Orchid Blue [Paperback]

So, here we go again with all the usual motifs of an Eoin McNamee novel: artifice and mystery; ripe and limpid imagery; dodgy geography and anachronism; corrupt and corrupted politicians, lawyers, policemen and citizens; a razor sharp ear for provincial Protestant dialect, ungrammatical but laced with a rich biblical vocabulary; an almost invisible Catholic population; the inevitable RUC man ineffectually striving for an unattainable justice.

McNamee's style irritates some readers - I guess you either love it or hate it. I fall into the former category, and this novel represents a huge improvement on his last, the Princess Diana book. Indeed, I would consider Orchid Blue perhaps the best he has written yet, as it is more assured, with a greater sense of character and place while retaining the lyricism of earlier novels. The plot focuses on the real life murder of Pearl Gamble near Newry in 1961 and the subsequent arrest, trial and execution of Robert McGladdery for her murder - the last man hanged in Northern Ireland. A leading character in the novel is Judge Lancelot Curran, father of the murdered Patricia Curran, and the subject of The Blue Orchid, to which this novel serves as a type of sequel. Regarding Curran's part in his daughter's death, this novel is much more forthcoming. At the centre of events is Inspector Eddie McCrink, an honest man, attempting to make sense of all that is happening around him. Returned to Northern Ireland from England, he has lost touch with 'how things work' and is out-manoeuvered at every turn. Events have an inevitability about them, as McGladdery is pushed towards his fate by the other players in the drama, while the author more subtly steers the reader to another conclusion entirely.

Was McGladdery innocent? McNamee's own background is in the law and he brings his own forensic skill to suggest a particular conclusion. The reader has to keep in mind constantly that this is a novel and nothing is quite what it seems. The author does not provide everything that is needed for a fair decision. But that too is what it is like in life. We are rarely told everything we need to know, but must carry on as best we can. No, this book is not in the end about the guilt or innocence of Robert McGladdery, but a brilliant polemic on a corrupt system and the meaning and nature of justice itself.

Footnote on the author's geographical errors: Reviewers of other novels have commented extensively on these. There are plenty in Orchid Blue as well. Eoin McNamee must know you cannot see the lights of Belfast from the terminal at Aldergrove; he is surely aware that the 'new city' of Craigavon did not exist in 1961; and if you go 14 miles east of Belfast you do not arrive in Larne, but somewhere in the middle of the Irish Sea. So why does he do it? Here are a few suggestions.The first possibility is that the author wishes to emphasise the impossibility of precision in anything, even in what we might consider the hardest of facts - that everything we consider certain is open to question, a kind of metaphor for the plot of the novels themselves. A second possibility is more political. Just as Northern Ireland seems an unreal place, a kind of pseudo-state, so its geography is warped and unreal. The third possibility is that Eoin McNamee simply includes them as a sort of motif, so that reviewers on Amazon can have fun finding and correcting them. The fourth possibility is they are careless mistakes. Some support for this possibility comes in page 268. Who is the McVeigh who appears from nowhere and suddenly speaks to Robert in the condemned cell?

In the end it does not matter. Eoin McNamee is one of the most original writers around. He abhors the easy formula for success. This novel is gripping, moving and beautifully written. It is highly recommended.

This is a novel based on real life incidents. In 1961 and young girl was savagely murdered in Newry following a dance at the Orange Hall. A local man, Robert McGladdery, is accused but the Detective in charge is concerned that because feelings are running so high he might not get a fair trial. Things are further complicated by the appointment of Lord Justice Curran as the trial judge. Nine years previously his own daughter had been murdered and the accused in that case was deemed of unsound mind and sent to a mental institution. The death sentence still exists and there seems to be a general feeling that the ultimate penalty should be paid for such a dreadful crime.

Eoin McNamee is a very good writer. He creates the atmosphere of the sixties brilliantly and all the characterisations are excellent. He deals with the religious and class issues of the time with subtlety and intelligence. McGladdery is shown to be an enigmatic character who is not helped by the sloppy police tactics of the time. There are also the many ambiguities regarding the murder of the Judge's daughter. Parts of that story do not add up but it is as if he was too important a person to be vigorously questioned.

If this was a complete fiction it would be a brilliant book. But as it is based on real people and real incidents I felt very uncomfortable reading it. 1961 is not so long ago - some of the people involved could still be alive. He also writes in a detailed way as to what people said and what they were thinking. I found myself thinking "How does he know this?".

I didn't know about this case before reading Orchid Blue so would not have known how McGladdery's trial ended. However on the inside cover is a spoiler..... black marks to the publisher!

The latest real life crime/fiction fusion from Eoin McNamee, `Orchid Blue', is really a sequel to his excellent 2000 novel `The Blue Tango', which was deservedly Booker long listed. In both McNamee takes famous criminal cases from the annals of 1950's and 60's Northern Ireland, and brings them to life in a wonderful yet disturbing way, and in the telling, brings a powerful social and political commentary into play.

The story starts with the brutal murder of a young girl, Pearl Gamble, who was on her way home from a local dance in Newry. Without much in the way of what we might call real investigation, the local police immediately point the finger at a local lad, Robert McGladdery. But McCrink, the detective who is assigned to the case having just returned from London with his tail between his legs, smells a very strong rat.

The link with `The Blue Tango' starts to become clear with the judge who is assigned to try McGladdery. For Judge Curran is the same man whose own teenage daughter's murder was the subject of this earlier book, and McNamee suggests here that the two cases are very much linked, not by having the same murderer, but by the thirst of Judge Curran to avenge his daughter's death. He wants someone to pay for his pain, and McGladdery will do very well. And the death penalty was still legal in Northern Ireland at this time.

McNamee has a wonderful writing style, and he brings to life the characters, and also recreates the seedy, murky world of local police and politics in Northern Ireland at the time with great detail. You can almost smell the muddy field and septic tank he describes. He gives voice to working class youngsters who have no real life chances to speak of, in particular Robert McGladdery, who is portrayed as an enigmatic and enquiring person, but a victim of class and circumstance.
The book deserves all the plaudits that its predecessor gained. McNamee has a wonderful way of uniting truth with fiction, and giving us a window into the corruption and injustice at play. And it is also a great crime story, although not so much of a whodunit, and a who didn't do it.