Adrian McKinty’s gritty “The Troubles Trilogy” kicks off with The Cold Cold Ground. We’re introduced to Sean Duffy, a young police detective working the chaotic streets of Belfast in 1981. Two bodies are found miles apart. But each has the other’s arm. Why the killer switched body parts leads Duffy into another investigation: the missing ex-wife of an IRA prisoner on a hunger strike. McKinty captures the desolation and urban violence of those times very well.
In Book Two of “The Troubles Trilogy,” Duffy investigates a case where an American is found dead in a suitcase. The cause of death is poisoning. The plot includes Margaret Thatcher and John DeLorean (the guy who made that great car in the Back to the Future series). As you might expect, there’s plenty of violence in these books. My minor quibble is that Sean Duffy takes a lot of punishment in these books. But, he has incredible luck when he’s in those near-death situations. If you’re in the mood for something different, you might want to give “The Troubles Trilogy” a try. The third book will be published in March 2014. I already have it on order. GRADE: B (for both books)
I like a dark book like that once in a while though too much can get too depressing really fast. It sounds a little like the Aberdeen, Scotland series by Stuart MacBride about Logan McRae. I liked them at first but they got darker and darker.
Been meaning to try him for a while. Thanks for reminding me.
Jeff, Sean Duffy is a complicated character. I can stay with him for one more book. But “The Troubles Trilogy” is dark.
Patti, I enjoyed these Sean Duffy novels. They’re fairly quick reads.
Coincidently, I was reading a great piece of longform non-fiction yesterday about how Boston College’s trove of oral histories of the troubles has become a political football and has caused the investigations into some unsolvex murders from the early eighties to be re-opened. Don’t know if this link will work, but it’s worth a look:
http://chronicle.com/article/Secrets-From-Belfast/144059/
Deb, thanks for the link! It worked fine. From the Sean Duffy novels, it’s clear that Belfast was in anarchy during “The Troubles.” Assassinations, bombings, and kidnapping were daily occurrences. Collecting an oral history of these times would be valuable, but also risky. My daughter graduated from Boston College a couple years ago with a Master’s Degree in Elder Care. She loved her time at Boston College.