"Gun Street Girl" by Adrian McKinty / Reviewed by Maria Giordano
Killer Nashville Book of the Day
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Adrian McKinty Credit: Anna McGuire
Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty
Reviewed by Maria Giordano
Detective Sean Duffy is man out of water, or under water, depending on how you view this pack-a-day smoker using vodka gimlets and recreational drugs just to get by.
Still, there’s something endearing about this no-nonsense sleuth author Adrian McKinty has created. In this third book of the Detective Duffy series, the Irish-Catholic detective has some bad habits, but he is tough, maybe stupid tough at times. But he proves time after time, he’s the guy you want by your side to solve crime.
Gun Street Girl begins with the murder of an affluent couple supposedly killed by their embattled son, except he ends up dead, too. As the bodies start piling up, Duffy and his motley crew uncover layer upon layer of the the crime that takes them from North Ireland to London and back, face-to-face with an oddly familiar American operative, vengeful union leaders, and the mysterious disappearance of dangerous missiles, all during a tumultuous time in Northern Ireland’s history.
Set during the mid-1980s after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Duffy also serves as an unlikely historian educating the reader about the chaos transpiring in his country. His investigation is stymied when he and his team must serve as riot police, often becoming targets of civil unrest. In addition, Duffy is a Catholic working among mostly Protestants making him also a target of prejudice.
While all this might sound like complex stuff, McKinty serves up Gun Street Girl simply with deadpan humor, and a lot of booze. It’s also action-packed with glimpses of the Irish culture and countryside. From blacked-out helicopters and MI6 associates, there’s truly never a dull moment.
McKinty also masterfully sets the tone nicely and subtly with Duffy’s musical taste. From the blues to punk to classical, music is the conveyance that drives both the reader and this melancholy detective onward.
Maria Giordano is wannabe superhero. She loves reading, seeing films, and catching the eclectic sounds found in Nashville, Tennessee.
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