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inveraritySean Duffy returns with Irish 90s noir.
Blackstone Publishing, Inc., 2025, 306 pages
It's 1992 but Sean Duffy regularly reminds us that car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and random roadblocks by militias who could be on either side remain a part of life in Northern Ireland.
Adrian McKinty hooked me on the Sean Duffy series and he's now one of my "read anything he publishes" authors. His books are all drenched in Irish noir, usually set in the 80s and 90s, and McKinty clearly projects his musical tastes onto his characters, who will take time in the middle of a case to wax on about the Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, or Tom Waits. McKinty also seems to be a gearhead, as the attributes of various 80s and 90s cars and bikes also figure into the dialog regularly.
Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, has had a successful career stirring shit and almost being killed several times each book. Now "semi-retired," he has moved his baby momma and daughter to Scotland, while he does an obligatory six days a month deskwork in Belfast to earn out his pension. In the last book, The Detective Up Late, we were in the 90s and Duffy was already supposedly on his "last case." Well, Hang On St. Christopher is yet another "last case." He'll probably keep having "one more case" until he retires, and then undoubtedly find more trouble in retirement if McKinty keeps writing books.
Hang On St. Christopher starts with what appears to be a simple burglary-homicide; an unfortunate painter surprises some punks trying to steal his car, and gets a shotgun blast to the head. Of course it turns out to be far more complicated, and this case will involve the Northern Ireland peace process, IRA assassins, someone who's assassinating IRA assassins, and shadowy agencies. Duffy travels around the UK, then to Europe, and then to the US doggedly chasing a hitman even when it isn't supposed to be his case anymore.
Duffy has a knack for getting on the wrong side of intelligence agencies and somehow avoiding getting kacked. Is he a little luckier than he deserves? Well, he is Irish. We also see that he remains a flawed man with dubious ethics but noble impulses who's getting crotchety and moody in his old age.
For the eighth book in a series, this was quite good, enough to keep me wanting more, whereas usually I'm pretty tired of a series by now.
Also by Adrian McKinty: My reviews of The Cold Cold Ground, I Hear the Sirens in the Street, In the Morning I'll Be Gone, Gun Street Girl, Rain Dogs, Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly, The Detective Up Late, Hidden River, and The Island.
My complete list of book reviews.
Blackstone Publishing, Inc., 2025, 306 pages
New York Times bestselling author Adrian McKinty continues the Edgar Award–winning Sean Duffy series with Hang On St. Christopher.
Rain slicked streets, riots, murder, chaos. It’s July 1992 and the Troubles in Northern Ireland are still grinding on after twenty-five apocalyptic years. Detective Inspector Sean Duffy got his family safely over the water to Scotland, to “Shortbread Land.” Duffy’s a part-timer now, only returning to Belfast six days a month to get his pension. It’s an easy gig, if he can keep his head down.
But then a murder case falls into his lap while his protégé is on holiday in Spain. A carjacking gone wrong and the death of a solitary, middle-aged painter. But something’s not right, and as Duffy probes he discovers the painter was an IRA assassin. So, the question becomes: Who hit the hit man and why?
This is Duffy’s most violent and dangerous case yet and the whole future of the burgeoning “peace process” may depend upon it. Based on true events, Duffy must unentangle parallel operations by the CIA, MI5, and Special Branch. Duffy attempts to bring a killer to justice while trying to keep himself and his team alive as everything unravels around them. They might not all make it out of this one.
"Precautions to get you through life in Ulster: lock pick and razor blade embedded in jacket sleeve, always look under car for mercury tilt switch bombs, never sit with your back to a window or a door, always check the front and back door for break-in."
It's 1992 but Sean Duffy regularly reminds us that car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and random roadblocks by militias who could be on either side remain a part of life in Northern Ireland.
Adrian McKinty hooked me on the Sean Duffy series and he's now one of my "read anything he publishes" authors. His books are all drenched in Irish noir, usually set in the 80s and 90s, and McKinty clearly projects his musical tastes onto his characters, who will take time in the middle of a case to wax on about the Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan, or Tom Waits. McKinty also seems to be a gearhead, as the attributes of various 80s and 90s cars and bikes also figure into the dialog regularly.
Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, has had a successful career stirring shit and almost being killed several times each book. Now "semi-retired," he has moved his baby momma and daughter to Scotland, while he does an obligatory six days a month deskwork in Belfast to earn out his pension. In the last book, The Detective Up Late, we were in the 90s and Duffy was already supposedly on his "last case." Well, Hang On St. Christopher is yet another "last case." He'll probably keep having "one more case" until he retires, and then undoubtedly find more trouble in retirement if McKinty keeps writing books.
Hang On St. Christopher starts with what appears to be a simple burglary-homicide; an unfortunate painter surprises some punks trying to steal his car, and gets a shotgun blast to the head. Of course it turns out to be far more complicated, and this case will involve the Northern Ireland peace process, IRA assassins, someone who's assassinating IRA assassins, and shadowy agencies. Duffy travels around the UK, then to Europe, and then to the US doggedly chasing a hitman even when it isn't supposed to be his case anymore.
Duffy has a knack for getting on the wrong side of intelligence agencies and somehow avoiding getting kacked. Is he a little luckier than he deserves? Well, he is Irish. We also see that he remains a flawed man with dubious ethics but noble impulses who's getting crotchety and moody in his old age.
For the eighth book in a series, this was quite good, enough to keep me wanting more, whereas usually I'm pretty tired of a series by now.
Also by Adrian McKinty: My reviews of The Cold Cold Ground, I Hear the Sirens in the Street, In the Morning I'll Be Gone, Gun Street Girl, Rain Dogs, Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly, The Detective Up Late, Hidden River, and The Island.
My complete list of book reviews.
