1 of 1 copy available
“The captivating start of a brilliant thriller series.”—Tess Gerritsen
Absalom “Abbie” Kearney grew up an outsider in her own hometown. Even being the adopted daughter of a revered cop couldn’t keep Abbie’s troubled past from making her a misfit in the working-class Irish American enclave of South Buffalo. And now, despite a Harvard degree and a police detective’s badge, she still struggles to earn the respect and trust of those she’s sworn to protect. But all that may change, once the killing starts.
When Jimmy Ryan’s mangled corpse is found in a local church basement, this sadistic sacrilege sends a bone-deep chill through the winter-whipped city. It also seems to send a message—one that Abbie believes only the fiercely secretive citizens of the neighborhood known as “the County” understand. But in a town ruled by an old-world code of silence and secrecy, her search for answers is stonewalled at every turn, even by fellow cops. Only when Abbie finds a lead at the Gaelic Club, where war stories, gossip, and confidences flow as freely as the drink, do tongues begin to wag—with desperate warnings and dire threats. And when the killer’s mysterious calling card appears on her own doorstep, the hunt takes a shocking twist into her own family’s past. As the grisly murders and grim revelations multiply, Abbie wages a chilling battle of wits with a maniac who sees into her soul, and she swears to expose the County’s hidden history—one bloody body at a time.
With Black Irish, Stephen Talty stakes a place beside Jo Nesbø, John Sandford, and Tana French on the cutting edge of psychological crime thrillers.
-
Creators
-
Series
-
Publisher
-
Release date
February 26, 2013 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780385360784
- File size: 288701 KB
- Duration: 10:01:27
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
David Lawrence shines in this intense thriller. When police detective Absalom "Abbie" Kearney returns to her hometown to care for her ailing father, she soon finds herself hunting for a gruesome serial killer while confronting secrets about her own dark past. Although the main character is female, Lawrence doesn't shy away from the smooth, deep tones of his voice, a practice that not only works but is refreshing. He keeps to a relatively steady pace throughout, even as the action picks up. It's another technique that works surprising well, serving to create more tension as this suspenseful mystery reaches its surprising ending. M.D. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine -
December 10, 2012
Talty’s first foray into crime fiction, a memorable story of betrayal and vengeance, centers on a working-class Irish enclave in contemporary Buffalo, N.Y. The macabre killing of gas-meter reader Jimmy Ryan brings Det. Absalom “Abbie” Kearney to South Buffalo (aka “the County,” as in the 27th county of Ireland), where “ancestry was everything.” As the adopted daughter of legendary cop John Kearney, Abbie is both an insider and an outsider. More gruesome, carefully staged deaths occur, pointing to members of the secretive, powerful Clan na Gael as targets. Hampered by community distrust, Abbie must dig deeply into long-buried secrets that could endanger her father’s life and reputation as well as her own life. Talty (Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day) does a fine job portraying the cohesiveness of the Irish, their loyalty to one another, and their obsession with their history. Agent: Scott Waxman, Waxman Leavell Literary.
-