Ed Loy is a private detective, living in a flat in Dublin. At the start of the book he is looking into whether Paul Delaney, an up and coming footballer, is dealing heroin on the side as a favour to Dessie Delaney, half brother to Paul. Dessie and his brother Liam Delaney, are two ex-criminals currently living in Greece. After talking to Ray Moran in the Viscount night-club to find out what he knows, he is attacked by two youngsters with a knife in a nearby alley, but manages to fend them off, and leaves them bruised and battered, but still alive.

The following morning, in a scene that could be played by Bogart and Bacall, Anne Fogarty, young, attractive, with honey blonde hair and twinkling brown eyes, turns up asking Ed to find out who battered her father, Brian, to death over 15 years ago. Her mother had been having an affair with a teacher called Steve Owen, and Steve had been first imprisoned and then released on appeal for killing him in a crime of passion. Anne suspects one of three people identified by her father, a tax inspector, as criminals hiding their wealth. The question is, which one? Is it George Halligan, one of the Halligan brothers, a criminal family with which Ed has had dealings with before, and was effective in putting one of them (Podge) behind bars. Is it Jack Cullen, a known criminal who was once in the IRA, who is involved in drug trafficking, and relies on two other men to help run his operation: Ray Moran, the man who manages the business (see above), and Lamp Comerford, who is the heavy man. Or, is it Bobbie Doyle, a businessman who appears to be legitimate, but has a dodgy background, and may or may not have also been in the IRA. The police don't appear to be interested in re-opening the case. Then Paul is shot and killed, and Ed has two murderers to find. Plus, the two men he left alive in the alley have also been found stabbed to death, and as Ed's fingerprints are likely to be on the knife, he could be facing murder charges himself, if the police find the knife.

Meanwhile, something is cooking in the Cullen camp. Lamp Comerford thinks there is a tout, someone who is leaking information about the drug smuggling to the police and in a bizarre twist, asks Ed to find out who. Additionally, in the background, there is a story about a family (the Coyles) killed by accident by two men in the IRA, Red and Ice, back in the 1980s, because they happened to be driving the same make and model of car as the intended victim.

So, there is a complex mix of events, potential links between criminal gangs and a strong undercurrent of impending violence. Sooner or later, we know Ed is going to be in danger of either getting a beating or something worse, as he is trying to uncover secrets that dangerous criminals have no intention of being revealed. The story drives relentlessly on, as Ed tries to juggle his various investigations, and try to keep himself safe. As Ed says, he is "a private detective. Stirring it up is what we do. I don't work with evidence, I work with he said, she said, with versions of the truth…. Until I gets the one I think fits best". The truth, when he eventually finds it, is both shocking and mundane, a true reflection of life. This is a tense, well-written thriller, which is very effective at conveying the undercurrent of danger to Ed's investigations. It weaves together the different threads of the story expertly, and every word counts. So, read and enjoy, but pay attention or you might miss something!

Michelle Peckham, England
April 2009