Book review – Dublin Dead by Gerard O’Donovan

I picked this book up by chance when I was in my local library and curiosity got the better of me.  I’ve never heard of Gerard O’Donovan before, but discovered that his first book The Priest, was shortlisted for a CWA award and went on to be published internationally.  This second book features the same characters, DI Mike Mulcahy and reporter Siobhan Fallon, one year after their encounters with “the priest” in book one.

So, what’s it about?  It’s a twin track story – Mulcahy is running the police’s International Liaison Unit, whilst Fallon is trying to get back into the routine of work after the traumatic events of the previous year (she survived being nailed to a crucifix by the psycho loony in The Priest).  Both face different pressures – Mulcahy finds out his unit could be a victim of austerity budget cuts, whilst Fallon finds herself being usurped by a new reporter in the office.  Both need a success and start following up cases that have similar ingredients of a murdered drug dealer, a suicide estate agent and a disappearing accountant.  Their stories converge and as the chase gathers pace, they’re thrown together once again finding themselves in pursuit of the same bad guys.

I liked this book – it was easy to read but pacey and the switches between Mulcahy and Fallon’s stories worked well.  As characters they’re quite likable although I wondered whether I’d have known them better had I read The Priest first.  The final third of the book gathers speed effectively, although my one criticism might be that the clues do come a little too easily, with several “hey you’re not going to believe this boss…” type of revelations.

I’ll gloss over that criticism as overall I’d say this book is definitely worth a read and it’s a real treat finding something like this purely by chance.  If you’ve got time on your hands, I’d suggest you take a chance and start with The Priest before moving on to this book, although that’s purely instinct on my part, not having read the first book in the series.

Romancrimeblogger