| The Wrong Kind of Blood, by Declan Hughes, is the story of Los Angeles P.I. Edward Loy’s return to Ireland for his mother’s funeral. After a 20 year absence, his Dublin hometown is almost unrecognizable, and certainly his old friends have changed as well. 20 years away has changed Loy also, with the death of his daughter and the heart shattering secret that destroyed his marriage. His return brings him face to face with an old classmate who wants him to find her missing husband, and an old friend with a gun of questionable origins. The morass of lies and deceptions deepens as the clues to these mysteries reveal the deadlier secrets surrounding the disappearance of Ed’s father years previously. Ed finds himself immersed in a violent world of drugs, extortition and murder; what it means to have the ‘wrong” kind of blood and the deadly lengths to which some will go to get what they want. It is a grim, yet compelling tale of greed and betrayal and although brutal at times, this book has honesty to it about what it means to get lost along the way that somehow makes the stark violence fitting. It is equally brutal about what it takes to comes to terms with a past that can’t be changes and to still get back on the right path again. Author, Declan Hughes, does a great job of contrasting the Dublin of the past with the Dublin of the present, using well-rounded, well developed characters and engrossing dialogue. He also does an excellent job of bringing together the various threads and delivering a satisfying ending with little, if anything left hanging, something even seasoned authors find a challenge. This novel is a first-rate debut in Irish crime fiction and I am eager to see what Hughes gives us next! |
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