Rating: 4/5
Review:
An enjoyable, atmospheric thriller
I enjoyed this thriller a lot. It has its flaws but overall I thought it very good. It has a good narrative voice, is very well written and for the most part the plot and action are very well structured.
The story is a police procedural, set in Northern Ireland in 1982 during The Troubles. Inspector Sean Duffy is a very engaging narrator - wry, intelligent, amusing and believably human. Needless to say, he is a bit of a maverick, but well this side of cliché, and I thought he and all the other characters were well drawn and plausible.
The setting is a real strength of the book. McKinty paints a convincing picture of life during The Troubles (although I'm no expert, having only spent a few weeks in Northern Ireland around that time.) He has the sense and courage to portray the life of a police officer in full, and the parts not directly related to the case are just as well done, like the little vignette where Duffy has to deal with a couple of fighting drunks in a car park. The atmosphere and the period really make this book.
The plot works well for most of the book, moving slowly and in a rather opaque way. I thought it was much less good toward the end, with the obligatory Clash With Authority and, of course, the Single-Handed Showdown With The Killer. It was a disappointment for me that the book ended in such a well-worn way - its originality and freshness were something I had really enjoyed up to then.
I can still recommend this book as a very enjoyable and engrossing read, though, and I look forward to the next one.
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