Ian McGuire

”There is no sin left now, there is only the blood and the water and the ice; there is only life and death and the grey-green spaces in between. “

A whaling ship on the North Sea, circa 1850. Wimps need not apply. This is a rugged bunch. Think Jack London on steroids and to make it more unsettling- there is a killer/rapist on board. There are whale hunts, seal hunts and manhunts, all expressed in brawny, unflinching prose. If gore, violence, crippling injuries and exploding bodily show more functions, are not your idea of a good time, you might want to sit this voyage out. I found it an excellent adventure story. One of my favorites of the year. show less

When the law hangs three members of the Fenian Brotherhood for killing a policeman in Manchester, England, in 1867, Constable James O’Connor knows the punishment will solve nothing. The Irish revolutionaries will retaliate, and since he’s the copper who has paid informants among them and understands his countrymen better than his English superiors, officialdom should listen.

But they don’t. O’Connor’s place of birth condemns him in their eyes; they consider the Irish bloodthirsty, show more drunken savages, thieves, and heathens. Besides, O’Connor left the Dublin police under circumstances he won’t talk about, but which have something to do with drink.

Now, however, he abstains, and though his sympathetic, more human approach to law enforcement alternately puzzles and enrages his bosses, he speaks the sober truth no one wants to hear. But he does get them to pay attention when he learns that the New York Fenians have sent an assassin to Manchester to plot revenge for the hangings.

Unfortunately, it will take more than O’Connor’s say-so to persuade his superiors to follow through in the ways he suggests, partly because they can’t believe that the drastic legal penalties they have just meted out will fail to curb the violence.

O’Connor has an inkling of what he’s up against, but not even he can anticipate the determination of his newest enemy. Stephen Doyle, though born in Ireland, fought for the Union in the Civil War, and he believes that he’s been sent to Manchester to fight another war whose rules are much the same. A colder, more ruthless and capable opponent would be hard to find, and he startles even his Fenian brethren in Manchester by his attitude. You know that he will give no quarter and expect none.

You also know that sooner or later, O’Connor and Doyle will meet, because the constable does his best to think along with the assassin. However, O’Connor has two distinct disadvantages. He can’t command, merely suggest, whereas Doyle dictates what he wants, and the Fenian foot soldiers obey.

Secondly, and more important, O’Connor has a heart, and it’s still reeling from the untimely death of his beloved wife in Dublin. Further, a nephew he barely knows shows up from America and demands to play a role in the surveillance operation — a brilliant stroke of McGuire’s that raises the stakes immediately.

Consequently, this thriller has much more to it than the usual cat and mouse. You do want to know whether O’Connor and the police will thwart Doyle or fail to stop him, though it would be fairer to say that the narrative gives you no choice, compelling you to turn the pages. McGuire’s a terrific storyteller, and reversals live in the very soot-infested air of Manchester. For me, the tension even feels too much, at times.

On top of that, The Abstainer explores an aspect of good versus evil that belongs to every conflict in which some believe that violence is the best or only solution, while others don’t. Naturally, that division fits Irish history under British rule, so though this story takes place in 1867, the same issues would apply in 1967 or beyond. Accordingly, McGuire’s really asking who has the upper hand: the side with fewer scruples or the one claiming the moral high ground? And is the upper hand the better hand to have, or not?

As befits this heady theme, McGuire deploys lucid, hard-edged prose that conveys deep feeling and the raw atmosphere. Throughout , you see how thin the line between life and death, good fortune and bad. One false move here, and catastrophe would have resulted; one forgetful lapse there, and it arrives unexpectedly. That’s another theme, what happiness depends on, and how fleeting it can be.

If this story sounds bleak, in many ways, it is. But it’s also quite powerful and rings true; this is a novel to remember. show less

This may be the most masculine book I've ever read. There are virtually no women in it, not even in the minds of the men on the whaling ship. No thoughts of wives or sweethearts back home. The only women we see are prostitutes, or members of an "Esquimaux" settlement. The book is unrelentingly violent and very graphic in its portrayals of injuries and atrocities done to various characters.

That said, it's worth reading for several reasons. First, the writing is very good. The author engaged show more all my senses and drew me into the world of the whaling ship. The plot moves along well...a lot happens in this short book, but the pacing never feels off.

Second, the book explores evil in a way I've not often been exposed to. This isn't a story of good vs. evil, but of the nature of evil itself. It is a world where both the physical environment and the life circumstances of the main characters are harsh and the men cope by being harsh themselves. There is no sense of community or working together; it's every man for himself. Success is measured only in terms of personal gain; morality doesn't enter into consideration.

I found myself rooting for Sumner, hoping he'd get away in the end even though he certainly couldn't be seen as a good guy. Does that mean I'd developed some empathy for the lives of these characters? Lives best described by Thomas Hobbes: "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". It certainly made me think about human nature and how much circumstances can shape our thoughts and behaviour. show less

My kind of book, after reading some real warm-fuzzies feel-good stuff lately, this book socks you right between the eyes. Brutal, unrelenting story of two men - Drax, the semi-human brutish harpooner on the Volunteer, and Sumner, a broken-down Irish surgeon, on a voyage into hell in the Arctic. Make no mistake, this book, is shocking, visceral, nausea-inducing, but god, it is one hell of a piece of writing. Superb.