Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty
The Blurb On The Back:
Riot duty. Heartbreak. Life goes on for Sean Duffy. Every case he solves never gets to court. And then the phone rings in the early hours of a cold morning.
A young journalist, Lily Bigelow, lies dead in the snowy courtyard of Carrickfergus castle. The castle was locked overnight. The caretaker isn’t much of a suspect. It looks a lot like suicide, but a few details aren’t quite right.
So Duffy has several impossible puzzles: if Lily was murdered, who did it and how? And, most of all, why? As he pulls on a few little threads, the whole establishment could come undone.
It’s 1987. Jesse Jackson and Muhammad Ali are on a peace visit to Belfast and DI Sean Duffy wangles his way into the riot squad to keep neo-Nazis away from them. Back in Carrickfergus life is a more humdrum. When the leader of an important Finnish business delegation reports that his wallet has been stolen, Duffy’s called in to find it and meets Lily Bigelow, a journalist following the delegation.
When Duffy is later found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus Castle, everyone thinks it’s suicide. The castle was locked up tight overnight and the elderly caretaker is an unlikely suspect. Duffy knows that the chances of having two locked-room murders in his career are unlikely, but there’s something about the death that doesn’t seem right.
The more Duffy picks away at the case, he more he finds himself coming under pressure from his superiors, the government and even MI-5 to drop it. But even he can’t imagine the secret that someone has killed for to protect …
The fifth in Adrian McKinty’s SEAN DUFFY SERIES is a clever, well-constructed crime thriller told in a wry, sharp voice. Although I hadn’t read the other books in the series, I didn’t need to in order to follow events - McKinty does a great job of incorporating previous events and I particularly enjoyed how the fact that Duffy’s previously had a locked-room mystery makes him second guess himself on this case. Duffy is a fascinating character - cynical and wry, his career in the RUC has hit a glass ceiling thanks in part to his Catholicism but also because of his refusal to play the political game and because none of his investigations have, to date, landed a conviction. All of these factors come into play in this investigation, which also takes in child abuse and features a guest turn by Jimmy Savile (who for me, was actually the only bum note as his character didn’t convince me). The investigation rolls along at a brisk pace and I found it fascinating how McKinty’s able to weave fact with fiction so effortlessly and the opening scene with Jackson and Ali is so well done that I didn’t realise it had never happened. I loved the economic writing style and the way McKinty resolves the case and sets up Duffy’s home life so much that I now want to check out the earlier books.
The Verdict:
The fifth in Adrian McKinty’s SEAN DUFFY SERIES is a clever, well-constructed crime thriller told in a wry, sharp voice. Although I hadn’t read the other books in the series, I didn’t need to in order to follow events - McKinty does a great job of incorporating previous events and I particularly enjoyed how the fact that Duffy’s previously had a locked-room mystery makes him second guess himself on this case. Duffy is a fascinating character - cynical and wry, his career in the RUC has hit a glass ceiling thanks in part to his Catholicism but also because of his refusal to play the political game and because none of his investigations have, to date, landed a conviction. All of these factors come into play in this investigation, which also takes in child abuse and features a guest turn by Jimmy Savile (who for me, was actually the only bum note as his character didn’t convince me). The investigation rolls along at a brisk pace and I found it fascinating how McKinty’s able to weave fact with fiction so effortlessly and the opening scene with Jackson and Ali is so well done that I didn’t realise it had never happened. I loved the economic writing style and the way McKinty resolves the case and sets up Duffy’s home life so much that I now want to check out the earlier books.
RAIN DOGS was released in the United Kingdom on 24th December 2015. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Riot duty. Heartbreak. Life goes on for Sean Duffy. Every case he solves never gets to court. And then the phone rings in the early hours of a cold morning.
A young journalist, Lily Bigelow, lies dead in the snowy courtyard of Carrickfergus castle. The castle was locked overnight. The caretaker isn’t much of a suspect. It looks a lot like suicide, but a few details aren’t quite right.
So Duffy has several impossible puzzles: if Lily was murdered, who did it and how? And, most of all, why? As he pulls on a few little threads, the whole establishment could come undone.
It’s 1987. Jesse Jackson and Muhammad Ali are on a peace visit to Belfast and DI Sean Duffy wangles his way into the riot squad to keep neo-Nazis away from them. Back in Carrickfergus life is a more humdrum. When the leader of an important Finnish business delegation reports that his wallet has been stolen, Duffy’s called in to find it and meets Lily Bigelow, a journalist following the delegation.
When Duffy is later found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus Castle, everyone thinks it’s suicide. The castle was locked up tight overnight and the elderly caretaker is an unlikely suspect. Duffy knows that the chances of having two locked-room murders in his career are unlikely, but there’s something about the death that doesn’t seem right.
The more Duffy picks away at the case, he more he finds himself coming under pressure from his superiors, the government and even MI-5 to drop it. But even he can’t imagine the secret that someone has killed for to protect …
The fifth in Adrian McKinty’s SEAN DUFFY SERIES is a clever, well-constructed crime thriller told in a wry, sharp voice. Although I hadn’t read the other books in the series, I didn’t need to in order to follow events - McKinty does a great job of incorporating previous events and I particularly enjoyed how the fact that Duffy’s previously had a locked-room mystery makes him second guess himself on this case. Duffy is a fascinating character - cynical and wry, his career in the RUC has hit a glass ceiling thanks in part to his Catholicism but also because of his refusal to play the political game and because none of his investigations have, to date, landed a conviction. All of these factors come into play in this investigation, which also takes in child abuse and features a guest turn by Jimmy Savile (who for me, was actually the only bum note as his character didn’t convince me). The investigation rolls along at a brisk pace and I found it fascinating how McKinty’s able to weave fact with fiction so effortlessly and the opening scene with Jackson and Ali is so well done that I didn’t realise it had never happened. I loved the economic writing style and the way McKinty resolves the case and sets up Duffy’s home life so much that I now want to check out the earlier books.
The Verdict:
The fifth in Adrian McKinty’s SEAN DUFFY SERIES is a clever, well-constructed crime thriller told in a wry, sharp voice. Although I hadn’t read the other books in the series, I didn’t need to in order to follow events - McKinty does a great job of incorporating previous events and I particularly enjoyed how the fact that Duffy’s previously had a locked-room mystery makes him second guess himself on this case. Duffy is a fascinating character - cynical and wry, his career in the RUC has hit a glass ceiling thanks in part to his Catholicism but also because of his refusal to play the political game and because none of his investigations have, to date, landed a conviction. All of these factors come into play in this investigation, which also takes in child abuse and features a guest turn by Jimmy Savile (who for me, was actually the only bum note as his character didn’t convince me). The investigation rolls along at a brisk pace and I found it fascinating how McKinty’s able to weave fact with fiction so effortlessly and the opening scene with Jackson and Ali is so well done that I didn’t realise it had never happened. I loved the economic writing style and the way McKinty resolves the case and sets up Duffy’s home life so much that I now want to check out the earlier books.
RAIN DOGS was released in the United Kingdom on 24th December 2015. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.