Dublin Dead [Paperback]

This is the follow up to The Priest, eagerly awaited I was not disappointed. Slightly slower moving at first but no bad thing, the two plots slowly begin to intertwine. Nicely set in Dublin, I understand the colloquialisms having had many holidays there from childhood. The two characters tread their own path but eventually they have to cross in the end for both to survive. As I said I wasn't disappointed and hope Mr O'Donovan puts pen to paper again, five star.

First things first. If it were possible, I would have rated this book 4.5 stars.

"A drug deal gone bad.
A daughter gone missing.
A hitman on the loose.
And five days to find the answers."

Journalist Siobhan Fallon is still recovering from the events in The Priest, when she's send to Cork to cover the funeral of a formally successful estate agent who has committed suicide in England.
What at first appears to be a complete non-story becomes more interesting when she is approached by a woman who is worried about her missing daughter who was supposed to be with the deceased man in England.
At the same time, in Dublin, DI Mike Mulcahy and his team are gathering information about a known gangster and drug dealer on behalf of the Spanish police, who are trying to solve the man's murder in Spain. The team is also looking into a massive drugs haul on a yacht off the coast of Cork.
Curious, Siobhan travels to Bristol to find out more about the estate agent's suicide and the missing woman, only to find no trace of the later as well as discrepancies in the travel documents of the man.
At the same time more underworld figures are being killed, both in England and in Ireland.
When Mulcahy and Fallon get together and compare notes, strange coincidences soon turn into a sinister plot.
With a gunman on the loose, determined to kill anybody who knows his secret, the detective and the journalist have only five days to tie all the lose ends together and prevent more deaths.

This is an enjoyable thriller, with an intriguing plot and connections where you wouldn't expect any.
In books like this you just know that what appear to be unconnected events will in all likelihood turn out to be connected. However, in this book it was completely unclear how that could possibly be the case for quite a while. In fact I found myself wondering once or twice whether the author would succeed in delivering believable connections, and was delighted to find that he did.
I did however find the book a bit slow to start. I think it took me to about half way through the book to pick up on any sense of urgency. Once I did get that sensation though, I couldn't stop turning the pages, and found myself racing through the second part of the book to find out how it would all link up, who the killer actually was and how it was all going to end.
Parts of the final solution came as a complete surprise to me, which is always good in a thriller, and turned this book into a more satisfying read than I thought it was going to be.
I do have a bit of a problem believing that any policeman would ever co-operate with a journalist in the way described in this book. Since this plot device does work very well, I'm prepared to dispel my disbelieve on that front though.
I feel that this book flowed better than its prequel did and think that O'Donovan is hitting his stride. If there is going to be a third book in this series, and I hope there will be, I will definitely get myself a copy. I've got a feeling that these books will only get better and better.

I regret not having read the first book in this series, 'The Priest', not because you miss much in this second novel but simply because this one is so good, 'The Priest' must be worth a read even though we will go back in time.

The two main characters are an unlikely duo, bound together by what happened in the earlier book and yet, torn apart for the same reason.

Siobhan Fallon is your terrier news journalist who opens the account by looking into the disappearence of a young lady accountant, whilst DI Mike Mulcahy has been after a high-level drug gang whose boat they seized off the coast of Ireland.

That the two stories come together is very well captured by the author as is the gradual meeting up of the two principal players. Inevitably, there are deaths involved, mainly at the end of a shotgun and a Colombian-based hitman is in the frame for all of them.

Thankfully, the author has a trick or two up his sleeve. The search for the killer, the drugs, the girl all move on a pace, leaving the reader well gripped by the turn of events.

This is one of the few books I've read lately where the police department seems pretty real-life, without the usual antagonism between the various levels of seniority. Also, too, is the way the journalist goes about her work; perhaps a little far-fetched at times but, even so, this loses nothing as the finale looms up, leaving both players out on a limb.

I like these two. There is credibility and deep emotion, covered by a necessary thick skin so, as I stated above, I'm off to search out a copy of 'The Priest' whilst I await book three, presumably next year? Please, Mr O'Donovan!