Books › I Hear the Sirens in the Street
I Hear the Sirens in the Street
352 pages
A gritty, high-stakes police procedural steeped in the dangerous political atmosphere of 1980s Northern Ireland.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a powder keg of political tension and personal turmoil. Set against the volatile backdrop of 1980s Northern Ireland, the narrative is steeped in a dangerous, gritty atmosphere where every lead feels like a potential trap. The pace is propulsive, driven by a stubborn protagonist whose internal self-doubt and romantic missteps are just as compelling as the high-stakes investigation. The prose captures the bleak, politically charged reality of dealing with intelligence agencies and paramilitary squads, wrapping the reader in a constant sense of dread and urgency. It will delight fans of hardboiled detective fiction who crave complex, flawed investigators navigating explosive, morally murky landscapes.
- Mood
- dangerous
- politically-charged
- bleak
- urgent
- Tone
- gritty
- cynical
- tense
- stubborn
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- political corruption · professional misconduct · self-doubt · stubborn pursuit of truth · romantic entanglement
- The writing
- Gritty and tense, reflecting the high-stakes political landscape and the protagonist's internal struggles.
- The arc
- Moves from cynical distraction and self-doubt to a stubborn, high-stakes confrontation with dangerous forces.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love hardboiled police procedurals set against volatile historical and political backdrops.
Content notes
- murder
- dismemberment
- political violence
- assassination
About the book
A torso in a suitcase looks like an impossible case. But Sean Duffy isn't easily deterred, especially when his floundering love life leaves him in need of distraction. So, with Detective Constables McCrabban and McBride, he goes to work identifying the victim. The torso turns out to be all that's left of an American tourist who once served in the US military. What was he doing in Northern Ireland in the midst of the 1982 Troubles?
The trail leads to the doorstep of a beautiful, flame-haired, twenty-something widow, whose husband died at the hands of an IRA assassination team just a few months before. Suddenly, Duffy is caught between his romantic instincts, gross professional misconduct, and powerful men he should know better than to mess with. These include British intelligence, the FBI, and local paramilitary death squads, enough to keep even the savviest detective busy.
Duffy's growing sense of self-doubt isn't helping. But, being a legendarily stubborn man, he doesn't let that stop him pursuing the case to its explosive conclusion.
Description from Open Library.
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