I was a latecomer to this series, set in 1980s Belfast and featuring DI Sean Duffy… a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary and this latest is only the third I’ve read, but I think it’s one of my favourites so far.

Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly: A Sean Duffy Thriller (Sean Duffy 6)
by Adrian McKinty
Series: Detective Sean Duffy #6
on January 5th 2017
Source: Allen & Unwin
Genres: Crime Fiction
ISBN: 1781256926, 9781781256923
Pages: 353

Goodreads

Belfast 1988: A man is found dead, killed with a bolt from a crossbow in front of his house.

This is no hunting accident. But uncovering who is responsible for the murder will take Detective Sean Duffy down his most dangerous road yet, a road that leads to a lonely clearing on a high bog where three masked gunmen will force Duffy to dig his own grave.

Hunted by forces unknown, threatened by Internal Affairs, and with his relationship on the rocks, Duffy will need all his wits to get out of this investigation in one piece

I really liked the first book I read (the fourth in the series) Gun Street Girl as well as Rain Dogs (number 5). And it seems McKinty is consistent, as I again enjoyed both the happenings in Duffy’s private life as well as the crimes he, DS McCrabban and DC Lawson, are investigating in this latest outing.

Again McKinty does a great job at putting readers into the book’s setting: 1980s Northern Ireland. And again I’m reminded how much the world has changed since Ireland was beleaguered by the ‘Troubles’. McKinty dips into events of the time and, through our characters and the narrative itself, offers a variety of perspectives in anything other than black and white, while Duffy himself focuses on right vs wrong in his own way.

I must confess I didn’t remember a lot about his partner and their baby, but Beth and Emma play on Duffy’s mind this time around. He’s now got something to lose.

Again I enjoyed McKinty’s writing and I noted his transitions and the abbreviated way he indicates time passing without having to include extraneous information….

BMW.

A2.

The causeway road.  p. 279

It excited me when I came across it in the first book I read and I was irrationally charmed (again) by its cleverness.

As usual the political climate of Ireland plays a large role in the novel as Duffy and his colleagues try to work out why a drug dealer – who reportedly paid his protection money – would be targeted, and why; and if the murder is part of a pattern.

And of course Duffy comes under fire – from all sides.

I should mention this book marks a few changes in the series – though I can’t say too much. I’m assuming there will be more….

Police At The Station And They Don’t Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin and is now available.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.