Part 2 in the Garnethill series doesn't disappointBroken and bruised from the murder of her boyfriend, Maureen needs her best friend more than ever, but Leslie is in love for the first time. Leslie ignores Maureen and shuts her out and Mauri is hurt and bewildered. Liam, her brother, reassures her that it's only temporary, as it's the honeymoon phase of their relationship.Needing something to fill the gap of friendship, Maureen takes interest in the plight of Leslie's cousin, a poor, downtrodden...

I don’t know quite how I feel about this. Maureen O’Donnell broke my heart on the very last page of Garnethill. The things she & Leslie said about Siobhan were so bizarrely out of character & nonsensically cruel, I don’t think I’m ever going to get over how much I loathed the end of that book, but I remember really loving everything else about it up until that point & I had a hankering for a Scottish mystery novel where everybody says “wee hen” all the time. So here we are, with mixed results.Th...

Quite an interesting book, especially after reading the interview with the author at the end. Mina's protagonist is a woman and, based on the interview, was written to show that women can be strong and endure. Mina even calls out some of the the more prolific authors in the "women as protagonist" genre . . . rightly pointing out that they're parodies of how a woman would actually behave.I nearly stopped reading, as Mina introduced what seemed to about a dozen characters in the first fourteen pag...

I really like these books, and the fact that they're so dialogue-heavy makes them quick reads. The one problem I have with them is going to sound petty, and to be honest it might just be something I have to get over if I'm going to like mystery novels. Here's the thing: I'm smart; I'm reading about the case from 3 or 4 different points of view; I'm trying to think several steps ahead and examining each character as a likely suspect. Maureen O'Donnell is drinking herself sick morning, noon, and n...

"She was going home to Glasgow and for the first time remembered that she had a life beyond her present troubles. She loved the colours of the city, she had a place and history there, she understood the obscure kindness of the people and the rationale behind the brutal weather."Book 2 in the Garnethill series, Exile is equally dark -- and maybe even more so -- as Garnethill. Set in the same working class neighborhoods of Glasgow, with problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, and unemployment,

I love Denise Mina. She writes mysteries wrapped in squalor and drama and tied up with a little crazy bow. They're usually set in Scotland, which furthers my delight (I'm SUCH an Anglophile...). And if you like that sort of thing, Exile is even more bleak and psychological than the first book in this particular series.Maureen, our heroine, is recovering from the death of her psychologist/lover, the return of her child-rapist father to Glasgow, her family's unwillingness to accept her hatred and

More Glaswegian grit and gumption from Denise Mina, my latest fave in the crime/mystery genre. Her heroine is a mess, her baddies are revolting, but she writes lyrically about the city itself.

Exile is the second book in the Garnet Hill trilogy. This is not a stand alone book, you must read the first book Garnet Hill, where all of the characters and storylines are introduced. The book is set in Glasgow, Scotland and London, England in 1980.This books picks up a few months after the previous book. The main character Maureen O'Donnell is still dealing with the aftermath of the violent death of her boyfriend Douglas and friend Martin. As well as her role in bringing the perpetrator to ju...

I did try and read this a year or two previously, but gave up after fifty or so pages as I wasn't in the mood. Finishing it on this second attempt, what struck me was the high quality of the writing - as compared to a number of crime novels I have read recently with 'functional but no more' prose, Mina really impresses and amuses with her stunningly evocative descriptions and wry humour. I have two or three other books by the same author on my shelf waiting to be read, I will space them out and

"This is her second book and there is no surprise that Denise Mina is a very well-liked author. Beautifully written, riveting story. Unrelenting, strong and ruthless, almost a "Seven"-like feeling at times."

Denise Mina is an excellent writer. Her mysteries are not light reads. Her characters are so real and so interesting. Their lives are difficult. I couldn't put this one down.

Twenty-something Maureen O'Donnell continues to be plagued mentally and emotionally by two major life events: The sexual molestation as a young girl at the hand of her father and the vicious murder of her boyfriend six months earlier. The molestation in itself was devastating enough, but Maureen's ability to deal with the aftermath is seriously affected by her mother and sisters' disbelief that Maureen is telling the truth.Fortunately, though, Maureen's brother and her friend, Leslie, are solidl...

Upon finishing Garnethill, I wasn’t overly crazy about continuing this trilogy. I was interested in seeing where things went, but it wasn’t an intense desire. In fact, if I had not brought the trilogy as a collection, I would not have been continuing. However, being a glutton for punishment, I dove into Exile with the hope of improvement – after all, so many people seem to enjoy Denise Mina as an author and I was hoping to find a spark to create such a view within myself.Unfortunately, my feelin...

I need to make a new Goodreads category called “frustrating protagonists.” But there’s something that keeps me coming back to this series!

Just finished Denise Mina’s , Exile, book 2 in the Garnethill Trilogy. I did enjoy book 1, Garnethill, however this book was much better! Maureen’s character is in a self-destructive post-traumatic stress downward spiral fueled mainly by alcohol. She is investigating a murder at the request of her friend Leslie, who is not much less of a mess. A woman has been brutally tortured and murdered with her body dumped. She was recently a resident at a battered woman’s shelter, so all fingers point towa...

This is the second book in Denise Mina’s Garnethill trilogy. Maureen is still smoking and drinking too much…and getting into enough trouble to get the Glasgow police detective interested in pursuing her for a murder. She introduces us to the dangerous and vicious world of big time drug dealers in London, while trying to find the murderer of her best friend’s cousin’s wife. It is a dizzying trek made infinitely worse by her dogged determination and her unfailing tendency to drink to excess.Consta...

PROTAGONIST: Maureen O’DonnellSETTING: Glasgow, ScotlandSERIES: #2RATING: 3.75WHY: Exile is the second book in the Garnethill trilogy. Maureen O’Donnell is out of the mental hospital and fighting to forge her way in a world that is difficult for her. She doesn’t treat her nice lover well, and she is terrified that her stepfather is out of jail. While working in a women’s shelter, she meets Ann Harris, a drunk and who was supposedly badly beaten by her husband, Jimmy. When Ann is brutally murdere...

Not a light read by any stretch of the imagination, but a definite page-turner. Maureen continues to overindulge in alcohol and cigarettes while going about the business of solving murders, and alienating just about everyone she encounters. A frustrating protagonist who I can’t help but admire for tenacity. On to book number 3 in the series…

I rated this book as four stars at first, but having slept on it, I am reducing it to 3.The book was pacey and a quick read, and it tackled many important topics, but it was uneven and I found it hard to believe some of the important aspects of the narrative. However, the biggest issue for me, is a major spoiler. (view spoiler)[I had a huge difficulty with the fact that the murder is, in fact, unresolved in the end. We meet the murdered woman in the first chapter. But in the end, we still do not...

More great storytelling from Denise Mina even though there is plenty to get uncomfortable about. Took me a while to get through simply because current events prevented me from sitting down to read a book for myself in peace and quiet. Also, some of the content was a bit tough to get through. No, not because it was bloody. Because there were bits about poverty that were quite harsh and harrowing. Despite being far, far removed from the lives of the people in this book, I felt sympathy with a few