I have loaded it onto my iPad
KIRKUS REVIEW
A plot-twisting, page-turning humdinger in which collateral damage gets a murderous spin.
Alive, actress/model Susie Monaghan snagged her allotted 15 minutes of fame and then some. Dead, she became an absolute sensation. She was gorgeous, yes. Talented, maybe. A head case, no question: a beautiful, outrageous flake who did drugs unabashedly and went through boyfriends carnivorously. A fatal helicopter crash off the coast of Ireland rocketed her to the top of the A-list, where she hovered indefinitely like some headline-hungry ghost. People couldn’t stop talking about her, which is OK with a certain young Dublin journalist. Jimmy Gilroy, recently downsized, has received an unexpected and most welcome book deal. He’s charged with immortalizing Susie Monaghan, an assignment he’s prepared to take very seriously given his straitened circumstances, plus the attractive added inducement of Susie’s lovely sister, whose input he deems integral to the project. But then the worrisome phone calls from longtime friend and benefactor Phil Sweeney commence, suggesting ever more forcefully that he back off. Other voices join in. It’s from an obviously unnerved and deeply depressed former prime minister of Ireland, however, that he hears the phrase “collateral damage” applied to Susie. Five others died when the helicopter went down. Jimmy knew that, of course, but now he gets his first sulfuric whiff of something rotten being covered up.
His prose spare but spirited, Glynn (Winterland, 2011, etc.) spins an all-too-likely tale of secrets, lies and power corrupted. Chilling.
Alive, actress/model Susie Monaghan snagged her allotted 15 minutes of fame and then some. Dead, she became an absolute sensation. She was gorgeous, yes. Talented, maybe. A head case, no question: a beautiful, outrageous flake who did drugs unabashedly and went through boyfriends carnivorously. A fatal helicopter crash off the coast of Ireland rocketed her to the top of the A-list, where she hovered indefinitely like some headline-hungry ghost. People couldn’t stop talking about her, which is OK with a certain young Dublin journalist. Jimmy Gilroy, recently downsized, has received an unexpected and most welcome book deal. He’s charged with immortalizing Susie Monaghan, an assignment he’s prepared to take very seriously given his straitened circumstances, plus the attractive added inducement of Susie’s lovely sister, whose input he deems integral to the project. But then the worrisome phone calls from longtime friend and benefactor Phil Sweeney commence, suggesting ever more forcefully that he back off. Other voices join in. It’s from an obviously unnerved and deeply depressed former prime minister of Ireland, however, that he hears the phrase “collateral damage” applied to Susie. Five others died when the helicopter went down. Jimmy knew that, of course, but now he gets his first sulfuric whiff of something rotten being covered up.
His prose spare but spirited, Glynn (Winterland, 2011, etc.) spins an all-too-likely tale of secrets, lies and power corrupted. Chilling.
by Alan Glynn
Review: A
young investigative journalist takes on an assignment to write about
the tragic death of a celebrity aboard a helicopter that accidentally
crashed off the northeastern coast of Ireland three years ago, only to
learn that it might not have been an accident after all, in Bloodland, a stand-alone thriller by Alan Glynn.
Susie Monaghan was as much a tabloid star as a television star. Her death, together with five others who were accompanying her, is now several years old but a publisher believes the time is right to revive interest in her. Jimmy Gilroy is paid a handsome sum to write a book about Susie Monaghan, and begins by investigating her traveling companions. Susie had texted her sister the day before she died that she feared someone who would be on the flight with her. Jimmy has barely started his work when his old friend and mentor, Phil Sweeney, offers him an even larger advance if he'll stop writing about Susie, and instead do a political memoir about Larry Bolger, a former Irish Prime Minister. Jimmy reluctantly agrees, but it may be too late to stop a sequence of events he initiated by asking questions about what really happened the day Susie Monaghan died.
What seems to start as a local interest story expands in scope to become an international tale of greed, corruption and murder in Bloodland. Jimmy Gilroy is a strong and convincing lead character, but equally compelling are the immoral men he seeks the truth about. The twist-filled, tautly written plot takes a number of unexpected turns that keep the reader alert for what might happen next. This is a very good thriller, one with simmering tension that threatens to boil over at any point.
Susie Monaghan was as much a tabloid star as a television star. Her death, together with five others who were accompanying her, is now several years old but a publisher believes the time is right to revive interest in her. Jimmy Gilroy is paid a handsome sum to write a book about Susie Monaghan, and begins by investigating her traveling companions. Susie had texted her sister the day before she died that she feared someone who would be on the flight with her. Jimmy has barely started his work when his old friend and mentor, Phil Sweeney, offers him an even larger advance if he'll stop writing about Susie, and instead do a political memoir about Larry Bolger, a former Irish Prime Minister. Jimmy reluctantly agrees, but it may be too late to stop a sequence of events he initiated by asking questions about what really happened the day Susie Monaghan died.
What seems to start as a local interest story expands in scope to become an international tale of greed, corruption and murder in Bloodland. Jimmy Gilroy is a strong and convincing lead character, but equally compelling are the immoral men he seeks the truth about. The twist-filled, tautly written plot takes a number of unexpected turns that keep the reader alert for what might happen next. This is a very good thriller, one with simmering tension that threatens to boil over at any point.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Bloodland.
Acknowledgment: Picador provided a copy of Bloodland for this review.
Review Copyright © 2012 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
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