Terse, pacey with fantastic sequences of dialogue. Any fan of James Ellroy or even Raymond Chandler should read the opening extract - you will find it hard not to want to carry on.
1981 Northern Ireland and Catholic Sean Duffy has just been promoted to Detective Sergeant and finds himself with two grisly, complex, but seemingly unrelated murders to sort out.
You can tell the author is writing about a place and time he knows intimately with his evocative and lyrical descriptions of Northern Ireland during the dark days of the troubles. The 12th crime novel from Adrian McKinty and the first in a series of police procedurals with DS Sean Duffy - we look forward to getting the next one in the office.
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman's suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things--and people--aren't always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It's no easy job--especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force. Add to this the fact that, as a Catholic policeman, it doesn't matter which side he's on, because nobody trusts him, and Sergeant Duffy really is in a no-win situation. Fast-paced, evocative, and brutal, The Cold Cold Ground is a brilliant depiction of Belfast at the height of the Troubles--and of a cop treading a thin, thin line.
