Book Review – Dark dawn by Matt McGuire

Although I’m not obsessed with “Emerald Noir”, I do think that it’s a part of contemporary crime fiction that’s got so much going for it, particularly novels set in Northern Ireland.  I found this book browsing around Amazon and after trying the sample chapters, was convinced enough to buy it and highlighted it in my March "Look out for these" post.

DS O’Neill has been assigned to a case which is problematic from the word go - a murder victim who looks as if he’d been on the wrong end of a punishment beating.  O’Neill’s superior Ward knows that Chief Inspector Wilson wants O’Neill out.  So, if O’Neill can solve the case his position will be secure.  However, the victim is a complete unknown; there are no real leads and nobody wants to talk about punishment beatings because of the peace process.  So, no challenge for O’Neill there! There’s further tension in O’Neill’s private life as he’s reluctantly separated from his wife Catherine, but then starts to look a little too attentively at a uniformed officer with high cheekbones, fetching blue eyes and a cute short ponytail – ooh!

And then from the dark side there’s Lynch - a man with a past.  He’s out of prison, but can’t sleep because the ghost of his past is so real he still has the taste in his mouth.  Whatever he wants to do, Lynch can’t break free of his past because he’s relentlessly pursued by McCann and his heavy Molloy who are both just plain dangerous.

Even though the book’s set in 2005, the Northern Ireland we see is dark, gritty and downright filthy.  The peace process has kicked in, but corruption, crime and violence are still there in spades.  The only things that seem to have changed are the apparently legitimate faces promising the public a bright new future - McGuire captures the atmosphere very well.

So, overall a good book with lots of interesting parts to the story that come together very well for an exciting finish.  The case is solved, but the underlying crime continues unabated.  Maybe that’s what makes this book and others of its kind so good.

Romancrimeblogger