All the Dead Voices

Grant me a moment here, but Ed Loy is well and truly back and I'm more than a little bit happy about that! ALL THE DEAD VOICES is a really tense, investigative novel with a just a touch of the thriller about it. The action is swift, the tension carefully ramped up and the plot nicely complicated. The details are carefully laid out, allowing the reader to keep up, sort it out, decide for themselves, pick up the clues along the way. Provided you're concentrating.

In 1980 two IRA men are hiding beside a roadway, ready to detonate the bomb destined to kill a hated judge. Just as well this is a carefully planned operation, as the two killers do not get on - much to the amusement of their colleagues.

Current day and Ed is moving on, by moving show more house, clearing his head, getting his edge back. He's doing a little low key watching of an up and coming footballer - Paul Delany. His half-brother Dessie's a bit suspicious that Paul might be dealing heroin on the side, and living in Greece there's not much he can do about it himself. A threatening moment at a football match and Paul's reaction reassures Loy something's going on; the couple of young hoods that have a go at him in an alley late at night reinforce that. But Loy had just left them a bit bruised and battered - their turning up dead is definitely not down to him, even if the police aren't so convinced.

Meanwhile, Loy is approached by Anne Fogarty, who thinks that the police have got the wrong man for the killing of her father, fifteen years ago. Anne's father had been a revenue inspector, involved in the investigation of some very dodgy people: Jack Cullen, ex-IRA now gang leader; Bobby Doyle, ex-IRA now property developer, and George Halligan - Loy's least favourite sociopath. Oh, and because it never rains but it pours, something is brewing in the Cullen camp and Comerford is convinced that somebody is leaking information about drug smuggling to the police, and he wants Ed to find out who.

One of the things that I really like about the Ed Loy books is that the plots are crowded, complicated and not always made up of obviously intersecting threads. ALL THE DEAD VOICES has that lightening pace, as well as the swirling list of links, possible links, gangs, impending violence, past violence and secrets. It's that wheedling out of secrets that Ed Loy does best of all, well that along with juggling all the goings on, surviving the occasional beating up and reluctant, but efficient, dishing out of the occasional thumping. Ed's style of investigating is very much the "prod something a bit and wait for the ripples to spread" methodology, but it's effective, partly because he's not too afraid to prod where others may not dare, and he's well aware of the circles in which he is moving.

After being slightly less enthusiastic about the last Ed Loy outing, ALL THE DEAD VOICES is not only a return to the standard of the first books in the series, it has a touch of the moving on about it. Loy's not standing still, and neither should readers - regardless of whether you're already a fan, or this will be a new encounter for you.

The earlier books in the series are:

The Wrong Kind of Blood
The Colour of Blood
The Dying Breed show less

Many years ago, I was introduced to Ed Hoy in Declan Hughes' debut novel "The Wrong Color of Blood". Hoy immediately became one of my favorite male protagonists in the thriller genre. Hoy is a fallible man with a strong moral compass who has friends on both sides of the law. Although he may not agree with the actions or the mindset of the criminal syndicates that were spawned from The Troubles, he has a deep understanding of the reasons for and against the IRA (Catholic paramilitary group that waged war against the ruling Protestant British establishment for religious and socio-economic reasons; renowned for being one of the forerunners of domestic terrorism). Hughes' Ed Hoy novels are set in modern day Ireland and America and superbly show more capture a sense of both locations. The older you become, the more you understand how little life is black and white, and Hoy navigates life intent on living as honorably as possible in the grey.

In "All The Dead Voices", Hoy, a private detective, is working two separate cases that are linked by strands of violence resulting from the days of and just after The Troubles. Hoy is tasked by a daughter, Anne, with looking into the long ago murder of her father, Brian Fogarty, a tax collector who was investigating three known criminals at the time of his death, and whose wife was having an affair with the man convicted of his murder. A conviction that was later overturned on appeal. A man whom the daughter, Anne, does not believe is guilty. In addition, Hoy is also looking into the murder of Paul Delaney, a rising football star who may have been dealing heroin for one of the three men that Fogarty was investigating at the time of his death. The initial request of Paul's two older half-brothers, Dessie and Liam, was for Hoy to check in with Paul and report back. Hoy has a history with Dessie Delaney - he saved his life by getting Dessie off drugs and getting him to go to Greece to live with Liam. Paul was murdered on Hoy's watch or at least that's how Hoy views it. Because of the entrenchment of drug culture and related turf wars, both of these crimes involve similar players.

Hughes is not only an excellent writer, but he excels at weaving a suspenseful & intelligent story that pulls you in from the start and holds you there to resolution. The combination of historical facts and fictional storylines result in novels that are deeply enjoyable as well as informative. show less

Many years ago, I was introduced to Ed Hoy in Declan Hughes' debut novel "The Wrong Color of Blood". Hoy immediately became one of my favorite male protagonists in the thriller genre. Hoy is a fallible man with a strong moral compass who has friends on both sides of the law. Although he may not agree with the actions or the mindset of the criminal syndicates that were spawned from The Troubles, he has a deep understanding of the reasons for and against the IRA (Catholic paramilitary group that waged war against the ruling Protestant British establishment for religious and socio-economic reasons; renowned for being one of the forerunners of domestic terrorism). Hughes' Ed Hoy novels are set in modern day Ireland and America and superbly show more capture a sense of both locations. The older you become, the more you understand how little life is black and white, and Hoy navigates life intent on living as honorably as possible in the grey.

In "All The Dead Voices", Hoy, a private detective, is working two separate cases that are linked by strands of violence resulting from the days of and just after The Troubles. Hoy is tasked by a daughter, Anne, with looking into the long ago murder of her father, Brian Fogarty, a tax collector who was investigating three known criminals at the time of his death, and whose wife was having an affair with the man convicted of his murder. A conviction that was later overturned on appeal. A man whom the daughter, Anne, does not believe is guilty. In addition, Hoy is also looking into the murder of Paul Delaney, a rising football star who may have been dealing heroin for one of the three men that Fogarty was investigating at the time of his death. The initial request of Paul's two older half-brothers, Dessie and Liam, was for Hoy to check in with Paul and report back. Hoy has a history with Dessie Delaney - he saved his life by getting Dessie off drugs and getting him to go to Greece to live with Liam. Paul was murdered on Hoy's watch or at least that's how Hoy views it. Because of the entrenchment of drug culture and related turf wars, both of these crimes involve similar players.

Hughes is not only an excellent writer, but he excels at weaving a suspenseful & intelligent story that pulls you in from the start and holds you there to resolution. The combination of historical facts and fictional storylines result in novels that are deeply enjoyable as well as informative. show less

In my recent searches for future reading material...I ran across a copy of of this book that just happens to be a part of a series that I haven't read in a long time but always enjoyed...So I thought I would see what Ed Loy is up to after the first 3 books. Ed is a man with a strong moral compass who has friends on both sides of the law. Although he may not agree with the actions or the mindset of the criminal syndicates that were spawned from The Troubles...he has a deep understanding of the reasons for and against the IRA. As a first generation American of Irish background I understood more after reading the first couple of books why my grandparents took my mother and her older sister and fled Ireland for America in 1926. In this part show more of the series, Ed...as a private detective finds himself working two separate cases that turn out to be linked by strands of violence resulting from the days of, and just after, The Troubles. Declan Hughes combines historical facts and fictional storylines to result in novels that are deeply enjoyable as well as very informative. show less

Great setup and middle. Thereafter it becomes a nit too pat but the ending is strong enough. It's nice that its set in Dublin. All in all a strong crime pi novrl.

It doesn't make any difference what the plot of this fourth Ed Loy novel is.. Mystery lovers in years past bought a Ross Macdonald story, or a Raymond Chandler, or Dashiell Hammett as now we buy a Robert Crais or Robert Parker or John Grisham book. We know we're going to get the best Noir, Thriller, Mystery, Crime novel available.. the plot is of little consequence.

Yes.. Declan Hughes is that good. A talented professional who transports us, vicariously, into his world for a few hours at a time, and makes us feel good that we're able to return to our own relatively safe and sane world, before turning off the lights at the end of the day!

I love Declan, but this book was so boring and difficult to get into.