Scan barcode
sethlynch's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book: it’s dark, it’s gritty, and it’s funny. The main character is a detective (by any other name) hired to spy on a man’s wife. He is also trying to dig the dirt on a murder to get a scoop in the press. He gets more than his fair share of beatings and more than his fair share of one liners.
As you settle into the book it’s the humour which first gets you. It feels like reading a novel by Raymond Chandler – had he stayed in Ireland rather than going back to The States (and lived for another 60 years or so). This is an Irish book set in modern-day Ireland (of a few years ago) The country is riding the end of a boom, the politicians are feathering their own nests – whilst shitting in everybody else’s – the cops are more likely to dish out a beating than write out a ticket. In that way Burke’s Ireland is much like Chandler’s L.A. The plot of this book hangs together through the twists and turns (there is a nice ending – a nice Noir ending that is). The main character is well-developed; behind the cocky wise cracks he knows he’s gone in too far and is genuinely scared that he won’t be getting out again.
I don’t want to say anything else about the book in case I spoil it for you, because you will be buying it. If you can be arsed to sit there and read this post then you can click on the link below and buy yourself a copy – you won’t regret it. ‘If I fell into a barrel of tits I’d come out sucking my thumb’ – that line alone is worth the entrance fee.
As you settle into the book it’s the humour which first gets you. It feels like reading a novel by Raymond Chandler – had he stayed in Ireland rather than going back to The States (and lived for another 60 years or so). This is an Irish book set in modern-day Ireland (of a few years ago) The country is riding the end of a boom, the politicians are feathering their own nests – whilst shitting in everybody else’s – the cops are more likely to dish out a beating than write out a ticket. In that way Burke’s Ireland is much like Chandler’s L.A. The plot of this book hangs together through the twists and turns (there is a nice ending – a nice Noir ending that is). The main character is well-developed; behind the cocky wise cracks he knows he’s gone in too far and is genuinely scared that he won’t be getting out again.
I don’t want to say anything else about the book in case I spoil it for you, because you will be buying it. If you can be arsed to sit there and read this post then you can click on the link below and buy yourself a copy – you won’t regret it. ‘If I fell into a barrel of tits I’d come out sucking my thumb’ – that line alone is worth the entrance fee.
kfrench1008's review
4.0
Very good Irish crime fiction. Burke is a good writer and this was a breath of fresh air after the excesses of Ken Bruen's work.
More...