The Cold Cold Ground: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel (1) Paperback – November 13, 2012

The fact that The Cold Cold Ground is, for the most part, a police procedural shouldn't be cause for comment except that no one else, as far as I know, has had the bright idea to set a procedural during the Troubles, Northern Ireland's long-running sectarian conflict. A Troubles-set procedural seems like an obvious and rich source for story ideas, so it's a bit odd that no one's done it until now. I'll take a guess that there's still so much residual animosity and bitterness about the Troubles floating around the British Isles that any attempt to fictionalize the subject guarantees a certain amount of unpleasant blowback for the author. If there is any in this case, at least the critics can't complain that the writer's not up to the job.The novel kicks off with the discovery of a man's mutilated body in a junked car. At first it looks like yet another killing related to the Troubles, but it rapidly emerges that this might be the work of a serial killer targeting homosexuals. Detective Sean Duffy is the lead investigator and he soon finds that the IRA may be involved, and that a woman found hanged in an apparent suicide may also be part of the mystery. This all plays out against the background of Catholic Belfast reaching the boiling point as the IRA hunger strikers in Maze Prison begin to die.McKinty has crafted a novel that works beautifully as a procedural and as a period piece (the story's set in 1981) capturing the look and mood of a region with one foot in a civil war and the other on a banana peel. The procedural aspect of the novel is exceptional. Duffy is shown to be very much part of a team. His fellow officers aren't just there to pass on important bits of plot information at key moments, they also get to be clever, add commentary, and crack wise. Duffy clearly feels comfortable working with this group and relies on them, despite the fact that he's a Catholic in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, a predominantly Protestant organization despised by Catholics. The scenes of Duffy with his fellow cops are probably the strongest elements in the novel. The final sections of the story have Duffy becoming more of a lone wolf, and they work well in giving the story a thrillerish finale, but I found myself wishing that the procedural aspects had kept going to the end. Also, some of the players who come into the story towards the end are rather high up the political food chain, and that moves things well beyond a police procedural. The transition is a bit jarring. That aside, the mystery at the heart of the story is satisfying and cleverly thought out.McKinty brings the Belfast of 1981 alive with short, sharp descriptions of shattered streets, grandiose sectarian graffitti, menacing British firepower in the air and on the ground, and a populace that's always keyed up to either fight, flee or heap abuse on the police. The main reason I can believe that McKinty's descriptions are bang on is that they match up perfectly with an excellent memoir about the Troubles by Malachi O'Doherty called The Telling Year: Belfast 1972 (I'm pretty sure this was the book) that I read a few years ago. I think what McKinty captures best is the all-encompassing feeling of dread and tension that people, especially the police, lived with. Northern Ireland, as seen through Duffy's eyes, is a minefield of actual and theoretical dangers, any one which can be triggered by a wrong step, a wrong turn or a wrong word. It's an intensely disspiriting world (even the weather's crap) and McKinty makes it feel very, very real.Sean Duffy is a strong and entertaining protagonist. He's smart, funny and believable as a cop. Far too many fictional cops moan and groan about their jobs. Duffy seems to like what he's doing and is dead keen on getting results. He's not a jaded or beaten down cop (there are far too many of those), he's not too cynical, and he's human enough to indulge in the odd bit of very petty corruption. Duffy's keenly aware that he's a fish out of water as both a university-educated policeman and as a Catholic in the RUC. The dichotomies in Duffy's life seem to find symbolic expression in an unexpected event that takes place in a public washroom. It's an odd and audacious scene that begs for some kind of follow-up, which, I suspect, will come in the next Duffy novel.I have a minor complaint about Duffy that really qualifies as more of a pet peeve: we're forced to learn far too much about his musical tastes. Lately it seems to me that every mystery writer has to make point of telling us what their dectective likes to listen to. In the past few years I've read mysteries by Ken Bruen, Massimo Carlotto, and Gianfranco Carofiglio in which their detectives musical choices are regularly mentioned. It's a pedestrain way to build a character, and the worst part is that these Desert Island Discs moments always (for me) break down the fourth wall. I always feel I'm being buttonholed by the author for a bit of a natter about his favourite songs and artists. I blame Elmore Leonard. He introduced the idea of characters referencing their choices in music and movies, and after that the genie was out of the bottle. One of these days I'd like to see a mystery writer give us a brilliant detective with really horrible taste in music. How about a sleuth who only listens to ABBA and Slim Whitman? I shall now stable my hobby horse.I've read four other crime novels by Adrian McKinty and The Cold Cold Ground is jostiling for the number one position on my list of favourites. It has the tension, fast pace and intrigue you expect from any mystery/thriller, but it also manages to evoke a time and place that's beginning to fade into the past. And in Sean Duffy we have a character who is not only compelling, but, I'm guessing, is going to be changing in upcoming novels. One final aside: is there a more perfect example of Brit/Irish understatement than calling a low-grade civil war the Troubles? If it had been even more bloody would it have been called A Spot Of Bother?

The Cold Cold Ground is Adrian McKinty’s first book in the Sean Duffy series. It was a very good read IMHO, and I quickly devoured the book. McKinty is a very good writer and he baits the reader very well. The Cold Cold Ground is set in Northern Ireland in the Belfast area in 1981 during the Troubles.McKinty’s background research, and story line are excellent IMHO. The year is 1981and IRA prisoners are going on hunger strike protesting British actions. Each time a prisoner dies, riots and violence erupts. In Northern Ireland, the Protestants and the Catholics are extremely heated in conflict. The British greatly increase troops presence which greatly increases tension.Sean Duffy is a Catholic prisoner for the Royal Ulster Constable which puts him at odds (and danger) with the Protestant majority population. It is also very rare that a Catholic becomes a policeman (peeler) on the predominantly Protestant RUC.Duffy is assigned a case in which two gay men are murdered. Gay sex is illegal at the time in Ireland. Peculiarly, each man has had one hand cut off. Is this the beginning of a gay serial killer? Or is something more sinister at work? Then a missing girl is found dead. The young, vodka gimlet drinking detective has indeed inherited a complex case.McKinty has created a very affable, attractive, smart detective in Sean Duffy. However, is he just new and naive enough that this case will consume him? Will the political side of this case become Duffy’s undoing?The Cold Cold Ground is an excellent first-in-series detective story and Adrian McKinty will be able to write considerably more about Sean Duffy. I know that I will be reading more in the series. If a reader likes police procedurals, Irish crime, thrillers, then they will certainly enjoy The Cold Cold Ground. This book gets the 5-star rating. Enjoy it.

I flew through the book because it was better than I actually thought it would be. Sean Duffy is quite the character.

Belfast in 1981: a dark, brutalised place, almost a post-apocalyptic setting for an Irish noir … at least that’s how the city is (persuasively) portrayed in The Cold Cold Ground. Sean Duffy is a detective, or a ‘peeler’, and a Catholic, living in the Protestant-dominated Coronation Road. Amid the violence and death of the Troubles, he’s pursuing a serial killer who’s targeting gay men. In a country where so many are dying, these are murders that threaten to become almost irrelevant, especially at a time when the headlines are full of IRA hunger strikes. Duffy is tenacious. But his investigations peel back layer upon layer of the Belfast underworld - and place him in mortal danger. There’s a lot to like about this novel (which I heard about on Graham Norton’s very good books podcast on Audible). For such a bleak read, there’s plenty of humour. There’s also some great descriptive writing, in the noir vein, about Belfast. And the setting comes alive - Gerry Adams is a character. It’s a very fast read; it doesn’t hang around - there’s very little dawdling or padding. In fact I found it a little perfunctory in places. It moved perhaps a bit too quickly at times. There are also a couple of sex scenes that are a shade too graphic, or plain vulgar… And some of the action struck me as overdone or implausible… the relentless first-person narrative adds to that sense. It lapses from grittiness into Hollywood action movie. But then there was plenty of action in ‘80s Belfast… and Duffy is a formidable tour guide on our visit to the city he calls a ‘fallen world’. I’d like to read more of his adventures - this one reminded me a lot of David Peace and the Red Riding Quartet in terms of the occasionally frenzied and fragmented prose. Its flaws are fairly easily forgiven - and it’s refreshing to read a novel that doesn’t get too bogged down in reams of back story and overly descriptive prose. This is no-nonsense noir, compellingly told.

It's May 1981, and Northern Ireland is on the brink of a complete breakdown of law and order, possibly even civil war. IRA prisoners in the Maze are on hunger strike, and when the first one dies the streets erupt in violent riots. In the midst of this mayhem, a man is found dead with his hand cut off. At first the police assume the victim was an informer, punished by one or other of the bunches of murderous nutters who held sway in NI at that time. However, when a second body is found, it appears that these killings may be nothing to do with the unrest – it looks like Northern Ireland might have its first serial killer, targeting gay men. It's up to Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy and his team to catch him before he kills again...The book starts out well. McKinty has a great writing style and paints an authentic seeming picture of NI at the height of the Troubles. The book is told in the first-person past-tense from Duffy's viewpoint and he gives a good insight into the various divisions and factions that ruled the streets in those days. He also shows how socially conservative this small part of the world still was, even more than mainland Britain. The book touches not only on the victimisation of homosexuals but on the question of unmarried motherhood – shown as a thing so shameful that women would attempt to hide pregnancies, abandon their babies, or even, in some cases, commit suicide.Duffy and his team are all likeable characters, and the interactions between them provide some humour which prevents the story from becoming too bleak. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was, of course, a major target for the IRA and Catholic officers in particular were seen as traitors, selling out for English gold. McKinty shows Duffy as a Catholic who, like the vast majority, wants peace and in his case is prepared to put himself at risk to be part of achieving it, as many did in real life, too.So there are many good things about the book. Unfortunately, however, credibility begins to nose-dive early on and eventually crashes into the set of a second-rate Bond pastiche. First off, a Catholic police officer is ridiculously unlikely to have bought a house in a Protestant stronghold at that time, unless he really had a death wish. The idea of him having a police issue sub-machine gun lying about on his hall table for weeks (just so's it'd be handy when the plot required it) is ludicrous. That Willie Whitelaw, then Home Secretary, would ever have phoned a low-ranking police officer on behalf of MI5 is laughable. Et cetera, et cetera. And the ending, which obviously I can't discuss, is like something out of a low-budget Bruce Willis rip-off.I think part of the problem is that McKinty may be aiming for the American market, and using words like “gasoline” instead of “petrol” reinforced that feeling. The more ridiculous the plot became, the less authentic the rest of the book felt to me. The quality of the research in the earlier part of the book means that I feel it must have been a deliberate choice rather than lack of knowledge for McKinty to veer so far beyond the credibility line as the book progressed – I suspect the words “movie deal” may have been on his to-do list.A couple of final, brief criticisms. It'd be great if just once he could introduce a female character without immediately assessing her sexual attractiveness and/or willingness. I know that's a noir tradition, but, you know, traditions don't have to be followed slavishly once they become outdated. And, as with so much modern crime, the book is way too long for its content – there's about a hundred pages in the middle that could have been cut with no loss.Hard to rate – I found the first half very enjoyable, which made my disappointment with the long dip in the middle followed by the implausibility of the rest greater than it would otherwise have been. It works reasonably well as a slow thriller, but doesn't live up to its early promise of giving a realistic picture of the difficulties of policing Northern Ireland in the midst of the Troubles.

The Cold, Cold Ground has been reviewed multiple times by professionals and Amazonian amateurs alike. It was listed as a best book of the year by the London Times and won a few awards. As such, there shouldn’t be a lot more to say about it. It’s a great read, well-written, lyrical, pacey, edgy, a page-turner. You get the idea. For me, all those things are true. Most definitely true. In fact Sean Duffy, our conflicted ‘in oh so many ways conflicted’ hero is, for me, a marvelous reinvention of Inspector Morse, crossed with Lieutenant Columbo, with an added dash of Philip Marlowe, in some strange noir ménage à trois. Flavour the outcome with a brushing of Presbyterian dourness and a hefty seasoning of Catholic guilt and Duffy would be ‘Yer Man’. But, and I will admit I may have missed it, a quick scan of those reviews seems to leave out the crux of the book for me.It is McKinty’s acute observations and the layering on of an atmosphere that, for anyone who was there at the time, recaptures perfectly north-east Ulster in the early eighties. The novel is for the most part set in May 1981. The Hunger Strikes. I remember what it felt like and this Carrick-cum-Melbourne author, only a couple of years younger than me, obviously knew it too and captures it superbly. Yes, he plays with the acronyms and the names, yes he weaves a blend of fact and fiction into the narrative to blur the lines between truth and reality, but in the feel of the places, the oppressive nature of mass-unemployment, the knowledge of a future that was bleak, and looking bleaker by the minute, he gets it absolutely spot-on. Like he does with the humour and the speech of the people involved. In parts, I would laugh out loud, reminded of phrases that I have long ago stopped using, for there aren’t many around me now who would know what a sleeked wee shi## was. But that’s okay. McKinty does and I am so pleased. I’m off to indulge in a deluge of Duffy. I recommend you do the same.

The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty is a book which I was very shocked that the fact was I did enjoy it, and even though those moments of cold hard murder, there was a very sick sense of humour throughout.The main character was Detective Sean Duffy, who was a Catholic Detective in Northern Ireland during the 1980s which was a hard time to live as a Catholic yet still being a member of the R.U.C. Add also the factor he lived in a Protestant area mainly because of his job which did cause him a bit of strife. I liked how the author showed the daily act of survival was shown vividly through this well-written book.His outlook of life was interesting, and I could not help laughing at his observations of life, the author certainly knew what sort of character he wanted to develop during this time in history.I liked how the author weaved historical facts through this work of very readable fiction and bringing historical figures such as Margaret Thatcher, and the very famous M.I.5. secret agent who was known as StakeKnife real name being Freddie Scappaticci was a major character in this work of fiction.I enjoyed the book mainly because the author certainly has a gift of bringing scenes alive through his excellent writing skills and throughout, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next major state of excitement to begin.I would happily recommend this book and if you enjoy audio versions, I would also highly recommend this also as the narrator certainly has a gift of bringing characters alive and his gift of accents was excellent and very believable.A great read and audio work of fiction laced with historical facts which I am very happy to recommend.

I've not read a crime novel set against the background of northern Irish Troubles before. It is a risky subject to address as it is still a live subject for many people both within and out the province but I think the author successfully steers a safe passage. The book's central character is police sergeant Sean Duffy a Catholic living in a Protestant area and because he is not someone readily accepted by either community, he is semi-neutral and since the story is told from his perspective in the first person the reader is not asked to take sides. Whilst essentially a police crime story the setting and era (the 1980's) mean the book may also be described as historical fiction. The detailed descriptions of Belfast bring alive the city, which almost becomes another character in the story. The constant bombings and rioting and the inter community tension provide the story with a sense of almost permanent jeopardy. The plotting is clever and I found myself wanting to read on, which is always the sign of good read.