Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Cold Cold Ground-Adrian McKinty

The Cold Cold Ground


Adrian McKinty

Prometheus/Seventh Street, Oct 22 2012, $15.95

ISBN: 9781616147167



In 1981 in Belfast, a mutilated corpse is found in a busted up heap. The police assume he is another victim of the Troubles. However, some evidence surfaces that have the cops reconsidering their initial conclusion. They fear a serial killer using the Troubles as a disguise is torturing and murdering gays. Police detective Sean Duffy, a pariah as a Catholic, leads the investigation.



Duffy soon believes a woman who allegedly committed suicide by hanging may have been murdered. He also believes the IRA is involved with the killings as one of their top officers is a victim. However, his superior ridicules him while refusing to hear what Duffy believes because his boss is Protestant and he is Catholic. At the same time, the tension mounts stratospherically when IRA hunger strike prisoners begin dying in Maze Prison



Ostensibly a Northern Ireland police procedural, The Cold Cold Ground is much more as the audience obtains a close look at life in Ulster during the Troubles. Sean is terrific as a man with deep convictions residing in two worlds yet disdained by both. Fans will relish touring Belfast in 1981 with Sean as our guide.



Harriet Klausner

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