Rating: 5/5
Review:
Another fine book from McKinty
This is the fifth Sean Duffy thriller. I have enjoyed all of them so far, and I
think this is one of the best. It took
Adrian McKinty a couple of books to really hit his stride, but he is now
producing crime novels of real quality.
We are now in 1987, and The Troubles are still raging in Northern
Ireland.
Against this background Inspector Duffy of the RUC is presented with an
apparent suicide. In fact, the real
background to the case doesn’t begin to emerge until almost half way through
the book, so it would be too much of a spoiler to reveal what transpires, but
it's a very good, convincing police procedural, with an interesting plot and
McKinty's usual excellent sense of place and time, along with his use of
real-life events, sometimes with added fictional elements. I think it is very well done here, as is
Duffy's narrative voice. This is one of
McKinty's real strengths, along with the excellent, believable characters he
creates. We also get the development of
Duffy's personal life –again very convincingly - and there is a coda to the
book which I found surprisingly affecting.
This works as a stand-alone book if you haven't read the
previous ones, but I'd suggest starting at the beginning of the series with The
Cold, Cold Ground if you can. Even
though the first couple aren't quite as good they're well worth reading and
it's great to follow Duffy's story. This
is one of the best, I think, and warmly recommended.
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