A Detective Sean Duffy Novel - In the Morning I'll Be Gone

While I am more Republican than Proddy, I enjoyed this nonetheless. His style embraces the reader allowing us to conjure our resolutions while playing amateur sleuth. Moving on to his other works now.

Early in the third novel in the Sean Duffy series, Duffy, a detective in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, is booted off the force for an offence he didn't commit. Duffy is a brilliant detective, but he's also a wiseass of the first magnitude who prefers to work in his own way and who has little tolerance for his superiors, especially when they don't see things the way he does. In consequence, his superiors take advantage of a trumped-up charge to get him out of their hair.

The series takes place in the Northern Ireland of the early 1980s--the time of the "Troubles," when Protestants and Catholics were at open war with each other. Duffy, a Catholic, has always been a fish out of water in the Protestant RUC. Most Catholics think he's a turncoat and the Protestants aren't sure they can trust him, but Duffy has always held the naive belief that the two intractable opponents should be able to work together.

Now off the force, Duffy spends his days drinking, listening to music, and attempting to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. But then Dermot McCann, an IRA explosives expert, escapes from a high security prison with a number of other IRA members. British intelligence services fear that McCann and his comrades may be planning a major campaign of terrorist bombings directed against the English. Duffy and McCann were childhood friends and thus agents from MI5 show up at Duffy's door and ask him to help hunt down McCann. Duffy uses the situation to leverage an apology for his mistreatment and a restoration of his job.

The hunt is a challenging one, and along the way, Duffy finds himself entangled in the death of a young woman who died inside a locked room. The mother of the young woman believes that her daughter was murdered and if Duffy can prove it, the woman may be able to help him in his hunt for McCann when virtually no one else will.

This is another very good entry in this series. Sean Duffy continues to be a very appealing character and McKinty spins a very entertaining and gripping tale. If you haven't yet discovered this series, it would be better to start with the first, The Cold Cold Ground, and work your way forward. This is a character and a series worth getting to know.

Let me be upfront. Adrian McKinty has done it again; another great crime story in the Sean Duffy series. I read this book over a weekend and couldn’t put it down.

The essence of the story is that Sean Duffy has been busted back to being a regular cop. No detective work for this man. However, when there is a mass break out of IRA prisoners from the Maze Prison, British Intelligence signs up Duffy to locate the missing bomb maker and escapee, Dermott McCann. The two have history as they attended school together. Indeed, it was only in recent years that Duffy joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary while McCann continued as an active IRA man.

In order to pursue McCann, Duffy is offered a lead by McCann’s former mother-in-law. Namely, she would provide McCann’s location if Duffy can solve the riddle of her daughter’s death of several years ago. This death involved a locked room with no way in yet the daughter died from a broken neck. It simply seemed to be an accident but Duffy won’t let the matter rest.

As is usual with the Sean Duffy series, the novel is set in Belfast and surrounding areas in the early 1980s. This is the peak of “The Troubles”. It’s a fascinating backdrop that McKinty employs to great effect. The series has a tense feel. A bomb never seems far away. Sean Duffy certainly lives in interesting times.

In sum, get this book. Read the series. You will have no regrets.

... may be Adrian McKinty's series of police procedural novels featuring Ulster cop Sean Duffy. He's the very definition of non-sectarian: a Catholic who at least once thought of joining the IRA (in the wake of the Bloody Sunday events in Derry), he's now living in a Protestant neighborhood, working for the almost-entirely Protestant police force (colleagues refer to him and his ilk as "bloody fenians) and routinely checking his car for mercury tilt bombs since people like him -- pragmatists who just want to make sure that the ordinary criminals end up behind bars -- are tools of the British establishment in the eyes of Irish republicans.

It doesn't help that Duffy can be his own worst enemy, too. As his ex-girlfriend tells him, he drinks too much, smokes too much, is probably clinically depressed -- and as the reader rapidly figures out, doesn't know the meaning of the word "diplomatic". When this, the third book in the series opens, he's taking early retirement: opting to collect a guaranteed pension and avoid a protracted fight that may end in him being tossed out of the Royal Ulster Constabulary altogether. Then the Whitehall "spooks" show up to offer him an intriguing deal: in exchange for his help tracking down a friend from his schooldays, now an IRA prison escapee, Duffy will regain all his old status -- and more. But can he pull it off? All he has to do is solve a locked room mystery, and he may get a tip that MAY lead to where Dermot can be found -- but will it pay off in time?

McKinty's gritty, clear-eyed view of Belfast and Carrickfergus in the final years of the de facto civil war is spot on, and his relative impartiality -- he's as jaundiced about the absurd extremes of all sides and as cynical about the naive American supporters of the IRA as he is as aware of the degree to which both sides were corrupt, engaging in drugs and extortion rackets -- is a welcome antidote to the all the rhetoric one still hears. Best of all, he has an ability to capture the sense of tension in Duffy's quest: the reader can almost hear the ticking of the clock as MI-5 and others become increasingly anxious about a new bombing campaign that Dermot may be about to unleash. It isn't just Duffy's future on the line, but innocent lives somewhere who will pay the price of failure.

I think this was my favorite of the three books in what is being billed so far as a trilogy (although I'm hearing rumors that a fourth book may be in the works?). The first book felt almost "over the top" in terms of its plot, with a hysterical Duffy trying to provoke his suspects into confessing. The second's plot was a bit too convoluted for the type of book these are, at heart. In this one, McKinty finds the perfect balance between complexity, narrative tension and character development -- and ends it with a simply great scene for Duffy, capturing his own ambivalence about his job and love/hate relationship with Ulster. The only reason this doesn't get a 5 star rating from me is that McKinty too often tries just a bit too hard to establish a sense of time and place: within a single paragraph, I'll be deluged with brand names for food and drink, be told what's on the radio and television, learn what records (yes, records) Duffy is listening to, and what he's wearing, etc. etc. Once or twice, skilfully introduced, is one thing, but after a few chapters I started feeling bludgeoned over the head by the "period" detail. Yes, isn't it quaint that he can listen to the radio on his Sony Walkman... I get it; enough already; I trust you! But it kept going. So; 4.5 stars, rounded down, and I'm hoping for more in this series. Meanwhile, I'll be seeking out McKinty's other novels.

The final book of The Troubles Trilogy brings back Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). As the book opens, in Belfast in the early ‘80’s, there is “a mass breakout of IRA prisoners” from the notorious Maze Prison (a maximum security prison “considered to be one of the most escape-proof penitentiaries in Europe”), among the prisoners his boyfriend friend, Dermot McCann, an IRA master bomber. Despite his somewhat sketchy history with the police force, which he was forced to leave for various “crimes and misdemeanors,” he is offered his old job back with a promotion to detective inspector if he assists MI5 in the recapture of McCann, for which purpose he is reinstated and assigned to Special Branch. The search for his old friend leads to a locked room mystery involving the death four years earlier of a young woman named Lizzie Fitzpatrick, the solution to which is the price he must pay for a lead on McCann’s whereabouts.

In the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972, when a dozen civilians had been shot dead while marching for equal rights, it is a matter of necessary routine for residents to check under their cars for bombs before entering. The book contains plenty of fascinating Irish history (both that of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic) coupled with some Gaelic phrases, the whole completely charming. Equally so the protagonist himself and his eclectic musical taste (in what he considers to be “the worst year in popular music for about two decades”), e.g., Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” Elvis, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Led Zeppelin, and Leonard Cohen.

The Ireland of this book is one where a recommended form of baby-rearing involves “the slightest wee dash of Irish whiskey in the bottle . . . for a good night’s sleep,” where there’s a bounty on the lives of Irish cops, where three of the most popular ways out of the RUC is murder, suicide or cirrhosis, and where “police stations on the South Armagh border were future finishing schools for alcoholics and suicides with the added frisson of being shot or blown up on foot patrol.” I missed the first two books in the trilogy, unfortunately, which I will try to correct in short order. OTOH, next up for this reviewer is Mr. McKinty’s “The Sun is God” – can’t wait!

Highly recommended.

... may be Adrian McKinty's series of police procedural novels featuring Ulster cop Sean Duffy. He's the very definition of non-sectarian: a Catholic who at least once thought of joining the IRA (in the wake of the Bloody Sunday events in Derry), he's now living in a Protestant neighborhood, working for the almost-entirely Protestant police force (colleagues refer to him and his ilk as "bloody fenians) and routinely checking his car for mercury tilt bombs since people like him -- pragmatists who just want to make sure that the ordinary criminals end up behind bars -- are tools of the British establishment in the eyes of Irish republicans.

It doesn't help that Duffy can be his own worst enemy, too. As his ex-girlfriend tells him, he drinks too much, smokes too much, is probably clinically depressed -- and as the reader rapidly figures out, doesn't know the meaning of the word "diplomatic". When this, the third book in the series opens, he's taking early retirement: opting to collect a guaranteed pension and avoid a protracted fight that may end in him being tossed out of the Royal Ulster Constabulary altogether. Then the Whitehall "spooks" show up to offer him an intriguing deal: in exchange for his help tracking down a friend from his schooldays, now an IRA prison escapee, Duffy will regain all his old status -- and more. But can he pull it off? All he has to do is solve a locked room mystery, and he may get a tip that MAY lead to where Dermot can be found -- but will it pay off in time?

McKinty's gritty, clear-eyed view of Belfast and Carrickfergus in the final years of the de facto civil war is spot on, and his relative impartiality -- he's as jaundiced about the absurd extremes of all sides and as cynical about the naive American supporters of the IRA as he is as aware of the degree to which both sides were corrupt, engaging in drugs and extortion rackets -- is a welcome antidote to the all the rhetoric one still hears. Best of all, he has an ability to capture the sense of tension in Duffy's quest: the reader can almost hear the ticking of the clock as MI-5 and others become increasingly anxious about a new bombing campaign that Dermot may be about to unleash. It isn't just Duffy's future on the line, but innocent lives somewhere who will pay the price of failure.

I think this was my favorite of the three books in what is being billed so far as a trilogy (although I'm hearing rumors that a fourth book may be in the works?). The first book felt almost "over the top" in terms of its plot, with a hysterical Duffy trying to provoke his suspects into confessing. The second's plot was a bit too convoluted for the type of book these are, at heart. In this one, McKinty finds the perfect balance between complexity, narrative tension and character development -- and ends it with a simply great scene for Duffy, capturing his own ambivalence about his job and love/hate relationship with Ulster. The only reason this doesn't get a 5 star rating from me is that McKinty too often tries just a bit too hard to establish a sense of time and place: within a single paragraph, I'll be deluged with brand names for food and drink, be told what's on the radio and television, learn what records (yes, records) Duffy is listening to, and what he's wearing, etc. etc. Once or twice, skilfully introduced, is one thing, but after a few chapters I started feeling bludgeoned over the head by the "period" detail. Yes, isn't it quaint that he can listen to the radio on his Sony Walkman... I get it; enough already; I trust you! But it kept going. So; 4.5 stars, rounded down, and I'm hoping for more in this series. Meanwhile, I'll be seeking out McKinty's other novels.

The final book of The Troubles Trilogy brings back Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). As the book opens, in Belfast in the early ‘80’s, there is “a mass breakout of IRA prisoners” from the notorious Maze Prison (a maximum security prison “considered to be one of the most escape-proof penitentiaries in Europe”), among the prisoners his boyfriend friend, Dermot McCann, an IRA master bomber. Despite his somewhat sketchy history with the police force, which he was forced to leave for various “crimes and misdemeanors,” he is offered his old job back with a promotion to detective inspector if he assists MI5 in the recapture of McCann, for which purpose he is reinstated and assigned to Special Branch. The search for his old friend leads to a locked room mystery involving the death four years earlier of a young woman named Lizzie Fitzpatrick, the solution to which is the price he must pay for a lead on McCann’s whereabouts.

In the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972, when a dozen civilians had been shot dead while marching for equal rights, it is a matter of necessary routine for residents to check under their cars for bombs before entering. The book contains plenty of fascinating Irish history (both that of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic) coupled with some Gaelic phrases, the whole completely charming. Equally so the protagonist himself and his eclectic musical taste (in what he considers to be “the worst year in popular music for about two decades”), e.g., Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” Elvis, Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Led Zeppelin, and Leonard Cohen.

The Ireland of this book is one where a recommended form of baby-rearing involves “the slightest wee dash of Irish whiskey in the bottle . . . for a good night’s sleep,” where there’s a bounty on the lives of Irish cops, where three of the most popular ways out of the RUC is murder, suicide or cirrhosis, and where “police stations on the South Armagh border were future finishing schools for alcoholics and suicides with the added frisson of being shot or blown up on foot patrol.” I missed the first two books in the trilogy, unfortunately, which I will try to correct in short order. OTOH, next up for this reviewer is Mr. McKinty’s “The Sun is God” – can’t wait!

Highly recommended.

The Troubles Trilogy by Adrian McKinty is one of the best I've read. In this particular book, In the Morning I'll Be Gone, the third in the series, Detective Sean Duffy redeems himself when he works with MI5 to track down an IRA bomber who escaped from the notorious Maze Prison. With the help of his former teammates from CID and an MI5 agent, Duffy digs into the background of a former school mate, his family, and others who have crossed Dermot McCann's path, in order to try to prevent what could be an assassination of the highest order.

Crisp dialogue and a fast-paced storyline will keep readers engaged in this hard-hitting story as the author wraps up the series. We are left with the impression that Duffy will continue to be himself but that life will be better for him as he moves forward following the trials of the last couple of years.

McKinty creates characters that readers can get to know and care about. It almost feels like they could be our neighbor if we were in that particular location. Many of the same characters appear throughout the three books providing continuity and the feeling that the story is real.

What happened to Duffy could have happened to anyone in his area of the world and in his position as a Catholic among Protestants, both at work and on the street where he lived. McKinty took much of the story straight from the headlines of the times giving readers a strong sense of time and place. A highly recommended read.

Seventh Street Books provided to us complimentary copies of the three books in this trilogy in return for our honest review.

Get out your shillelagh, sprinkle four leaf clovers around your easy chair and get ready for a dramatic ride to Belfast in the 1980s.

Sean Duffy is a Catholic in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary. After being forced out of his job because he crossed the wrong people, he's visited by the MI-5.

Dermot McCann is a master bomber and has just escaped from Maze Prison. MI-5 believe that since Duffy knew McCann from their school days, he's the best chance they have of catching McCann before he begins his bombing attacks.

As a police officer, Duffy isn't welcome in Belfast but then meets a woman who strikes a deal. She'll give up McCann in return for Duffy's reopening the case to find the killer of the woman's daughter. The daughter died in a questionable manner inside a locked put. Police claim an accident but the woman knows it was murder.

Duffy investigates and we witness poverty stricken Belfast and and police anxiety at what McCann is up to. Time is running short and a major event is approaching. There is to be a Conservative Party Conference in Brighton and Mrs. Thatcher is scheduled to be a speaker. This would be an ideal target for McCann.

The descriptions of life in Northern Ireland is a treat. A locked room mystery and a clock running down as suspense builds is just what the doctor ordered for mystery fans.

This is the final volume of the Detective Sean Duffy/ Troubles trilogy, (setting – Northern Ireland, early/mid 1980s). As the previous book concluded our hero was being put in his place, i.e. demoted, by the RUC brass. And as this book opens things go from bad to worse for our Sean, who soon finds himself out on the street with a lot of time on his hands and a limited number of hobbies.

Mirroring Sean’s personal turmoil/chaos is an escalation concerning the Troubles, specifically “The Great Escape”, the September 1983 Maze (Long Kesh) prison break. (Each of the Duffy books is tied to historical events, this one particularly so.) When one of the 38 Republican escapees is identified as a former “mate” of Sean’s, MI5 “quietly” (re)recruits civilian Sean Duffy back into the law enforcement fold; his one and only case/task, to find this old acquaintance. Sean, with truly nothing better to do, “graciously” accepts the job and the challenge.

The straight-line man-hunt plot now branches in several different directions as Sean revisits his past while attempting to prevent a cataclysmic future event; encounters a “locked room” mystery that needs to be solved in the interim; and walks a tightrope satisfying his new MI5 masters while attempting to stay alive. The reader now engulfed in a story within the story and a mystery within the mystery, i.e. much like Chandler/Hammett/MacDonald.

And to take the Old Masters comparison one step further, Mr. Duffy finds himself at the center of a morality play in which he needs to follow his own compass – the latter skewed, but not compromised by circumstances – weighing means, ends and alliances in the “pursuit of justice”. A case in point is Sean’s self re-introduction to the old neighborhood/community, (during which he meets a young Michael Forsythe).

When the dust finally settles the world is a slightly better place, Sean is a tad worse for the wear, but a hero, albeit an unsung one – even earning a pat on the back from Mrs. Thatcher - and seemingly right back where he started - which of course is perfectly in character with him and this series.

Excellent conclusion to an excellent trilogy.

Highly recommended.

The third book in the Sean Duffy Troubles Trilogy. Every book has gotten better. Sean is evolving and getting a little wiser each time. Although he is still being manipulated by MI5 to do their dirty work. It is so important to him to be able to continue as a policeman that he is willing to go against what I think is his better self when he is asked to hunt down an old IRA friend who escaped from prison. I did like Dermot even though he was a bomber. I always think of the United States and the revolution and see Ireland as in the same boat. There are interesting chapters pointing out American's involvement in the 'Cause' and how we do not understand the situation but I think most Americans felt that Ireland and Scotland should have home rule and their own country back. It is a good book and I wondered if Anne was trying to get pregnant before leaving for Canada...hummm future plot development?

This, the third novel in his Troubles Trilogy, is the darkest and the most complex. It is not devoid of humor. Sean Duffy, a cop in the protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, (RUC) has finally seen his attitudes and conflicts within the police hierarchy come back to haunt him. He’s chucked out of the force on a trumped up charge. A few weeks later, MI5 comes calling. So right away readers may wonder about that charge of hit and run.
This all sets the tone of this dark novel about the conflicts between warring sides in the Irish Troubles of the Nineteen-Eighties. Duffy, a Catholic in a protestant-dominated landscape, sees old school friends escape from prison, sees them die in fights with occupying British Army units and the RUC and wonders about the morality, the ethics of it all, and he sees the ruination of a society he truly loves.
A master bomber of the IRA, a dangerous man Duffy knew well, escapes from prison and Duffy is recruited to find him before his potentially high-profile act of ultimate destruction can be carried out against Her Majesty’s Government. Will Duffy find the right threads? Will his fascinating interactions with old and new characters result in success? Or will he become a witness to horrific failure?
Well-written, well-organized this taut dark novel is truly a gripping experience. McKinty is a fine writer with penetrating insights into the makeup of all kinds of people involved in the Irish scene at that time. It is fiction, but the stunning climax will remain with many readers for a long time. As it should. For though the novel is set in the previous century, it has much to say about our troubles of the present time.

Detective Inspector Sean Duffy is, on multiple levels, a "cop who needs a break." He's embroiled in politics that threaten his very job, tasked by MI5 to stop an IRA bombing suspect whose location and plans are unknown, and waylaid from said task by a family member of the bombing suspect who refuses to talk unless Duffy can solve a cold case for her. To understate, the tension never lets up in this book. Sean Duffy is an angry, sarcastic, self-deprecating, persevering hero and Ireland in 1984 is a vivid, bleak setting for this mystery-fueled manhunt story.

In 1984, I was an American toddler. Going into this novel, I had almost no knowledge of its time and place. McKinty paints not only the landscape, the loss, the upheaval of the time; he also lets us glimpse the hearts and mindsets of the people and the reasons behind their views. None of it eclipses the plot or the protagonist, but (perhaps obviously) this plot and this protagonist would not exist in any other setting. The Troubles have shaped Sean Duffy into the man he is.

Speaking of Sean Duffy. What a wonderful character, and what a voice McKinty has given him. From that first scene (ignoring his emergency police beeper in favor of his Atari game), he's intriguing--smart, cynical, resentful. He turns out to be the kind of cop who underestimates himself before his enemy, who doesn't take condescension from anybody, and who doggedly works a case as long as it takes. He enjoys music of many genres, eats too little, drinks too much. He tells his story in a witty and lyrical voice that observes the quietly profound beauty and sorrow of the world around him. Yet Mr. McKinty understands author restraint. There's no theme-spouting here, from Sean or anyone else. The beliefs of the characters belong to themselves.

The plot unfolds rather oddly, jump-starting with the IRA bomb threats and then detouring almost entirely from that element to the cold case. A relative of the bomber, who believes a certain "accidental" death wasn't, demands closure in exchange for information. Without other leads, and despite his MI5 contact's lack of enthusiasm, Duffy agrees. It's an unusual author choice, and I can understand why not every reader would want to follow McKinty here, but it works for me. At first, upon finishing, I felt the bomber's story thread was too marginalized; there's personal history between him and Duffy, and I wanted to know more. But really, the book is understated, not underdeveloped. I want more not because something's missing but because I'm invested in what's here. It all works.

IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE succeeds on so many levels--dialogue, characterization, setting, mood, plot, and above all, voice. The first two Sean Duffy novels have just leaped to the top of my to-read list.

This is the third book in the Troubles Trilogy but the first book that I have read. The story is about Sean Duffy, an Irish Catholic detective in Northern Ireland on a police force dominated by Protestants. It is the early 1980's at a time called "The Troubles," when the IRA and the British are fighting over Northern Ireland. Duffy has been forced into retirement but has been offered a chance by MI-5 to get back to his job by helping them find the IRA bomber, Dermot McCann. This leads Duffy into the investigation of a young girl whose death has been labeled an accident. If Duffy can find the truth he has been promised a clue into finding McCann.

The writing in the novel is excellent and the intermingling of the investigation of the young girl's murder with "The Troubles" makes the story even more interesting. The story keeps moving and I found it very difficult to put down. Duffy is a believable character fighting troubles both within himself and outside in the world of "The Troubles." I can highly recommend this book. Assuming that you have read the first two books in the series then you will definitely want to read this one. The author has already said there will be a fourth book in the "trilogy."

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS. Sorry, can't help it. Go read the first two books if you haven't already. If you enjoy Stuart McBride's Aberdeen DCI Logan McRae series for it's comedic darkness then you might enjoy these 1980 set series about policing in Ulster during the Troubles.

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT IF YOU READ ON

At the end of the last book in this series, Sean Duffy, formerly a detective in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, has been demoted and put back on the street. Considering the conditions on the streets he is patrolling during this time, he really does not want to be there. It's a war zone. And one more screw up would be enough for him to be fired from the force altogether, which he also really doesn't want.

Then there is an escape of IRA prisons from the Maze prison and because Duffy had known one of the escapees during his youth, he sets out to try to track him down.

The brutality and violence at this time is stunning. The author handles them skillfully. This has been an amazing ride through a period of time that I lived through, but only watched from safe across an ocean.

I don't give a lot of 5 stars but I think this one deserves it.

This is a well written, interesting book, with a good plot.
What I didn't like: Okay, I confess. I don't know that much about "the Troubles". I hoped this book would provide insight into that period of history in a fun way. The author is writing this book based on the assumption that his readers are familiar with the issues surrounding Northern Ireland in the past. I believe that is a wrong assumption. It certainly was for me, and I'm sure it is that way for a lot of American readers.
Maybe I find it jarring because this is the third book in the series and I haven't read the first two? Maybe Mr. Mckinty provided more background in the earlier books? I don't know, I can only judge on this book.
I liked the book, would pick up the first two in the series, but think it would add context to include more historical detail and background to each book in the series, as you can never tell where in a series you will find new readers.

I wish I had discovered Adrian McKinty's "The Troubles Trilogy" much sooner than Book 3, "In the Morning I'll Be Gone." But as soon as I finished this one, I got copies of Book 2 and Book 1 and have read them, too. And I highly recommend all three books to any reader who likes tough-guy detectives. McKinty's Detective Sean Duffy definitely is a conflicted but strong-willed cop caught in a place (Northern Ireland) and a time (the early 1980s) that likewise are full of conflicts and strong wills. And Duffy isn't afraid to slip over certain lines, such as the violent border between Northern Ireland and Ireland during the sectarian "Troubles," or the shadowy border between good cop and bad cop, when it's the only way, in his view, to solve a murder.

This is another one of those books that suffers by having such enthusiastic blurbs on the back cover. The book is good, but it can't match the style, wit and honesty of likes of Ken Bruen.

The book starts off well -- the pacing is fast and the author does a great job of making the reader feel the tension of Northern Ireland in 1983. Good humor that only occasionally seems forced and a nice, softball approach to teaching the reader about the general situation in Northern Ireland without being tedious.

That said, there is something in the writing is very much not 1983 -- a year that I can remember quite well. It's not just the glaring and vomit-inducing use of terms like 'baby bump' (a nauseating term that didn't become overused until the last decade) that cause problems with creating a convincing narrative, it's also some of Sean's attitudes and a certain degree of prescience that seems to pervade the book. I think that's just a result of writing about the past, it's difficult to not let what you know -- the future -- bleed into the story. Anyhow, the story got dinged a star for the way I was periodically yanked out of the era.

Another star went for the very weak peroration and the repeated use of the word Beemer/BMW on every damn page (sometimes 3 times per page -- 222, I think). Holy COW did that start to grate. I mean, I GET it already, Sean has a BEEMER. Unless the brand of car has some particular significance I'm not sure why some authors get all worked up about them and maunder on and on. It's distracting and annoying. Sorry, but I don't think the fact a person drives a particular car makes them somehow more cool or badass. Although it can make them a tool. But I don't think that was the author's intention.

Anyhow, the ending was a big, big letdown. So was Sean's 'eyeopening' conversation with the flat and uninteresting kate.

A lot of the character development -- other than Sean -- was pretty cardboard. The book's single sex scene was just kind of, 'huh?' and the author seemed embarrassed to have thrown it in. There was no tension or chemistry between Sean any anyone else in the book -- especially between him and Dermot, who was supposed to have been such a force in Sean's life in high school.

The 'locked room' murder mystery element just didn't convince and also felt weak when it came to a climax.

Anyhow, I thought this book was okay, but that it needed some help. I also noticed two occasions when characters were brought in and then never explained (the woman at the Oxfam shop? Why are we told her name? Who is she? How does he KNOW Margaret and why does it matter?)

Mckinty seems like a good writer, but he sure isn't the modern equivalent of Chandler (unless you consider the tangled and unconvincing plot) or the next Bruen.

This series gets better and better. In this episode Sean Duffy has been demoted but still manages to be a great cop and solve problems and mysteries others didn't/couldn't, and to have a real impact on world events. The setting (Northern Ireland in the 1980s) remains the same and is so well conveyed. The hero just gets better and better. And the story held together and was plausible. Even the "action" parts. I'm so glad there are more books in the series!

I enjoyed this book the most among the books making up the trilogy. It seems less tortuous in plotting. As with all the books (in this trilogy and/or by Adrian McKinty) the use of Irish slang and idioms is a bit difficult to follow. I don't know whether he uses less in the book or whether I am becoming accustomed to it. In this book Sean Duffy is reinstated to the RUC by MI5. His job is to locate a childhood friend, Dermot McCann, an IRA bomber who has escaped prison and is believed to be planning a master coup. To locate Dermot, Sean must first solve a murder case involving a locked room.

Far from your typical Irish Crime Noir, Adrian McKinty has created a trilogy that is both gritty and suspenseful. A pleasure to read as it does not get bogged down in standard crime noir language --- which tend to labour too much on the issues with the protagonist --- these read like fast-paced thrillers with enough local flavor to keep interest level high.

P.I. Sean Duffy finds himself recruited by MI-5 to find an IRA bomber and crossing these lines make for an interesting set of circumstances. Reminds me of the early work of Dennis Lehane --- set in Ireland. I have a feeling we have not heard the of Sean Duffy!

I loved this book. Set in northern Ireland during the height of the British occupation, it features Detective Sean Duffy a catholic who serves as a cop, which was not a good place to be. The words traitor and turncoat come to mind. Duffy has been sacked in spite of being an exceptional cop. He is hired by MI5 to help track down a childhood friend Dermot McCann.

I loved this book. The novel has a strong Irish cultural flavor, so it doesn't sound like something written by a guy from LA who thought this would make a great movie treatment. Lots of twists and turns, interesting characters, and especially internal conflict within the lead character.

Highly recommended. Would be great vacation reading

McKinty is one of the best crime novelists working today. Period. His third in the Sean Duffy series is the best so far( but I haven't read the next three yet). Lyrical, sexy, suspenseful and intelligent. These are the reasons that all of McKinty' s books have mostly 5 star ratings. Get on the bandwagon. Read these books. Right away you'll know what I mean.

The Duffy series would be an absolutely cracking UK TV series but I suspect they are still terrified of anything to do with "The Troubles" . At least anything so involved on a personal level as this. One also wonders if entrenched biases in certain East Coast reviewers in the important American market inhibit enthusiasm there too.

But make no mistake, these are some of the best, most exciting and thought-provoking crime novels on the shelves and download lists today.

Don't be put off by the "historical" context of the 1980s. The pace is right up to date and the themes are as relevant as ever.

Don't be put off by the "sectarian" background. McKinty might be a Prod and Duffy might be a Catholic but author and hero are humanitarians trying to move forward against a complex background of entrenched prejudices and shifting alliances.

In this third novel, Duffy is somewhat older and wiser as he moves into his thirties. It's the best novel yet, and stands alone, but you'll still get more out of it by reading the other two first.

The only criticism I have of McKinty is that he called this a trilogy when clearly Duffy has more books in him yet.

The author, Adrian Mckinty, grew up in Carrickfergus, Northern Island. He knows all about 'The Troubles', and he knows first hand the characters he writes about. Carrickfergus, means 'rock of Fergus', and predates Belfast, and, was for awhile the bigger and more prominent city. 'The main participants in the Troubles were republican paramilitaries (such as the Provisional IRA), loyalist paramilitaries (such as the UVF and UDA), the British state security forces (the British Army and the RUC, Northern Ireland's police force)'. Wiki .

Sean Duffy is a policeman in the RUC and stationed in Carrickfergus. There was a very large paramilitary police group stationed here. In the 1980's their job was that of the usual police, fighting crime. But, the bigger issue was the IRA. Duffy was Catholic in a mainly Protestant area, he checked his car every morning for IRA bombs. He is a hard drinking, fighting man, got into trouble and was dismissed from the force and received a retirement pension. He was drinking the way through his day when he was approached by two reps of MI-5 who wanted his assistance in capturing Dermot McCann, a master IRA builder of bombs. Sean and Dermot went to school together. They knew each other, and Duffy knew the family. Duffy accepted the job with certain pre-requisites of which the MI-5 agreed. Thus began the search. Duffy is a smart guy, crafty, wily and thinks he can outsmart his enemy. He has empathy for their cause, but not for the manner in which they carry on. Along with this job, Duffy picks up a cold case murder of a young Irish lass. This will lead him along the path to hopefully find Dermot.

Duffy is a hard hitting character, fueled with anger, but has an innate intelligence that serves him well. When others would give up, he keeps grinding away. He is an independent force and works best alone. The writing is superb, the history of the troubles is interwoven with real and often sublime circumstances. These are believable, even though great literary license is taken. 'The Troubles', the name taken for the conflict in Northern Island between the Catholics and the Protestants, comes to life with this trilogy. A dark, dangerous time in Ireland that came to a compromise in 1998. But back in 1980, the conflict was in full throttle. Adrian Mckinty was there, he knows of what he speaks, and he has brought Sean Duffy to life. He is a character not soon forgotten, I hope to meet him again.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-02-14

Good but not great. An sometimes interesting slice of life and a side mystery that's somewhat more involving than what should be the main focus of both the detective and the plot. But there are tiresome cliches galore--especially the semi-substance abusing (he smokes! he drinks! takes some illegal drugs! YAWN.) "renegade" detective who implausibly escapes unscathed from things that more believably would've killed him. And there's almost no way to be involved in figuring out the mystery. That said, I'll likely try another story to see if the author, a good writer, can put together a stronger offering.

This ends The Troubles trilogy, but hopefully it's not the last we'll see of Sean Duffy. He should become the modern equivalent of Philip Marlowe and other noir heros. The violent IRA background carries the trilogy, but Duffy's investigative talent deserves continuation. Adrian Mckinty has created a real winner for himself. Classic noir isn't dead as long as writers like Mckinty are around.

A reader's personal expectations are a tough thing to overcome. Because of many of my family being from Ireland, and being raised Catholic, I learned from a young age the history of what happened over the centuries to the people of my faith at the hands of British tyranny. So when I heard about a series based on a Irish Catholic cop working for the RUC in Northern Ireland during the 1980's, I jumped on this book.

While it's clear that Adrian McKinty has an ear for dialogue, and skill at descriptive prose, he has no flair for how to START a book. All of the great authors of the detective genre knew inherently that in order to hook your reader, you had to have a killer first paragraph, if not a killer first chapter. And while it's amusing to think of Sean Duffy sitting in his living room smoking hash and playing Galaxian on his Atari while his emergency beeper is going off, it's not exactly a hook that sets a tone of "I absolutely NEED to find out what happens next".

And that's exactly how I felt about the first few chapters of this book. I don't have the patience for novels like I once did studying literature in college, and IN THE MORNING, I'LL BE GONE elicits boredom in its opening more than thrills or genuine forward momentum.