Book Review – The cold, cold ground by Adrian McKinty

I got this book on Kindle, drawn in by a mix of low price and interesting review.  It’s the first of his books that I’ve read and it’s really great!  The setting is Belfast in 1981, against the background of the hunger strikes, riots and a new case for detective sergeant Sean Duffy.

Duffy is an oddity – a catholic “peeler” in a police force that’s seen as an instrument of the protestant establishment.  He follows up leads diligently and although he doesn’t always get it right, Duffy’s dogged and determined, often putting himself in real danger from criminals, terrorists and even the sheet welder husband of a police colleague he slept with. 

The book starts with an investigation into what appear to be two gruesome homophobic murders.  As the plot develops we see the horrors of life in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, through daily bombings, shootings, riots and murders.  I was totally caught up in the menace and threat that people must have felt with power wielded by thugs and terrorists; men with personal, often criminal agendas who would kill you without a second thought.  The investigation slowly reveals that the murder of “some poofters” is only what’s on the surface of the cold, cold ground.  The answer is far more complicated and reaches into areas Duffy could not even have imagined.

I was totally drawn into the character, plot and the dark, frightening atmosphere of 1981 Belfast - when I finished the book I wanted to see what was next.  The second Sean Duffy book – I Hear Sirens in the Street – is published in January 2013.  If you’re like me and can’t wait, here’s a link to McKinty’s blog and the first eight chapters of his new book:

http://adrianmckinty.blogspot.co.uk/p/sirens.html

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