*Starred Review*
McKinty, Adrian. The Cold Cold Ground: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel.
Seventh Street Bks: Prometheus. (Troubles Trilogy, Bk. 1). Nov. 2012. c.328p. ISBN 9781616147167. pap. $15.95. M
What better cover for a serial killer than the political hunger strikes, car bombs, and street riots of Northern Ireland’s “troubles”? Det. Sean Duffy, a rarity as a Catholic cop, doesn’t step back from digging deep into a case in which gay men are being killed and mutilated with symbolic messages (such as cut-off hands) and more obscure, artistic clues. But as Duffy learns more about the victims, he wonders if their deaths aren’t politically motivated after all. Then, when a local missing woman turns up dead and is presumed to have killed herself, initially only Duffy senses that she was murdered and that her death connects with those of the gay men. By now, he has managed to alienate some powerful folks in the activist movement, and he might have to be silenced, too.
VERDICT: For fans of Stewart Neville’s crime novels, a new and harrowing Irish trilogy is underway. At turns violent and labyrinthine, McKinty’s (Dead I Well May Be) fine police procedural is also the ultimate page-turner. I cannot wait for Book Two!
Pretty sweet huh? I'm over the moon, actually. And there's more good news. Although The Cold Cold Ground won't officially be released in the USA until November 10th you can get it early, right now on Amazon.com, here.
