Falling Glass, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail, £11.99)LAURA WILSON
The latest novel from Ireland's more accessible answer to James Ellroy has as its central character an old associate of Michael Forsythe, antihero of McKinty's wonderful Dead trilogy. Killian, of Pavee (Traveller) stock, has been thwarted in his attempts to go straight by the demise of the Celtic Tiger and returned to his previous living as an enforcer. Tasked with finding the drug-addicted ex-wife of an Irish airline magnate who has gone into hiding with their two children, Killian soon realises that her disappearance is about a lot more than denying access. His conscience awakened, he takes her to hide among the Travellers. This is another winner, with pathos, insight, sardonic humour and lyrical descriptions that counterpoint the red-hot action sequences to superb effect.
61 comments:
Thank you Laura!!
Wow, this is turning out to be the best reviewed novel of my career and while its wonderful to get reviews in the paper I also would REALLY appreciate it if more of you would review me on Amazon or Good Reads or Library Thing or Audible or your blog.
I do read every review and I send a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has reviewed me so far! (In a future post I am going to thank everyone by name.)
Excellent review.
I haven't read it yet, but when I do...
"I haven't read it yet, but when I do..."
I meant "read the book" obviously. :)
Mike
I certainly hope you like it. I think its up your alley (but you never know).
Congratulations! That's a really nice review. The Ellroy comparison can't hurt sales!!
Damn it Laura, I haven't gotten to that part yet. Hasn't she ever heard of a spoiler alert? Ah well, loving the book. Listening to Mr. Doyle's narration on the commute, so I don't devour it all at once! Loved the Volvo 240 (personal favorite model of mine) mayhem scene. As Arthur said "they're boxy but they're good."
Smashing stuff, squire - excellent news.
Cheers, Dec
I just finished Falling Glass. It's a terrific book that I couldn't put down. Poetic, lyrical, edgy. Killian and Michael Forsythe- what a pair. I am huge fan! Have read everything you've written and looking for more!
Thanks, luke
I, too, have always found you more accessible than James Ellroy. Congratulations on the good news.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Speedskater
Thank you and thank you for the review.
HB
I love the 240 also. Especially the see through headrests. Why has no one else thought of that?
Dec
Thanks man.
Luke
I appreciate that. I enjoyed putting the SPOILER ALERT
two of them together.
Peter
Thats because Ellroy is a genius and I'm not.
No, that's because you have commented on my blog, and Ellroy has not.
Peter
Well if thats the criterion I better get over there right now and comment on something!
Your lead in the accessibility department grows by the minute.
Congratulations Adrian! Can't wait to read it, and I'll then bung up a review somewhere online.
Congrats Adrian,
I hope to do an Audible review in a week or two (after I listen to it on my vacation!!)
Nice review. Congrats Adrian.
Katherine
Unless Post Australia is crapper than I thought you shuld have yours by now!
SJ
I would really appreciate that. Audible's pretty good in that even if you dont want to do a review you can still do a rating pretty easily.
Glenna
Thank you and thank you again for YOUR review.
I just finished reading about an hour ago (while finishing up a huge batch of french toast)
In short I loved it. I have a quibble, but by it's nature of being a quibble, eh no biggie.
My gut comparative summary would be to say -- A crime fiction oral epic by way of Aubrey Menen's The Ramayana and Marcus Sanders and Sandow Birk's Divine Comedy -- but that's a thought that still needs some unpacking.
Well done Adrian
Well, I won't check out the review just yet, but I'm very happy for you.
Adrian: I know this is available through sellers on Amazon US, but is the book one of Serpent's Tails US releases?
Thanks
Guy, I'll jump in and say that it doesnt appear they're bringing it out here in the next season or two anyway.
Thanks Seana: I'd heard that Serpent's tail is scaling back their US presence. Don't know quite what that means in terms of titles released. No matter. I'm buying this either way.
I don't know about that, it's just that I see the catalogs at work, and it's not in this one. In the past, I've noticed there is sometimes a lag between British and American editions sometimes. In any case, I think you're wise not to wait.
Brian
I'm glad you liked it.
The missus made us all challah french toast with bacon yesterday - delicious.
Seana, Guy
Yup Serpents Tail are still looking for a US partner for this one. So far no takers so it'll be at least 2012 before there's any US release.
Challah French toast with bacon. Now, there’s a meal rich with demographic significance (as well as dripping with maple syrup, I hope).
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Vermont maple syrup.
Not exactly kosher but a hell of a delicious breakfast.
Delicious, but don't tell my mother I said so.
Thanks. Well this is why there are companies such as Book Depository....
I started listening to "Falling Glass" while driving out of Butte, Montana on St. Patrick's Day. Butte has a strong Irish heritage, but St. Patrick's Day brings out the worst of the four leaf "shamrocks," green beer, and Celine Dion-type Irish songs--so the novel's opening held particular resonance for me!
Kudos for crafting another deeply interesting, informative novel populated with genuine characters who move through life just as emotionally flawed as the mere mortals who are reading about them.
Peter
I'm not sure Leah's rabbinical ancestors would approve either but her Bundist pinko ones would.
Guy
Although someone did comment on the blog that the Book Dep isnt shipping this one to the US?
Might have to be Amazon.
Serpents Tail claim that if you buy directly from them they do free worldwide shipping.
Dmelvin
Never been to Montana. It sounds fantatic though.
I'm glad you enjoyed the book and the characters.
And yes those four leafed "shamrocks" still drive me insane.
Hi Adrian, probably turn up today, I reckon. Aus Post stuns me with both ends of the spectrum now and then.
cheers,
k.
“I'm not sure Leah's rabbinical ancestors would approve either but her Bundist pinko ones would.”
There’s a place in heaven for apikorsim.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I've listened to all the Forsythe books and Fifty Grand. (Dead I Well May Be is my favorite.)Gerard Doyle is a terrific reader, perfect in every way. I've now listened to Falling Glass, too. (I accidentally bought it twice -- I forgot that I had pre-ordered the CDs from Amazon; downloaded it from Audible; then 2 days later the CDs arrived. Oh well. Happy to support a Good Cause...and I'll donate the CDs to the Marfa Public Library.) I really liked Falling Glass and am very much looking forward to more Killian books (can you write faster, please?).
A complaint: I was disappointed that the book included the ultraviolent torture scene. An over-the-top torture scene seems to be a requirement of all thrillers these days, and I was hoping for a more creative approach--more brain, less blood-and-guts. I enjoy the occasional bloody 6-pack incident (or whatever) as much as the next mystery/thriller reader, but the average run-of-the-mill torture segment is so predictable and boring. I keep hoping for the literary equivalent of the chilling, terrifying violence of the movies Chinatown and The Conversation, where a simple unexpected flick of a knife or the implied violence in the normal, all too quotidian environment of a bland hotel room are infinitely more terrifying than far-away-in-a-dark-cellar-somewhere-far-removed-from-my-life formulaic torture scenes.
Another very minor comment: Sometimes there were too many "he said"s. At least in the audio version, they interrupted the flow of the conversation and often seemed unnecessary. There was even one instance of "'My name is Killian,' said Killian."
Congratulations on your latest hit and the good reviews -- I'm a big fan. When I get a minute I'll post a review on Audible -- without the criticisms -- I want everybody to read your books so you can stay in the writing business. Martha
Adrian, I suppose it would be naive to ask what, if anything, us readers can do to help the quest to get Falling Glass published, (aside from attempting to talk it up as much as possible), but I will anyway.
I read the Dead Trilogy again this weekend (it's been raining a lot up here) to prepare for Falling Glass.
I know it's not a Forsythe book but I do tend to reread a whole series before reading the new one.
It can get a bit much, especially with things like Ellroy's Underworld USA. Two weeks and around 3,000 pages of that was a bit mental
Martha
I sympathasise with your point of view. I started reading a Henning Menkell novel but couldnt get past page 5 because already a dozen people had been massacred in a small town in a very grisly way. I didnt want to read anymore of that esp since some of the murdered were children which is a red line I wont cross as a writer or a reader.
The scene you're speaking about lasts less than one page in the book and sadly reflects the reality of the situation in Mexico. It wasnt put in gratuitously but was there to reflect Markov's world. The pay off of that scene was deliberately anticlimactic. And if you'll notice there are no other torture scenes in the book and the worst of the violence happens off screen. The violence in Falling Glass is certainly a lot less than CSI or Law and Order SVU or even Dan Brown (although Mr Brown doesnt allow his characters to swear I'll admit).
Anyway it wasnt put in to curry favour with readers or to show them how hardboiled I am, it was necessary to convey in a very truncated way who Markov was and what universe he was coming from.
As for the he saids etc. I also dont know why the audio book company cant just cut some of those he saids etc. If the narrator is doing different voices for different characters (and Ger Doyle does them really well) I dont see the need of them. They're necessary in the printed book so people dont get mixed up between characters but they're not necessary in the audio. I have mentioned this to the audiobook company before incidentally...
Look forward to your review.
Glenna
I think theres not much you or I can do to get a US publisher to take the book. My books just dont sell in America and all the great reviews in the world wont change the numbers. And publishing these days, alas, is all about the numbers. Occasionally editors will talk about printing "outsider" "new" or "original" voices but in fact thats just talk.
It is weird that Falling Glass is going to be published in Britain, Ireland, Australia, France and Germany but not America - you'd think somebody would take a chance with it....
"The pay off of that scene was deliberately anticlimactic."
Climactic...climax. A comment on what you think torture scenes often try to do?
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Rob
At some point I am going to reread American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand, but I'll probably skip Blood's A Rover for that very reason.
Peter
I was on a panel once with a successful lady novelist who talked about how she wrote her torture scenes that involved children or in this case the parents who had to listen to the child being tortured. The audience full of nice middle class middle aged (mostly female) listeners was rapt and couldnt get enough of it.
I was amazed and baffled. Afterwards I got an opportunity to study the lady novelists fans who were coming up to get their books signed (no one came up to get my book signed so I had plenty of time to do this) and they were the most ordinary folks in the world. I realised that I just dont get people who get off on torture. I still dont understand how there can be an entire maintstream TV show called Law and Order SVU which is all about rape and sexual abuse.
Katherine
I certainly hope so, more than a week to get from Melbourne to Queensland seems ridiculous.
Rachel tells Killian in Falling Glass that she met her husband at the Beaten Docket. That's where I first heard a pair of musicians playing this, which has since become one of my favorites.
===================================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com
Peter
Oh I know that one.
I also know the Beaten Docket, but only as a crawl pub on the traditional route from the Crown Bar to Laverys.
I dont remember if I put any Carrickfergus pubs in Falling Glass. I suppose should have included my sister's bar, but I dont think I did.
Oh man, you owe her another novel, then.
I too, finished reading Falling Glass on St. Paddy's Day after (finally) getting it the day before. If I have a complaint it's that I read it too fast! I loved everything about it, the chapter titles, the literary references, and all the stuff with the Tinkers. I can understand objecting to the torture scene but when I first read the comment I thought "what torture scene?" - it didn't stick with me because though the concept is horrendous it's written in a matter of fact manner so you don't have to suffer along. I live near L.A. and almost every day there's another story about multiple killings in Mexico from drug wars, more than 30,000 dead so far. Truth is probably worse than fiction in this case.
I never knew that Law & Order SUV was about all that stuff. Only seen an advert for it. I thought it was a normal cop show where they make a point of driving Escalades or something.
Dennis
Yes it based on a real life incident that scene and its over pretty quickly. (maybe not so quick on the audio but its basically 1 page in the book).
Anyway yup glad you enjoyed it!
Review it somewhere if you can!
A
Frankie
Its all sex crimes.
frankie
wait I just got that.
its early here.
A whole program based on sex crimes. How depressing ay?
The ultimate Jewish / Irish (by proxy) mashup:
House of Pain vs Klezmer
Adrian,
I can't read or watch torture. I do not read books which include those scenes by male or female authors. There are women authors whom I avoid for that reason.
When I read something that has brutal scenes like that and I like the book, I skip them.
Also, women friends who read crime fiction don't like those scenes either.
So, I don't know which women readers like them. It sends chills down my spine.
I do not watch any CSI shows. I do occasionally watch Law & Order SVU but I walk out of the room or change channels at certain scenes.
I want to see the whodunnit unfold and the indictment and trial, etc., not the brutality.
Re: House of Pain vs. Klezmer just gave me nightmares to think of the clash of my Irish and Eastern European Jewish relatives and heavy rock music...oy vey.
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