Resolution [Audio CD]

Denise Mina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

"Resolution can stand alone, battered and proud, as a class-conscious crime novel that dares to tell the ugly truth." -New York Times Book Review

Just as Maureen O'Donnell is struggling to give up drinking, she faces her most formidable challenges yet: testifying against her boyfriend's murderer and the return of her abusive father. Irresistibly blending suspense, compassion, raw instinct, and grim wit, Resolution provides a wrenching conclusion to Denise Mina's universally acclaimed Garnethill trilogy.

"For anyone who thinks Western civilization too comfortable or crime novels no more than entertainment, Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy will come as a salutary surprise. It will also make them laugh and keep them reading. It is a great achievement." -Times Literary Supplement

"If you want a reason to try the crime genre, get yourself a novel by Denise Mina." -Rocky Mountain News

"Mina depicts a Scotland so hard that merely living there can cut you like a shard of glass." -Baltimore Sun

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this powerful, disturbing, wrenching conclusion to the Scottish author's Garnethill trilogy (Garnethill; Exile), the sense of everydayness renders the horrors Mina's Glaswegians confront even more terrible. Forced prostitution, child sexual abuse, alcoholism, dysfunctionality of every kindall are not so much spotlighted as they are integral parts of the fabric of the characters' lives. But for Maureen O'Donnell, whose continued existence is a triumph of will, there's also a strong sense of family and friendships forged in the crucible of survival. Maureen and her friends Leslie and Kilty are as unlikely a trio of dragon-slayers as one might find. With trepidation, Maureen awaits the trial of her lover's murderer, Angus Farrell, whose evil threatens her even while he's in jail. And Maureen's abusive father, Michael, has returned to Glasgow and she fears for her sister's soon-to-be-born baby. Maureen's efforts to help an illiterate old woman fill out a legal complaint against her son lead her into more danger and ugliness. The sordidness and the seemingly insuperable odds Maureen faces make her retreat into alcoholism seem appropriate. Thanks to Mina's considerable narrative skills, the Glasgow of Paddy's flea market, Albert Hospital and the area near the bus station where street prostitutes hang out emerges in gritty clarity. The novel culminates in a startling crescendo of violence, vengeance and resolution.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

On the average day, Glaswegian Maureen O'Donnell is disheveled, mumbling to herself, and drunk by noon someone to ignore on the street. Mina's achievement here as in Garnethill and Exile, the first two volumes of this trilogy is to transform a trampled spirit into a person to whom attention must be paid. In this work, Maureen is coping with the aftermath of events in Exile. Not only must she testify at the trial of her boyfriend's murderer, psychologist Angus Farrell, but she must also protect her pregnant sister from their father, who has returned to town. As if that weren't enough, Maureen is approached by one of the other stall-holders at a flea market for help in suing her son. When that woman dies of an apparent heart attack, Maureen finds herself involved in trying to unravel a Poland-based prostitution ring. (Things were so much simpler in Miss Marple's day!) Once again, Mina delivers a Scottish blend of Thomas Harris, George Pelecanos, and Oprah-style reading that is uniquely her own and goes down very smoothly. For most public libraries. Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Isis Audio; Unabridged edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753124270
• ISBN-13: 978-0753124277
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,236,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Denise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. Because of her father's job as an engineer, the family followed the north sea oil boom of the seventies around Europe, moving twenty one times in eighteen years from Paris to the Hague, London, Scotland and Bergen. She left school at sixteen and did a number of poorly paid jobs: working in a meat factory, bar maid, kitchen porter and cook. Eventually she settle in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.
At twenty one she passed exams, got into study Law at Glasgow University and went on to research a PhD thesis at Strathclyde University on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, teaching criminology and criminal law in the mean time.
Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead.
'Garnethill' won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasy Dagger for the best first crime novel and was the start of a trilogy completed by 'Exile' and 'Resolution'.
A fourth novel followed, a stand alone, named 'Sanctum' in the UK and 'Deception' in the US.

In 2005 'The Field of Blood' was published, the first of a series of five books following the career and life of journalist Paddy Meehan from the newsrooms of the early 1980s, through the momentous events of the nineteen nineties. The second in the series was published in 2006, 'The Dead Hour' and the third will follow in 2007.
She also writes comics and wrote 'Hellblazer', the John Constantine series for Vertigo, for a year, published soon as graphic novels called 'Empathy is the Enemy' and 'The Red Right Hand'. She has also written a one-off graphic novel about spree killing and property prices called 'A Sickness in the Family' (DC Comics forthcoming).
In 2006 she wrote her first play, "Ida Tamson" an adaptation of a short story which was serialised in the Evening Times over five nights. The play was part of the Oran Mor 'A Play, a Pie and a Pint' series, starred Elaine C. Smith and was, frankly, rather super.
As well as all of this she writes short stories published various collections, stories for BBC Radio 4, contributes to TV and radio as a big red face at the corner of the sofa who interjects occasionally, is writing a film adaptation of Ida Tamson and has a number of other projects on the go.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best in the trilogy, August 23, 2002

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Resolution: A Novel of Crime (Hardcover)

This novel is far and away the best of the entire trilogy. It is so good that it even rates on my "Top Books of All Time" list. Once you get past all the re-telling of backstory, the events which have occured in previous novels, this is a superb book. Newscomers who start with this one will not find themselves lost, because Mina recaps everything that has gone before quite ably. If you have read the previous two, the retelling could get a bit tedious, i suppose, but you can always just ignore it.

It's an excellent novel, full of wonderful, fully formed and likeable characters who just jump off the pages. Mina's descriptions of Glasgow are absolutely superb, and her way with words and turn of phrase is sometimes stunning. The plot is great, the double plot strand intertwine brilliantly. This is a story about less-than average people trying to get through life relatively unscathed and not always making a good job of it.

As i say, the plot is excellent, and the writing is brilliant and assured. It's an incredibly compelling novel which you cannot put down. I ploughed through this one in a single day, i enjoyed it so much. Maureen O'Donnell's story is finally at an end, and after it all, as with all good books, we still want to know more about what is going to happen to her.

The conclusion is great and there are a couple of really neat twists to lift the plot above the excellent.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a grand finale, March 5, 2003

By 

"ggovan" (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Resolution: A Novel of Crime (Hardcover)

If you're a fan of murder/mystery/swearing then don't buy this book, buy the first two in the series and start from the top, and come back later.
Good glad you bought both the first two, now this one, "resolution", simply put it's ******' brilliant. Sheer bloody genius, great story well told, what more can you want from a book. Muareen (the lead) is up to her usual shenanigans, but Denise Mina finds a way to round off the series in a way that leaves doesn't leave you disspointed. The only disspointment is waiting for the next book from this tallented young lady. 5 stars.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb..., October 2, 2006

By 

Tracy L. (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Resolution: A Novel of Crime (Paperback)

This book, the third in Denise Mina's GARNETHILL trilogy, was absolutely superb. Mina tells a gritty story that was as fascinating as it was disturbing.

Mina ties together all of the unresolved items from the previous two books (hence RESOLUTION) very nicely. I was totally satisfied with how things played out.

Mina is the writer that other authors such as Karin Slaughter wish they could be and I would hope in the future that Mina brings Maureen back, perhaps 10 or 15 years older. She is an interesting, intriguing character and it seems there is a lot more to her story that can be explored.