Dublin, 1950s. A body appears in a morgue that should never have been there. From this discovery, a murky plot of family secrets and clandestine organizations involving Catholic Church institutions is uncovered.
Benjamin Black is the pseudonym under which John Banville signs his crime novels. In 2011, he received the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize, considered by many as a precursor to the Nobel Prize. In 2014, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature.
The Secret of Christine is the first novel in the Quirke series, a forensic pathologist who struggles with alcoholism since losing his wife. Quirke is an orphan, and he spent his childhood in Catholic orphanages where he suffered physical and psychological abuse. The mark left by this abuse infuses the entire novel with an anticlerical tone. All characters related to the Church are portrayed negatively.
Although the description of sensual scenes is not emphasized, several do appear. The overall atmosphere is immoral and permissive.