Book review: Twisted Truth is a complex dark crime thriller delivered with pithy panache

It would not be surprising if a television series follows Cronin's novels about Anna Clarke, Dan Buckley writes 

Amy Cronin is on a roll, producing her first crime thriller during the pandemic lockdown and now following up with a second. Picture: David Keane

• Twisted Truth
• Amy Cronin
• Poolbeg Crimson, €16.99

Author Amy Cronin doesn’t hang about. Spurred by the success of a children’s book she wrote to help her daughter cope with a severe food allergy, she secured a three-book deal with Poolbeg press as she turned 40.

She put the Covid lockdown to good use, producing the first in her crime thriller series, Blinding Lies, to popular acclaim.

It introduces us to Anna Clarke, a member of An Garda Síochána. She is not an officer but part of the clerical staff which, presumably, allows her to be part of the force but not bound by it.

When the case of a man shot dead crosses her desk, Anna is shocked to discover the main suspect is Kate, her childhood friend.

Kate must struggle to stay out of sight and stay alive, and as Anna gets dragged deeper into helping her friend, she also falls deeper into danger.

But that is only the half of it. Cronin’s follow-up book, Twisted Truth, reveals that violent and seemingly random murders are terrorising Cork city and county.

The body of a murdered man is discovered on a country road. A second killing soon follows, with the media warning of a serial killer on the loose.

As the body count increases, Detective Sergeant William Ryan is struggling to connect the victims and find a motive. The crimes have one thing in common — they are being filmed by one of the killers. With each murder, the case grows more disturbing.

Clarke also learns that a convicted rapist she helped put away may be released on a technicality.

The dead man was the son of Tom Gallagher, a dangerous drug dealer who is out for revenge. Gallagher is obsessed with avenging his son but the woman responsible slipped through his fingers.

He now has CCTV images of two women crouching in an alleyway, having jumped from a nightclub bathroom window. One of them is her. The other helped her fight off his men, and Gallagher wants to know who that woman was.

Anna has been haunted for years by the disappearance of her parents. They vanished without a trace when she was 16 leaving her under the care of her older brother, Alex.

In Twisted Truth, Anna is getting closer to finding the truth about her parents’ mysterious disappearance 10 years before. But the path to answers is littered with heartache and it’s too late to turn back the clock.

Each plot line could fill a book by itself, but Cronin likes to mix it up to keep the reader guessing. She also likes to surprise: a female protagonist doing things we would expect of a man; evoking sympathy for a violent drug dealer; killers filming their horrific deeds, and darkness in a picturesque setting. Amy Cronin brings to mind other fine female writers like Tana French, the American-Irish writer and actor.

Twisted Truth is the second book in this series and while a more complete picture would emerge by reading Blinding Lies first, the author provides a useful back story in the follow-up, so it is not essential. 

Like Blinding Lies, Twisted Truth is a gritty whodunnit. Cronin likes to mix it up.

Both books deal with dark and violent themes but also observe close and loving relationships. The good guys aren’t all good and the bad guys aren’t all bad. 

A less able writer would have failed to convince with such a juxtaposition, but she pulls it off with style and panache. If the third book in the series is anything like the other two, it would not be surprising if a television series follows.