult to believe that The Priest is Gerard O'Donovan's first novel, so gripping and assured is it. And, one asks, in crime-writing terms, is Ireland becoming the new Scotland?"--The Times (London)
"Fast-paced, exciting and thrilling, this is an impressive debut." - The Sunday Times (Ireland)
"An exciting serial-killer thriller . . . The writing is strong and the Dublin locations are well described and interesting."--Canberra Times (Australia)
"With deft atmospheric prose and an ear for crisp dialogue, Gerard O'Donovan tells a tale you'd like to look away from, but cannot."--Bryan Gruley, author of Starvation Lake and The Hanging Tree
"A fine debut . . . This is a book you want to read right now, so you can later lay claim to bragging rights of having been 'one of O'Donovan's earliest fans.'"--Bookpage
"Mr. O'Donovan builds suspense carefully and cleverly, leading us to a pulse-raising climax . . . just the thing for St. Patrick's Day."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A sure command of plot and pacing, a lively sense of locale and a quirky sense of character...compelling." --Irish Independent
"In Mike Mulcahy, O'Donovan has created a well-drawn, multi-faceted cop who readers are likely to want to spend more time with in the future...An impressive debut, with a well-paced plot and enough twists to keep the reader interested until the last page."--Sunday Business Post (Ireland)
"Gerard O'Donovan is a pleasing new Irish voice and his DI, Mike Mulcahy, may do for Dublin what Ian Rankin's hard-boiled cop, Rebus, did for Edinburgh. Well-paced and full of the set-pieces crime fans adore, O'Donovan's first Mulcahy novel is a classy exploration of the melancholy cop story."-- Weekend Australian