Review: The Trust by Ronald Balson

The Trust

by Ronald Balson

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 368

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When his uncle dies, Liam Taggart reluctantly returns to his childhood home in Northern Ireland for the funeral—a home he left years ago after a bitter confrontation with his family, never to look back. But when he arrives, Liam learns that not only was his uncle shot to death, but that he’d anticipated his own murder: In an astonishing last will and testament, Uncle Fergus has left his entire estate to a secret trust, directing that no distributions be made to any person until the killer is found. Did Fergus know, but refuse to name, his killer? Was this a crime of revenge, a vendetta leftover from Northern Ireland’s bloody sectarian war? After all, the Taggarts were deeply involved in the IRA. Or is it possible that the killer is a family member seeking Fergus’s estate? Otherwise, why postpone distributions to the heirs? Most menacingly, does the killer now have his sights on other family members? 

As his investigation draws Liam farther and farther into the past he has abandoned, he realizes he is forced to reopen doors long ago shut and locked. Now, accepting the appointment as sole trustee of the Fergus Taggart Trust, Liam realizes he has stepped into the center of a firestorm.


Kritters Thoughts:  When I was pitched this book, I had no clue it was the 4th in a series, but the story is mostly self contained, so you can start here, but I am hoping to go back to the beginning and start there!  Saying all that to say that if I spoil something from the previous books I will be clueless since I am starting here on this one.

Liam Taggart has been living in the United States far away from Ireland and the family that has had its ups and downs.  He is happily married with a small child and life as a private investigator is working and life is good, of course until he gets a phone call - his uncle has passed away and he is being called home to say goodbye.  Obviously it can't be that easily and there are suspicions as to his uncle's death and he is in the center of it all and must solve before he can return to the life he had going on.

I loved this epic story with quite a cast of characters and you can tell there was a ton of history amongst all of them.  As soon as I started I felt like I was dropped in the middle of the story and was sad to see that I was right and this was the 4th in the series, so I would say you may want to start at the beginning, I could tell that I had missed some details that the author tried to enlighten any new reader, but nothing beats reading the previous books.  

I will say that after reading this one, I wanted to stop all reading and start at book one and get caught up.  If I didn't have quite the blogging calendar lined up with many readings I would have done so.  I may have to mark a week in 2018 as the week of Liam Taggart and start at the beginning!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.