Bob tidey is a police officer. He is as honest they get. He wants to do the right thing but he’s pragmatic too. He knows when to back off.
Maura Cody is a retired nun. She’s is living a quiet life. She has done some bad things in her past that still make her feel bad and is full of regrets. She wishes she could turns the wrongs that she has done into right.
When Maura sees somebody park a car and leave it there for few days. She gets suspicious and does what a responsible citizen should have done. She calls police. But if she would have known what’s violence she has unleashed, she probably wouldn’t have been so responsible.
I haven’t read that many books set in Ireland, nothing that i can think of right now expect this one. I liked the blurb of this book and so i purchased it. I had thought it would be be containing some high octane action stuff but it’s far more realistic than that. It paints a very bleak picture of Ireland. All that economic difficulty, joblessness and budget cuts create a setting which is perfect for noir.
I liked the characters too. The main antagonist is a crazy bastard but then he has some humane side to it. The love he has for his brother,Noel Naylor, was something that makes this character more human. Noel in my opinion is a comparatively decent guy. He’s a criminal but somebody you can chill with and he’s the one that keeps Vincent in line. Vincent knows it too and that’s why loves him not only as a brother but also as a human being. He knows he cannot be what Noel is even if he wanted to be.
The other main character Bob Tidey is as interesting as the antagonist. He’s as honest as he can afford to be. When the novel starts he decides to just lie in court because he doesn’t feels involving himself would help the matters and could be detrimental for his careers. He know what’s the country is going through and knows what thing is worth risking his paycheck. I’m saying this because later on he does steps on some toes because his conscience couldn’t let him take a step backward. In the last there is a part where he’s contemplating on his actions which he think was necessary but not according to his morals. And that scene touched me.We also see that how we can’t expect to win every battles and there are times when we need to do the best we can. I would like to know how his life progresses and the other cases he tackles or tackled in his past.
The third main character is living under the shadow of her past crimes. She regrets them but knows can’t do anything about them. I felt sad for her.
The rest of the book gives you a picture of the country and i hope Ireland is not as bleak as it’s shown here. We are shown they are fighting the economic crisis and rising crime rates and i hope they got over it. The book was first published in 2011 and so it’s pretty recent. The initial part of the book seemed to me a little slow but then i had different expectations when i entered into it. When i read violence i just imagined guys spraying bullets everywhere, police shooting guys and what not. Ha ha . The book is divided into four parts: The smoking Garden, The Job, The Calm and The Storm. The titles of the chapters are more than enough to tell you what happens.
If you have read this book then do tell me what did you felt about it and if you haven’t then , you can get it from the following link:
