Gun Street Girl: Detective Sean Duffy, Book 4

GUN STREET GIRL is the fourth book to feature Irish cop Sean Duffy. The Duffy series, has been winning plaudits, praise and awards in all corners of the world and hugely deserved they have all been, which meant fans of both the writer and the earlier three books (THE COLD, COLD GROUND, I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET and IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE) were well pleased when the fourth book was announced. Now all we need is more of these and we'll stay happy. (No pressure or anything of course). Of most interest to this reader was how a fourth book would slot into what had originally been planned, and seemingly executed as a trilogy. Whilst there were storylines that could be extended at the end of IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE, there was much that had been explored, prodded, drawn out, and tied off. It was more than gratifying to find much in GUN STREET GIRL that raises the standards of the 3 earlier books even more. A lot of that is helped by the glorious, understated dry dialogue, observation and writing of this author. There's no padding, no overstatement and none of your shilly shallying about in here. At the same time it's wonderfully descriptive, frequently hilarious, and absolutely skewering. "But I'm not in charge and that is not what happens. This being an RUC-Gardai-FBI-MI5-Interpol operation we are headed for debacle ... " "'Farce isn't my cup of tea,' I tell him, wind the window up and pull out of the car park. The me in the rear-view mirror shakes his head. That was a silly remark. Far out here, on the edge of the dying British Empire, farce is the only mode of narrative discourse that makes any sense at all." Given that the action centres around Belfast in the mid 1980's, during the Troubles and the time of Thatcher's British Government, the social observations and the insider view of policy decisions like the Anglo-Irish Agreement (of 1985 - not to be confused with the Treaty of 1921 or the Trade Agreement in the 1960's...) are as much a factor in what makes these books work as are the strong characters, and the even stronger sense of place. "'Here the politics are centrifugal, not centrist. Extreme Nationalists and extreme Unionists will condemn the Agreement as a sell-out of their principles and the moderates in the middle who support it will look like fools.'" Balanced elegantly against that backdrop is a real, and intriguing plot. The murder of a very wealthy couple and the suicide of their son is soon revealed to be something much bigger than the easy solution of murder-suicide. And it is Duffy's copper instincts that tell him something's not right. And it is his copper instincts that keep them digging even when things start to get very grown up and very weird. The lurking presence of the intelligence bods - US and UK, and the possibility of career moves for Duffy all contribute to a bigger picture which gets more and more complicated the deeper Duffy and his colleagues dig. At the heart of these books, however, is Sean Duffy. He's not perfect, he's not above a bit of pilfering of drug seizures, he's not above the occasional joint or line, and he's certainly not lucky at love. He's determined to stay a Catholic man in the centre of a Protestant area, even when that sometimes means he's got to have a deep and meaningful with the neighbours who keep the tensions at bay. He tries to play fair with everyone he deals with, and he's a very very good cop. He's also in a no-win position in his job. Trapped at his current level, constantly viewed with suspicion by the higher-ups he is absolutely loyal to his team and very supportive, albeit in a slightly haphazard manner at times. It's impossible not to read his stories and not think he deserves more. A happy home life, a job where he's appreciated, people around him who aren't constantly trying to get at him. At the same time you kind of hope that some of that doesn't happen. A happy, contented, comfortable Sean Duffy may not be quite the edgy copper he is right now. Either way, let's hope that GUN STREET GIRL has broken the back of McKinty's trilogy habit and there's a lot more in this series to come. [...]

Very enjoyable thriller with a great plot twist. McKinty is the king of 80’s noir. Well written, interesting characters, strong essence of place.

Another great entry in the Sean Duffy series. McKinty's usual mix of cop-shop murder mystery with a dash of international intrigue. These books started out (to me) to be really character driven, but as they have progressed the mystery element has been heightened to great effect. In this novel McKinty creates a classic locked-room mystery that had me guessing right until the end. I would read these just for the characters, as I do many series, but McKinty turns in a well done mystery as well as a page turner. Duffy is a deeply flawed but talented detective who is relentless in his pursuit of justice. Through the novels you see him slowly unraveling sinking deeper into depression, drug and alcohol abuse, but his dedication to his job never wavers. The background of the Troubles in Ireland is, as usual, very well done, and the backing band of characters are full-blown and well drawn. No cardboard cutouts or cliches in this series. One of the great recent creations in mystery/crime series and well worth the read.

It’s a paradox of the author-reader relationship that some writers can so often—and so well—please a reader as to create a higher bar for themselves. The reader will still buy everything the author produces, but his standards for enjoyment may be higher than for a less-appreciated writer. I confess to being like that with Dennis Lehane. Live By Night got reviews about as good as The Given Day, but, to me, the fact it was even a notch below was a disappointment. Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series has entered that same rarified air. My expectations for Gun Street Girl, based on the previous Duffy books, were as high as for any book I’ve read in the past year. The difference is, there was not a jot of disappointment in Gun Street Girl; McKinty met even my inflated expectations. The Duffy series has entered a realm where it is difficult to know which events are integrated historical facts, and which are purely fictional; he’s the Irish James Ellroy, with a less brutal style. Duffy isn’t a traditional here, nor is he bent the way so many of Ellroy’s characters are. He’s also not an anti-hero. He’s a man in a difficult, possibly untenable position: a Catholic cop in Protestant Northern Ireland during the peak of the Troubles. Scorned by many for being Catholic, he’s a member of what may be the most universally reviled organization in Northern Ireland: the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His fellow Catholics consider him a traitor because he’s a cop, and many of his peers on the police force—on whom he depends to have his back—distrust him because he’s Catholic. Now MI5 is recruiting him to work with informants, a prospect against even Sean recoils. He’s a cop, and cops depend on informants, but he’s also Irish, with a distaste for those who would inform on their peers as a violation of the Irish First Commandment: Whatever you say, say nothing. As before, the case Duffy must solve is formidable enough, but it serves mostly as a frame on which to hang a description of everyday existence during the Troubles, as Duffy must navigate a barren personal life along with the workaday accommodations required of a member of the RUC, such as never starting the car without checking for bombs. His work is unfulfilling on many levels, but it’s all he has. Duffy is not defeated—he still hopes for more—never really expects it. He has his own code, his own compromises and sacrifices he’s willing to make, understanding more as time goes on his true loyalty must be to those who have come to accept him and will protect him with the same vigor he extends for them. I’ve read all four of the Duffy novels, in sequence. It’s hard to say which is my favorite. The Cold, Cold Ground had the greatest impact on me, through its introduction to such a foreign world, but that could well have been the case no matter where I began; they’re all that good. Starting from the beginning does allow one to see Duffy’s life and attitude evolve as events take their toll, but he’s a fascinating character no matter where you pick him up. So pick him up. You’ll be fascinated and educated all at once. I have heard it said those who read fiction have a more highly developed sense of empathy for having viewed so many of life’s trials through the eyes of others. Never has this been truer than when viewing life as Sean Duffy sees it.

Inspector Sean Duffy of the RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary] is riding high these days, having basically saved the British Prime Minister’s life while working with British intelligence service. To say that he gets a lot of respect is understatement, yet his work goes on. Now, it turns out that an owner of a large bookie operation has been assassinated in his own home along with his wife, and his twenty something son Michael has disappeared. The case seems open-and-shut when the son is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, having left a suicide note. However, as usual, Duffy is skeptical of the obvious. Duffy finds it to be more than a little curious that Michael while at Oxford was quite adept at the buying and selling of small arms. In the militarized atmosphere that permeates N. Ireland in the 80s, it is not too farfetched to believe that such talent will not go unnoticed with attendant peril. It hardly gets more dangerous than to be a “peeler” [cop] in N. Ireland in the 80s. It only starts with Duffy checking for IEDs under his car without fail. Every excursion outside the station is fraught with danger. Maybe that is why he frequently wakes up with a huge hangover – a sober man could not do this job. He is not without charm. He seduces a journalist with the local paper, and the women in his Protestant neighborhood seem to create excuses to engage him. But Duffy is simply the best at what he does; he overlooks nothing. In fact, the British intelligence service is attempting to lure him away from the RUC. This entire series based on the captivating Duffy is interesting. The author captures just how precarious life was in those times.

Adrian McKinty's has written another in his splendid fictional representations of "The Troubles" in Northern Island in the 1980's through the eyes of Detective Inspector Sean Duffy, a Catholic policeman in the predominantly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary. While Duffy is a first class detective his character is flawed by what is happening around him. He checks every morning to make sure that there is no bomb underneath his car. When, all too frequently, riots break out he quits his detective work, dons a bullet-proof jacket, helmet and face-shield and goes out in an armoured Land Rover to face the riot, dodging bricks and petrol bombs thrown by both sides in the conflict. All of this takes a toll and Duffy is so stressed out at the end of the day that he needs a pint or two of vodka gimlet to make him relaxed enough to get a good night's sleep. Duffy takes on a case where a wealthy couple are shot dead and then their son, who may have killed them, apparently commits suicide by jumping off a cliff. Duffy is not convinced by that scenario and takes a close look the son's life and relations with his parents and people associated with the son. He finds that the son had a keen interest in guns in College and had made many contacts in the gun industry. Slowly, through diligent police work, Duffy finds himself embroiled in a case of lost missiles systems, a shady American with powerful connections and a dangerous member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters. There is a brief episode when Sean meets up again with enigmatic, beautiful, powerful and super-intelligent Kate Albright, the MI5 head of station in Belfast who he had helped to track down IRA bombers during IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE. Kate still wants to recruit Duffy but puts this on hold until he closes his current case. The book title relates to Kate's home in Gun Street on the mainland, where Kate and Sean have their closest personal encounter. On its own this is a great police procedural, but combined with the background of "The Troubles" and actual events the book is a masterly historical action fiction thriller. Knowing that McKinty bases his plots around actual events I was looking for a connection to major historical events at that time. I couldn't work out what they were going to be and they really surprised me when they became evident. The final event was traumatic and will have a big impact on any further books that Mckinty may write in this series. When McKinty started this series it was billed as a trilogy but I understand that his fans persuaded him to write another one. I am so pleased that he did as it adds some more perspective to "The Troubles" and showcases an author at the top of his form. This book is already in my list of top reads for 2015.

A very good continuation of the Sean Duffy series. Good characters, good plot, great reading. Definitely recommend for those that like detective noir.

I'm a big AMcKinty fan and I have been since I first picked up DEAD I WELL MAY BE. The Sean Duffy series is obviously a work that comes from not only his own life in Belfast, but from his heart. I've enjoyed them all and I enjoyed GUN STREET GIRL, but this latest one felt too rushed. The template for this series is starting to feel a bit stale, frankly and without spoiling the ending, I was disappointed. Okay minor spoiler alert: There was an opportunity to take the series in an exciting, fresh direction and he chose not to go there. I'm still with you, Mr McKinty, but maybe we can lose the map and explore a new road?

日本語訳を読んで面白かったのですが、「これは原語で何と言ってるのだろ」と興味が湧き購入。知らない表現の連発の中に知っている言い回しが出てくるとナントも言えず嬉しい。4-50代であれば、音楽のウンチクにもニヤリとするでしょう。英語に興味がある人はぜひ原語でも読んでもらいたい。久しぶりに楽しめるハードボイルドです。なお、到着まではMAXの期間がかかりました。

The worst thing about Gun Street Girl was knowing that I'd dug out the last of the current Sean Duffy seam and will have to wait for Mr McKinty to tunnel though the cold, cold ground and come up with the next deposit of Carrickfergus gold. Really enjoyed the adventures and misadventures of Sean through the series - the characters above all, set against the Troubles, the plots and subplots, the gun battles, the drink, drugs, music and the girls - from Doctors, MI5 secret agents, newspaper reporters, lonely widows and the rest - all fall for the dark charms of the Carrickfergus Casanova. Writing is crisp and pacey, and sometimes goes off on a Jimi Hendrix guitar riff of pure poetry. Was wondering how Sean would go with the MI5 gig but suspected that, like Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor in Galway, Sean ain't going anywhere but is going to rest awhile in Carrick and continue to drive the RUC top brass mad. Read Fifty Grand before Gun Street Girl and enjoyed just as much inhabiting a week in the life of Cuban female detective Mercado as I have the four years in Sean's skin across the four books. Methinks I hear the call of the Dead Trilogy beckoning - this will do until the next installation in the life of Det Insp Duffy of the RUC.

There is never a dull moment in a Sean Duffy story. This 4th installment in the series is a non-stop thriller, full of the ingredients that make this a great series : action, humour, humanity and Duffy himself.

This is the fourth in the Sean Duffy trilogy set in and around Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Adrian McKinty says that he had finished with what he planned to do with Sean Duffy after three books but the idea for this fourth book came to him in a dream. Well it was obviously a good dream for him and a great dream for us as this is the best of the series. Sean Duffy is struggling with burn-out and he leaves the investigation of a brutal double murder in Whitehead to DS McCrabban and the two new DCs as it seems all tied up when the prime suspect, the son of the deceased couple, commits suicide. But the question niggles at Duffy as to whether Michael Kelly really did shoot his parents at point blank range and then jump off a nearby cliff? My major issue with the first book (THE COLD COLD GROUND) of Duffy not being penalised for his hot-headedness has completely gone now and you are left with a very assured police procedural with a serious theme at its heart (the peace process) and great writing which is strongly literate but still keeps you engaged & turning the page. I really hope that there are more books down the line as I would love to see how Duffy handles the Patten Commission reforms and the shift to the PSNI as it looks like he is stuck in the RUC after this book.

EN la línea excelente de toda la serie, Sean Duffy sigue pareciendo auténtico, la historia se entrevera con acontecimientos históricos reconocibles y no ha perdido la frescura de la primera. Excelente.