THE FIRE STARTERS by Jan Carson

THE FIRE STARTERS Jan Carson (jancarsonwrites.wordpress.com) Doubleday Ireland £14.99 It’s a hot summer in East Belfast and, as the Twelfth of July looms, tensions begin to rise as high as the bonfires dotted around this part of the city. When Stormont imposed a thirty feet height limit on the Eleventh Night bonfires, it […]

LYING IN WAIT by Liz Nugent

LYING IN WAIT Liz Nugent (liznugent.ie) Penguin Random House (www.penguinrandomhouse.com) £12.99 Andrew Fitzsimons is a respected judge in the Dublin Criminal Courts system. He and his reclusive wife have been forced to kill a young woman and her body is now buried in their back garden. While Lydia seems to be in control of the […]

INFLUENCES: Five Books that Influenced Me by LIZ NUGENT

Name: LIZ NUGENT Author of: UNRAVELLING OLIVER (2014) LYING IN WAIT (2016) On the web: liznugent.ie On Twitter: @lizzienugent 1. The Book of Evidence by John Banville I first read this when it was published in 1991 and thought it excellent. I wasn’t surprised when it won the Booker prize. In 2002, I was […]

THOSE WE LEFT BEHIND by Stuart Neville

THOSE WE LEFT BEHIND Stuart Neville (www.stuartneville.com) Harvill Secker (www.vintage-books.co.uk) £12.99 Released: June 2015 After seven years served for the murder of his foster father, Ciaran Devine is released from the young offenders’ centre where he and his brother Thomas spent their teenage years. Probation Officer Paula Cunningham is assigned his case – a high-profile […]

An Interview with STEVE CAVANAGH

Name: STEVE CAVANAGH Author of: THE DEFENCE (2015) On the web: stevecavanagh.com On Twitter: @SSCav Steve Cavanagh was born and raised in Belfast, where he currently works as a practicing solicitor in the field of civil rights law. The Defence is his first novel. Thank you, Steve, for taking the time to chat with us. […]

THE DEFENCE by Steve Cavanagh

THE DEFENCE Steve Cavanagh (stevecavanagh.com) Orion Books (www.orionbooks.co.uk) £12.99 “Do exactly as I tell you or I’ll put a bullet in your spine.” Pushing the gun hard into my back, he said, “I’ll follow you out of the bathroom. You’ll put on your coat. You’ll pay for breakfast, and we’ll leave together. We’re going to […]

THE BLOOD DIMMED TIDE by Anthony Quinn

THE BLOOD DIMMED TIDE Anthony Quinn (anthonyquinnwriter.com) No Exit Press (www.noexit.co.uk) £8.99 In the dying days of 1917, the body of young woman is washed ashore on the west coast of Ireland, near Sligo. She is in an old and decomposing coffin. Before her death, she sent a letter to London, to the poet William […]

INFLUENCES: The New Northern Ireland by ANTHONY QUINN

Name: ANTHONY QUINN Author of: DISAPPEARED (2012) BORDER ANGELS (2013) THE BLOOD DIMMED TIDE (2014) On the web: anthonyquinnwriter.com On Twitter: @ajpquinn To celebrate the launch of his most recent novel, The Blood Dimmed Tide, I’m very pleased to welcome Anthony Quinn to Reader Dad to talk about some of the books that […]

BROKEN ANGELS by Graham Masterton

BROKEN ANGELS Graham Masterton (www.grahammasterton.co.uk) Head of Zeus (headofzeus.com) £16.99 The body of a priest is found in a river just outside Cork. He has been tortured, castrated and bound with harp wire before dying. Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire of the Cork Guardai picks up the case and discovers that the dead priest is one […]

RATLINES by Stuart Neville

RATLINES Stuart Neville (stuartneville.com) Harvill Secker (www.vintage-books.co.uk/about-us/harvill-secker) £12.99 It is 1963 and Ireland is preparing for an historic visit from US president, John F. Kennedy. The death of the third foreign national, a German businessman, in the space of a handful of days could threaten not only the presidential visit, but the relationship between Ireland […]