Stephan Talty

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In this explosive debut thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city’s dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage.

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 show more 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.

My Review: The Doubleday UK meme, a book a day for July 2014, is the goad I'm using to get through my snit-based unwritten reviews. Today's prompt is to discuss one's favorite crime novel, in honor of some British crime-novel beano.

Now. There are those *significant glares* who claim to be all innocent tra-leee-laaaaaah when accosted and reminded of their culpability as Satanic Book Warblers. Oh, just all the eye-battings and who-meings and fan-wavings of an amateur production of Gone With The Wind. Here is the evidence linking my purchase of this novel from its proximate warbler Bonnie to the ur-Warbler, the coven's second-in-command after the Greater Trilliumated Warbler herself, the Ombre-crested Satanic Book Warbler. Go on, click through. The guilty party is even bolded for your convenience.

Despite there being naggingly annoying lapses in continuity at three or four points, I was sucked into the violent and rage-filled vortex of this book from the get-go. The story, a standard one, is told at a breathless pace in direct, unpretentious language. The setting is seared into my memory. I feel as if I could find the park, drive the streets, point to the places I'd read about. I'm sure as hell not stopping for the cops there, Absalom/Abbie excepted.

The family secrets, the community guilt, the larger and wider implications of the vicious and bloody killings, make this procedural far more than an afternoon's entertainment. It's not Art, it's excitement! It's brutal and tough and doesn't give a flying fuck if your girlie-girl feelies are all bent. It's too busy setting you up for the next bashing!

I liked the hell out of it. It's good, every now and then, to sluice the nicey-nice from one's brain with a bracing dose of mean as fuck because I wanna be. There is NO oxytocin released in the reading of this book. Adrenaline, yes; androgen, oh my yes. We won't go into the testosterone release figures. Post-menopausal women are cautioned that they might find themselves assuming male secondary characteristics.

The sensitive members of the party are STRONGLY cautioned not to so much as handle this book. Don't do it, don't even contemplate it. Not for yinz.

Fans of the 87th Precinct, we found you a new writer to follow! show less

This is the first book I have read by this author. I picked up this book because the summary sounded right up my alley. I was right but still, I was not prepared for how much I would really like this book. I took it with me to work. I would read it on my breaks and let me tell you that during my breaks the time flew. I had a hard time putting the book down.

Abbie rocks. I love her bulldog attitude. She pulls and pokes people to their breaking point and yet she comes out on top. While she is show more getting people stirred up she finishes them off with her snarky comments. Plus, she really thought through a case with precision and in the end she did get her man.

Now let me comment on the serial killer. He was scary and he does live up to the rhyme about him but I would say he is more psychological than he is gruesome. So again if I cannot get my gore then I will take the psychological aspect that does mess with your mind some. The twist that was thrown in was a nice touch. Now that I have a taste for what this author can do, I plan to go back and check out his prior novels. show less

Okay, I'm from Buffalo, so I enjoyed this noir version of my hometown. While I liked the writing and the detective's character, I found the plot completely ridiculous. I'm not a regular mystery-reader (or even a detective-show watcher) so I'm not familiar with serial-killer tropes, but I found the social and psychological aspects of this novel completely unbelievable and untenable.

My rating:5 of 5 stars
Black Irish written by Stephan Talty is a March 2013 release, published by Ballantine Books/Random House. Absalom ( Abbie) Kearney is a cop working for the small enclave dubbed "The County" in Buffalo, New York. Abbie grew up here, but always felt like an outsider. She had been adopted by a highly respected cop in this predomintately Irish community. Abbie's dark hair and translucent skin made her stand out. She worked in Miami for awhile, but has come home to care for show more her father who has Alzheimer's. The mutilated body found in a church has Abbie and her partner "Z" on the case. But, not only is the murder itself shocking, but the reaction of the victims wife and mother are equally strange. As Abbie works the case, she discovers the victim was a member of a secret society. Then another murder takes place, more grizzly than the first. The more Abbie digs the more she is stonewalled by her fellow cops, "The County" and anyone else that may have a clue about who is behind these murders. A lonely librarian is Abbie's best source of information as she learns how involved the IRA has been over the years in this very part of Buffalo. Is the secret society and IRA involved in these murders or is it the work of a serial killer with huge vendetta? Abbie's investigation leads her to the darkest place of her past as she suspects her father may be the next person on the killer's list. On top of that, the killer has left little toy monkeys at his crime scenes like a signature. This is taut suspense thriller. In fact, it's the best thriller I've read in a while. It's hard to believe this is the author's first novel. Incredible. In the beginning the novel is like a police procedural. A body is found and the normal investigation steps are taken. But, then the novel takes a turn when Abbie finds out about the Clan. The history of this secret society, the IRA and it's role changes after 1998, the closed off community that keeps Abbie on the outside looking in as much as possible, Abbie's fear for her father, and the personal communication the killer seems to have with Abbie all build the suspense. There are scenes that had me riveted. I could actually feel the inhuman cold and sleet and could taste the fear of the victims and and the cops working the case. This is one mean serial killer. The killings are graphic and brutal. This book is not for the faint of heart. This is a very gritty crime thriller, with lots of twist and turns. You will not feel relief until the last few pages. No one is to be trusted and Abbie, ever the outsider, must face down the killer alone as she learns shocking secrets about her own past.Highly recommend! A+ Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC. show less