Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty

The fourth book in the ongoing Sean Duffy series was released this month. Gun Street Girl is set in 1985, and again, Adrian McKinty uses actual events from Northern Irish history as a backdrop for the tale. While the story starts out as a murder investigation -- and one that could have been tidied away quite quickly if a team of shittier cops were handed the case -- it isn't long until DI Duffy and DS McCrabban find themselves embroiled in something much bigger.

As you would expect from McKinty at this stage, Gun Street Girl is a wonderful read. The books seem to get funnier as the series progresses, but they're balanced out with plenty of gut-punching moments of darkness. McKinty is a master of emotional manipulation. If you don't feel something when you read this one, you might be dead inside. Book an appointment with you GP tout feckin' suite.

I wish I could pinpoint exactly why I find McKinty's books so readable, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. What I do know is that in the few days that I gorged on this one, my copy was never more than a few metres away from me. Sean Duffy is my favourite series character right now, and it'd take a hell of a lot to knock him off the top spot. Gun Street Girl is a stunner, plain and simple.

As a side note, it's interesting that McKinty has gone beyond a third part for this series. He called time on the Michael Forsythe or "Dead" series of books because he felt that the character had had his fair share of adventures and a further foray would stretch his readers' suspension of disbelief a little too far. I presume that the fact that Duffy is a cop makes it more believable that he'd get into more scrapes, especially a cop employed at the height of the troubles. Whatever the reason, I'm delighted to have read another Duffy book and hope to read more of them in the future.

Also, I love the fact that Duffy is ageing at the same rate as me. We're both 35 this time around! That's really cool.

Talkin' to Sam Hawken

What attracted you to Fight Card MMA?

I like boxing and have watched it for decades, but my interest in it had cooled over the last ten years in favor of MMA, which I find to be a deeper and more technical combat sport. MMA also continues to evolve and improve as the years pass, which makes watching it an exciting prospect because you never know exactly what you’re going to get and at what level.

Whatever the case, I had already read several Fight Card releases in their main line (the one set in the ‘50s), because in addition to being a fight fan I’m also a student of pulp fiction, especially Robert E. Howard. For those who don’t know, Howard was a prolific sports-pulp writer and was well known for his boxing stories. Fight Card’s traditional boxing tales hew very closely to the Howard model, though I notice less humor in them. They make for entertaining reads, but I didn’t feel as though the period setting was right for me.

In December of 2012, Paul Bishop — one of two men, including Mel Odom, who started the Fight Card line — posted a mockup cover of an MMA release that showed a woman in mid-punch, along with the title Rosie the Ripper. MMA, as I mentioned, was a growing interest of mine and I found myself particularly intrigued by women’s MMA, where some intense and creative fighting was going on. Immediately I thought this could be something I could do, but I had no instantaneous ideas and it was almost a year later when I came up with something and shared it with Paul, who went for it. I have a long (possibly boring) version of this story on my blog. 

Have you got any fight experience?

The short answer is no. I trained in boxing when I was in my mid-20s, but never even progressed to the point where I was safe to spar with other students. I found it a gratifying experience, but it costs money to train and I’ve never been exactly flush with cash. Consequently I have never gone back, even though there are a couple of excellent boxing and MMA gyms near my home.

Other than watching MMA, did you need to do any more research for the fight scenes?

Watching and reading are the biggies. Not just televised fights, but training videos on YouTube and all the other wealth of things available to those interested in the sport. A particularly helpful book is Mixed Martial Arts for Dummies, by Frank Shamrock. It may seem like it’s too basic for those who know MMA, but the step-by-step instruction and explication of the thought behind the techniques provides great value for a writer seeking authenticity. Which is to be expected, seeing as how it comes from Shamrock, one of the greats.

Who is your favourite MMA fighter (you can have more than one)?

As I say, WMMA is my thing, but I am going to shock a lot of people when I tell them Ronda Rousey is not my favorite fighter. Sure, she has great mat skills, but she seems like an awful human being and I like the fighters I follow to be decent people as well as athletes. Miesha Tate, who is one of my favorites, may not have the skill-set to be a champion anymore, but she’s generous to her fans, supportive of other athletes and generally a nice person.

I follow a few WMMA fighters online and have interacted with some of them. Fighters like Bec Hyatt, Cassie Robb, Michelle Waterson, Raquel Pennington and Roxanne Modaferri. Most of them aren’t stars, but they come to the sport the way I prefer fighters to come to the sport, and so they get my support.

On the male side of the equation, I have great respect for Johny Hendricks, who I think really ought to be the UFC Welterweight Champion right now. I’m also impressed with Travis Browne, who’s a real monster in the cage.

During a recent visit to No Alibis, David Torrans told me he'd love to have you over for an event. You tempted? Maybe for your next Serpent's Tail release?

Given that the majority of my fanbase, if such a modest audience can be called a fanbase, is in the UK and Ireland, I would absolutely love to cross the pond and meet everyone. When The Dead Women of Juárez was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association John Creasy New Blood Dagger, and it looked as though I might win, Serpent’s Tail intimated that they’d fly me over, but obviously I didn’t win and that never materialized. I do have a passport, though, and I’m prepared to use it at a moment’s notice.

Thank you, Sam Hawken!

To The Customer, The Spoils

Fecking great day of shopping at No Alibis. I got:

Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan
Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas
361 by Donald E Westlake
The Crossmaglen Dispatch by Paddy O'Hanlon
All The dead Voices by Declan Hughes

David also had the Serpent's Tail release of Fifty Grand in his shop. The blurb names Mercado as Hernandez, but I'm sure that'll be corrected in the final version. The publicity sheet thingy uses the right name. It also brings word that the repackaged Dead/Michael Forsythe Trilogy will be available on 16th July 2009 along with Fifty Grand. If you haven't got these books, buy 'em all.

A Wee Review - Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty

(Originally posted in January 2009)

This is it, guys. A book that’s getting the type of hype I’m willing to swallow. Declan Burke at Crime Always Pays and Peter Rozovsky at Detectives Beyond Borders have each thrown in their two cents, and they’re united in their approval. Fifty Grand is due to be released by Henry Holt in May 2009, but I’m one of a handful of oh-so-lucky bedraggled blog-reviewers to have gotten my threadbare mittens on an advanced copy of this anticipated tome from Adrian McKinty. It’s no secret that I’ve been left breathless by the Michael Forsythe trilogy, and Hidden River is one of the best mysteries I’ve read this year. Is it fair that he can blow me away again? No, it’s not. His writing ability makes me want to cry my self-pitying soul to sleep. And I’ve lost more than a few hours reading, “Just one more chapter,” of his work. But unfair as it is that the fecker did it four times in a row, it’s happened again in this, his fifth crime fiction novel. We’ll get it out of the way right now. FIFTY GRAND IS THE BEST THING MCKINTY HAS WRITTEN TO DATE!*

Set in Cuba, Mexico and Colorado, Fifty Grand introduces us to Detective Mercado of the Cuban police force, the PNR. McKinty has once again dipped into his well-travelled past to bring the backdrops to life. And his time as an illegal immigrant in America has given some extra depth to Mercado’s experiences in this fish-out-of-water mystery. The plot is steeped in paranoia, intrigue and cloak-and-dagger tension as Mercado stumbles (with purpose) about Denver Colorado to solve a deeply personal case. Nobody escapes the understated, wry humour. Mother Cuba, American lifestyles, Scientology. I’ll not say McKinty has a pop at them all, because at the end of the day, Mercado is a fictional character, but some of the observations are pretty darn scathing.

With the release of the film Che, a book about modern Cuba is likely to garner quite a bit of interest. And that’s what this is. Even when posing (living and working) as an illegal Mexican immigrant in America, Mercado’s thoughts are never far from Havana. Time and again, America (as a country and concept) is compared to the Republic of Cuba, and in Mercado we find a reasonable judge. The reader might not agree with every conclusion presented, but each observation will leave you thinking. And that’s before you even consider the gripping mystery storyline (which I’m taking great pains not to spoil).

Spoilers or not, though, a mystery is not all you can expect from a McKinty book. Tight plot, exotic settings, taking the piss out of America. Any writer worth their salt can do this in their sleep. What most of them can’t do is write like McKinty. I’ll reread Fifty Grand, probably after I watch Che, and even though I know how it all pans out, I suspect the writing will hold my attention all over again.

Fifty Grand will suck you in with its Latin rhythm and leave you hankering for one more belt of rum. If I was a betting man and the credit crunch/recession would ever quit messing with my financial situation, I’d put a heap of money on Fifty Grand being the book that brings the type of attention to McKinty’s work that’s deserved. And giving his track record, when Serpent’s Tail re-re-release the Forsythe Trilogy, they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. And fair play to them, says I. Fair play to them.

*A minor disclaimer – I haven’t read his YA books nor Orange Rhymes With Everything, and thank God for that. It’s bound to be at least a year before he releases another novel.

The Semantics of Murder

Serpent's Tail have done you all a favour and released the paperback version of The Semantics of Murder by Aifric Campbell. And the snazzy new cover is quite lovely. Especially as it includes the following quote from her fellow Dub, Joseph O'Connor:

"An enthralling and intelligent thriller swirling with dark, beguiling shadows"

High praise indeed!

Meanwhile, some wee fecker from the North spouted this opinion:

"I expected a highbrow literary affair with lots of subtle nuances, subtext, dense prose, long-long paragraphs and a distinct lack of dialogue and action. And that’s what I got. But here’s the thing... I truly enjoyed it."

And he has the audacity to continue to go on about it here.

A Wee Review - Pariah by Dave Zeltserman

Dave Zeltserman has a lot going on in Pariah. This novel is a noir crime fiction with social commentary, satire and Boston Irish gangsters. It’s a fictional novel about a crime boss writing about writing his real life story as a work of fiction. Kind of a pseudo-meta-fiction, if you catch my drift.

Kyle Nevin’s just finished an eight year stretch. He could have gotten out early by ratting on Red Mahoney, his old boss, a father figure, and the man who set him up. Instead, he served every single day so that the parole board would have nothing to hold over his head. Besides, according to the Southie code, nothing’s lower than a rat. And so, at the age of forty-two, he needs to reclaim his place in the Boston criminal underworld. To achieve this, all he’s got is his kid brother Danny, a few secret stashes of cash dotted about his beloved city and a kidnapping plan. And then there’s the thing that’s keeping him awake every night. The burning fury that’ll only ease when he tortures Red Mahoney to death.

This about covers the first third of the book, but it’s what comes after the attempted kidnapping that really stands out. FBI investigations. Falsified evidence. Disappearing witnesses. Dodgy dealing in the publishing world. Plagiarism! It’s all in there and more besides.

The novel’s written in a very straightforward and non-flashy manner. Zeltserman spends precious little time on external, descriptive prose. Instead, we’re taken on a tour of Kyle Nevin’s mind. Trust me, it’s not a nice place to visit, never mind live.

I don’t know if I’d describe it as a failing in the book, but I had a lot of trouble feeling any sympathy for the narrator, Nevin. He’s a psycho, and not a particularly charismatic one. There’s a distinct lack of remorse and absolutely no redemption in this character’s journey. In fact, as a reader, I found myself rooting for him to take a tremendous fall. Personally, I like reading about bad people (it makes me feel better about myself, I guess), but I know there are many who would rather read about somebody they could sympathise or identify with on some level. Kyle Nevin is not the man for this. I’d still recommend it, though. There’s a lot more to take from this tale than the mildly bad taste the protagonist’s actions leave in your mouth.

Pariah is a tense, violent and sometimes absurd study of criminality and the world’s obsession with it. Each layer has something to say that’ll leave you thinking, cringing or praying. But I mean that in the best possible way. Another great addition to the Serpent’s Tail stable.

Peace is Upon Us

It's Adrian McKinty's fault that I even entertained the notion of reading David Peace's Red Riding quartet. I got the whole set from Serpent's Tail a while back but so far I've only made it through 1974. As I said in my review, 1974 is a brilliantly written novel, it's dark, violent and fascinating. It's also quite an emotional investment. I've been a little afraid of moving on to 1977, and so have avoided it until now.

Here's the thing, though. The film adaptation (the quartet as a trilogy) is upon us. Part one will play on Channel 4 on Thursday at 9PM. I'll probably try to catch it on 4 on Demand, as I'd like the opportunity to pause and take the odd time out. What a month to go off the booze! I don't want to let the movie do all the thinking for me, so I've begun reading 1977 in the hopes that I can get most of it read before Thursday. I'm a good way through the second chapter, and I think this'll be a quick read.

But I imagine that even if you watch the films first, there'll still be quite some merit in reading the novels as well. A quick refresh in Peace's writing style for this series has me kicking myself that I didn't get around to it before now.

Window Shopping

I took a dander out to Waterstones and Eason during lunch today. At Waterstones I was delighted to see Adrian McKinty’s Bloomsday Dead, Aifric Campbell’s The Semantics of Murder, Declan Hughes’s The Dying Breed and John Connolly’s Reapers all on the 3 for 2 table. Not that long ago I was complaining that McKinty’s work wasn’t getting enough high street exposure. I even emailed his Publicity Manager at Serpent’s Tail to ask why it was so hard to get his books in Belfast. Of course, I doubt it made any difference, but god damn it, at least I tried! And I’m sure Hughes and Connolly are no strangers to the 3 for 2 table, but to see Campbell’s debut on the table was very cool.

Eason, on the other hand, was showing much love to the NI writers, Bateman and Brian McGilloway. Their most recent offerings were on their 3 for 2 offer. And all of Sam Millar’s fiction could be found in the crime section. They only had Bloodstorm at Waterstones.

Now, all this being said, I still prefer to buy my books at independent bookshops, such as No Alibis. The guys that work for the bigger chains just don’t have the knowledge or passion of a true-blue book-geek. No offence intended, some of the sales assistants are nice people, and good at their jobs, but they’re trained SALES assistants, which doesn’t mean they’re book lovers. Their skills could, in many cases, transfer to record shops, makeup counters or even used car forecourts. But you can’t ignore the power the high street shops have to make or break a writer’s career, so I was happy to see all these quality Irish writers holding their own amongst the Cobens, Connellys and Hayders.

And so, I headed back to work with a spring in my step.

Well... not quite. One small detail did depress me a little. Outside Eason, a queue of women, girls and a smattering of bored boyfriends were queued from the bookshop’s entrance right around the pretty distant corner. What were they there for? Westlife were coming to sign their new book at 5.30pm. Now, I was out and about at 12.30. For those of you reaching for your calculators, that’s a whole five hours before the collection of crooners were set to make their appearance. A bloody crime against fiction, if you ask me. Nobody ever does, though.

Next on The Crit List

Got a nice surprise through the letterbox today. The most excellent Rebecca Gray from Serpent's Tail sent me a copy of The Semantics of Murder by Aifric Campbell, a Dublin born scholar of the highest degree.

Here are some press release snippets.

"A profoundly original new writer. The Semantics of Murder leads us on a dark and thrilling quest through murderous spaces of the mind, in prose of startling and inventive beauty." Stevie Davies.

"This gripping psychological drama hooks the reader into a compelling labyrinth of sibling rivalry and stealthy passion. It is an intellectual novel of ideas written with real verve and style." Patricia Duncker.

I'm quite intrigued by this one. It's been bumped to the top of the reading pile.