05-18-2012, 10:14 AM
Gerry Fegan was a hitman for the IRA. But remorse has set in about all the people he has killed. Most specifically the ghosts of his victims have come back to haunt him. The only way he can escape them is to kill the people who hired him to kill them. This sounds like a really crappy premise for a book, but Neville makes it work. Neville gives a lot of detail about the history of Belfast's Troubles (When you talk about The Troubles in Northern Ireland it's always capitalized) It helped me straighten out all the various factions fighting up there. But Neville's main point was that at some point, the only side you are on is your own side. So, Loyalist will kill other Loyalists if it's convenient. The same goes for the Republicans. It also means the idea of noble idealist fighting for a cause is just a sham. What it really is different gangs fight for control of the criminal markets no different than the Crips and the Bloods
It seems all Irish crime fiction is very bleak. I blame Ken Bruen for setting the standard. Although it's very good, there is hardly and light or hope left by the end of the stories.
Collusion seems a bit more forced. Fegan is back and he is down to one dimension. His only goal in life is to protect the girl and her mother he protected in the first book. He still has some great scenes, but he does a lot of dialoguing about waiting for the phone call to go and protects his wards. The story centers around Jack Lennon. He's investigating what really happened in the wake of Fegan's killing spree from the first book, especially now that some one else is coming back to kill the remaining participants. Lennon is on the outs, has been since he joined, of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. It's hard being a catholic in a largely protestant force. Plus, he's a dirty cop as well. But this is the case that he hopes will get him back into the center of the action.
Again, it's bleak. There are good action sequence. A lot of it is a rehash of the first story, without all the ghosts just told from a different perspective. But I liked it. I have a weakness for stories set in Ireland. I'm waiting for the third book in the series from the library. But since most of the protagonists and antagonists from the first two books are dead I don't know where we are going next.
It seems all Irish crime fiction is very bleak. I blame Ken Bruen for setting the standard. Although it's very good, there is hardly and light or hope left by the end of the stories.
Collusion seems a bit more forced. Fegan is back and he is down to one dimension. His only goal in life is to protect the girl and her mother he protected in the first book. He still has some great scenes, but he does a lot of dialoguing about waiting for the phone call to go and protects his wards. The story centers around Jack Lennon. He's investigating what really happened in the wake of Fegan's killing spree from the first book, especially now that some one else is coming back to kill the remaining participants. Lennon is on the outs, has been since he joined, of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. It's hard being a catholic in a largely protestant force. Plus, he's a dirty cop as well. But this is the case that he hopes will get him back into the center of the action.
Again, it's bleak. There are good action sequence. A lot of it is a rehash of the first story, without all the ghosts just told from a different perspective. But I liked it. I have a weakness for stories set in Ireland. I'm waiting for the third book in the series from the library. But since most of the protagonists and antagonists from the first two books are dead I don't know where we are going next.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit