title: Old God's Time by: Barry, Sebastian published: 2023-02-28 read: 2023-04 preview

Much lauded, this book is.  And not mine.  But let’s be fair.  This book, playing in modern-day Dublin, describes a just-retired detective who is brought back into a case he worked on ages ago, about a priest who sexually abused little boys (and girls).  

I had two goes at this book.  The first time, in which I finished a quarter or so, I just was irritated by this old, retired, talking-to-himself detective, widower, somewhat in his daily routine but at the same time somewhat dishevelled.

He is then visited by two younger detectives who ask him to assist in a case.  And slowly, very slowly, the story emerges where he, and his wife whom he loved very much but who committed suicide, were both victims of child abuse by a priest.

A sad story.  But not my story.  I was never in touch with such tragedies, and the oppression of catholicism, and by the abhorrence of the church in some cases, and of which only a small portion is tabled, I presume.  

Well, if you keep at it, at around the middle of the book things start to happen in the book, not just this old guy sitting in his living room.  And I ventured to finish.

Still, I’ll forget it soon.