Arlene Hunt

Fast-paced read with believable (foul-mouthed) characters and genuine Dublin locations. Two young rookie private detectives take on more they bargained for when they investigate a missing girl. All written slightly tongue-in-cheek with witty dialogue and larger-than-life characters. I especially enjoyed Vinnie, the low-life crook with ideas above his station, who thinks that interspersing a few words of French into his speech gives him sophistication and class. Highly recommended.

In this crime novel set in Dublin, Ireland, Arlene Hunt shows the violent underbelly of the vice world. If the girls were just left to themselves, they would be able to live quite an easy life, but they are surrounded by violent men who want to take their money away from them.

A vicious pimp, Paul McCracken, uses every sort of extortion and physical violence to keep Irish prostitutes under his control, while strategically replacing them with girls from Eastern Europe and Algeria. But woe show more betide any Irish girl who decides to break away from him and go it alone. A psychopathic and very sick killer decides to target prostitutes working by themselves. The Dublin police force finds itself trying to collar McCracken, find the serial killer and calm dissension in its own ranks.

This novel is set a time when the Irish establishment panders to its national media by deciding to crack down on prostitution, by raiding brothels and fining their "madames". A question implicit throughout the novel is whether the "cure", administered by the police and the courts, leads to a situation worse than the "crime" of prostitution.

The writing is very assured and the plot springs one surprise after another. A real page turner. show less

This is an interesting read, the twist at the end took me by surprise.

Amanda Harrington is a dominatrix and prostitute, a woman who works with a friend Marna Galloway, having survived a callous pimp. She finds herself being heavily fined for her immoral earnings one day and starts to pull herself away from the game. Meanwhile there's a murderer on the loose, killing prostitutes. Add to that Paul 'Tricky' McCracken, a pimp with an expanding empire, he dislikes the fact that she's an show more independent woman, after all she used to be part of his stable. All in all a complicated life.

It's a book I enjoyed, Ms Hunt seems to have got the flavour of Dublin well and the characters sound quite real. There were parts that stretched my credulity a little but overall a fine read. show less

Sarah Kenny and John Quigley work as private investigators in Dublin, they're pretty new to the game but they try hard. They're asked to look for a missing girl and find themselves in the middle of the Dublin underworld. With double dealing and in-fighting after a missing haul of drugs with a vicious crime lord returning and trying to find out how things work in the new Ireland, it's interesting. The language is real and harsh but Arlene Hunt has a good ear for dialogue and it reads show more authentically Dublin.

While it took me a while to get into the story, it gathers pace after a while and dragged me in. show less