Coming in January 2012...Hey, do me a big favour, tell a friend about this book. And then tell two more friends...
It's undoubtedly McKinty's finest novel: a visceral journey to the heart of darkness that was 1980's Northern Ireland. Written with intelligence, insight and wit, McKinty exposes the cancer of corruption at all levels of society at that time. Sean Duffy is a compelling detective, the evocation of the period is breathtaking and the atmosphere authentically menacing. A brilliant piece of work which does for the North what Peace's Red Riding Quartet did for Yorkshire.
---Brian McGilloway
THE COLD, COLD GROUND is a razor sharp thriller set against the backdrop of a country in chaos, told with style, courage and dark-as-night wit. Adrian McKinty channels Dennis Lehane, David Peace and Joseph Wambaugh to create a brilliant novel with its own unique voice.
---Stuart Neville
The hunger strikes mark the bleakest period of Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’, and it’s entirely fitting that Adrian McKinty should be the writer to plunge into that darkest of hearts. It’s a rare author who can write so beautifully about such a poisonous atmosphere, but McKinty’s prose is a master-class in vicious poise as he explores the apparent contradictions that underpin Ulster’s self-loathing. Be in no doubt that this novel is a masterpiece: had David Peace, Eoin McNamee and Brian Moore sat down to brew up the great ‘Troubles’ novel, they would have been very pleased indeed to have written The Cold, Cold Ground.
---Declan Burke
The Cold Cold Ground is a fearless trip into Northern Ireland in the 1980’s: riots, hunger strikes, murders -- a time when every action from the mundane to the extreme is a political statement, yet Adrian McKinty tells a very personal story of an ordinary cop trying to hunt down a serial killer.
---John McFetridge
Adrian McKinty's The Cold Cold Ground has got to on my five best of the year [list] as it is riveting, brilliant and just about the best book yet on Northern Ireland.
---Ken Bruen
Adrian McKinty is the voice of the new Northern Irish generation but he’s not afraid to examine the past. Through Sean Duffy, his latest protagonist, he applies his unique writing skills to our troubled history expertly. This writer is a legend in the making and Cold, Cold Ground is the latest proof of this.
---Gerard Brennan
74 comments:
Good on you, Mr. McKinty! I can't wait to read it. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Have you ever met the Belfast writer Anna Burns, or read her book No Bones? It's also really good.
Good on you, Mr. McKinty! I can't wait to read it. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Have you ever met the Belfast writer Anna Burns, or read her book No Bones? It's also really good.
Anon
Burns is a new one to me, but I will check it out.
I ordered it just now from the Book Depository.
It's awesome that you've been compared to Brian Moore.
"Lets set fire to tears" is vaguely familiar whats it from?
Anon
Moore's one of the best isnt he? I really liked Black Robe.
Andy
Whats the matter, dont you have google in your house?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElNlIfwlF-w
Yeah, I loved Black Robe, too - and it was a pretty good movie as well. I want to read his novel about French colonists in North Africa, but my local library got rid of it! He wrote about cultural identities in such a unique way. I guess he was raised Catholic and learned late in life that most of his ancestors had been Protestant settlers who converted.
Can't wait. Your Dead trilogy turned me on to Irish crime. I've been reading Breun, Neville, Burke, and Hughes. Great stuff!
You're coming out fighting for this one a little more than recent efforts, aren't you?
Good stuff. Just got my proof from ST this morning.
I have no problem telling friends about your books. I shared excerpts from The Wandering Rocks in Bloomsday with a friend who could only say,"Jeez, the guy writes gorgeous prose!"
After Fifty Grand - which was very good - I didn't think you'd write about Ireland anymore. Will we ever hear from Alex Lawson again? The descriptions of India in Hidden River are stunning.
Congrats Adrian. I can't wait to read it, and will certainly be spreading the good word.
Thank God for Northern Irish writers.
I'm giving you an A+ on self promotion for this one. I know it goes against your grain to do it, but it must help that all you really had to do was cut and paste.
I know that it might seem a little suspicious that all those guys are your pals, but it's lucky for them that they didn't have to stretch the truth even a bit. And also, that they have good taste.
Anon
I just did an IMDB search and yes you're right there is a movie of Black Robe and it looks good. Thats going on my list.
Unknown
Those guys are great!
I'm glad you'd liked the Dead books. This one I think is up there and may even be a little tighter and better.
Gordon
If people dont buy this one then I'm clearly in the wrong business and will have to reevaluate what the hell I'm doing with my life or something!
Anon
Alex Lawson, eh? He might have a cameo coming up soon somewhere...
Sean
I appreciate it mate. Whenever I do one of those stats checks on my page I always see a bunch of people who have come over from your page, so I really do owe you for that one bud.
Anon #2
There are certainly firing on all cylinders arent they?
Seana
I'm also hopefully getting a few blurbs from writers who haven't heard of me at all. We'll see about that. It's tough to get your mail delivered up Mount Olympus.
People already like your books. Really like your books, so you can't use that as an excuse to stop. It's just that not enough people know about them.
But I do think this might be your best, although I haven't read the final version yet. I don't know. It's a pretty high bar.
Seana
Well we'll see. Its my feeling that Irish crime writing is at least as good as Scandinavian crime fiction and maybe that bit better because its funnier.
Well, it's worth remembering that it took that Scandinavian wave a long time to hit. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö made the first little ripple in the late sixties, but I only learned about them twenty years later because the guy who did our mystery section then had gotten on to them, and he could handsell them, but no one was really asking for them. And when Henning Mankell came out here, it was in the nice Random House jackets that identify them now, but with very black covers from a publisher I don't remember. Sales were very slow.
Larsson may be responsible for the current huge phenomenon, but I think Mankell came into his own once Vintage took a risk on him. I don't think even for them, reaching an American audience came particularly easy.
I quite liked the movie version of Black Robe for its connections with my homeland, for its harsh landscape, and for its gentle reminder to guilty white liberals that not all Native Americans were gentle lovers of peace.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seana
And Patrick O'Brian took three decades to take off. Although I think he had a private income or something so writing could be a bit of a hobby for him.
Peter
The book is a little like a Canadian version of Blood Meridian at times.
He also had a friendship with Picasso, so there's that.
Cormac McCarthy is unexplored territory to me, I'm afraid, as the Canadian and American heartland were to the Black Robe.
Adrian,
Greetings. Name's Andrew Nette, I'm the reviews editor guy at Crime Factory. I love your work. Reviewed Falling Glass for CF#8, thought it was great, and have just read Dead I May Well be.
I am really looking forward to your next one, personally and to review for CF.
Cheers,
Andrew
Seana
I would find that irritating. You're a hack scribbling sea stories and he's next door with all the women and the cash.
Peter
You really should try Child of God. I think you'd enjoy it very much.
Andrew
If ST listen to me and send out a lot of review copies (and last time I had some trouble with that) I'll make sure CF gets one.
Thanks. I've known about him for years, of course, especially since his name often comes up in or alongside discussions of crime writing. I've never known where to start reading, though.
Yeah, but apparently he got an excellent biography out of it.
So if a similar situation comes up, just hold the irritation and invite yourself over for a glass of something.
Peter
Start with the Tennessee novels.
Child of God is terrific and is strangely full of Ulster dialect words. Well perhaps not so strangely.
Outer Dark and The Orchard Keeper are good too. Suttree is a bit more ponderous.
My personal favourites from the later period are Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses.
Seana
Havent read the biography but I'll bet its good.
Thanks. I'm not sure some of the earlier titles are as well known as the later ones.
I haven't either, but I heard him interviewed about it. Can't remember by who.
Peter
The film Black Robe may not have done well here in the States, but like you I also liked the way they filmed the Canadian landscape. And you'd definitely never confuse it with Dances With Wolves.
Seana
Thanks for listing Scandinavian authors I hadn't heard of. I'd like to read more about Scandinavian life but Larsson just isn't doing it for me. Something must get lost in the translation because his prose seems pretty lifeless, doesn't it? Cliches, wooden dialogue, and too many sentences like "Giannini put on a black top with a gray jacket" and "Blomkvist made himself a sandwich of meatballs and lingonberries". What kind of storytelling is that?
I wish I could remember the author and title of a fairly recent novel about witchcraft in modern Iceland. The author was a woman who provided plenty of information about the country's history and its sometimes grisly folk practices. Jar City was good, too.
Adrian
Re: Ulsterisms in American English
When I learned that the Southern US insult "you're dumber than a bag of hammers" was a gift from Scots-Irish immigrants, I knew I had to see Northern Ireland for myself some day.
Adrian,
I'm grateful to Northern Irish writers, partly because they know how to create flawed, recognizably human characters, and they write honestly about what violence does to peoples' spirits. The literature's taught me a lot about humor, resilience, and how terribly easy it is to sabotage one's own life.
Anon 2
Black Robe is a terrific book and a very good movie.
Cold Cold Ground is a terrific book.
Seana makes a good point, I think, about the various blurbs being written by Adrian's friends and peers. I'm willing to bet, though, as was my own case, that most of blurbers, and probably all, got to know Adrian because his books are so good.
Cheers, Dec
“I wish I could remember the author and title of a fairly recent novel about witchcraft in modern Iceland. The author was a woman who provided plenty of information about the country's history and its sometimes grisly folk practices.”
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir?
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter,
That's it!
Thanks Adrian. Just wondering, have you read the Red Riding quartet by David Peace? If so, any comments? It's mentioned in a couple of the reviews you provided. Good luck with the novel and get cracking on the next ...
Anon
Ok I'll definitely check out Black Robe the film then. Like I say I very much enjoyed the book.
Dec
We're trying to get a few people who dont know me at all. The only problem is that they probably get a lot of requests for blurbs...but hey we'll see.
Peter
Nicely played there although I have no idea what either of you are talking about.
Simon
I liked Red Riding very much. I think my favourite was 1980. I'm a David Peace fan. I also liked Tokyo Year Zero, GB84 and the one about Brian Clough at Leeds.
Wow...nice positive reviews there my man....am looking forward very much to getting my grubby lil hands on a copy. To be compared alongside Peace is fantastic, an author I admire incredibly having just knocked off reading Tokyo Year Zero. Let's hope established Northerners will be compared to you one day ;)
How far afield do authors and their agents range in seeking blurbs? I know of someone who likes your work and would be a real connection with lots of authors. Of course, you might have tried this person already. Reply by e-mail if interested.
Sorry if I noodged you on the subject of Black Robe. Hope you enjoy No Bones. (Great chapter about an across-the-barricades effort to train kids for careers as secretaries and carpenters - priceless.)
Dan
I liked TYZ although many people did not. In fact I dont think I've read a Peace I havent liked.
Peter
Oh yeah the more the merrier. I draw the line at the dead.
Anon
Noodging towards goodness is good. I just wonder if it'll be in my local video shop. Many things arent. I've been looking for Cutters Way for months now.
“I draw the line at the dead.”
Good title, that.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter, you should post a link to that comment by your pal Yrsa about your name.
Anons, I'm getting a bit confused by who is who. Although I haven't done it myself, you could post in with a fake name without signing on to Google central.
Anyway, I can tell you about a whole raft, or perhaps skulk of Nordic crime writers if you make your way through those. So can Peter. I agree that Larsson is a bit overrated, but I think in the long run he's helping a lot of other Scandinavian writers get read more widely.
I'd take the word of any of the writers you quoted, Adrian, so it's not a complaint.
One of my bookshop friends found a used copy of Dead I Well May Be, which she is going to share with her friends who went to Cuba. They are all psyched, which is a perfect place to set them up for Cold Cold Ground. Since I can't sell it right now, at least I'm doing the two or three friends thing.
I can't wait to get my cold, cold hands on it!!!
OK, Seana, here’s a link to my pal Yrsa’s comment about my name.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seana
As I understand it all Americans are now free to visit Havanna now. I think this is a very good thing. You should go if you get the chance.
Holden
I think you'll dig it. But then what do I know?
Peter
Things would be very different if I'd been called Yrsa.
Things would be different if you'd been called "Yrsa"? You're just afraid to try to say "Sigurðardóttir." Go ahead. I dare you.
Holden, you will.
It would be fun to go to Cuba with my sisters, as my mom had a scrapbook about visiting there before Castro.
Funny, that makes two places my mother lived in or knew where not too long after a dictator popped up and changed the political landscape.
I can't wait to get my hands on it!
I hope it does great.
Seana
I do not rec taking the train to Santiago. Not unless you've got 20 hours to spare.
Peter
No chance mate!
Lew
Dont forget to tell a friend!
Linguistic wuss!
If we were to recreate my mom's experience, I think we mostly just stay in Havana and drink cocktails. Uh, and take some photographs.
Maybe you get Serpent's Tail to send a copy of Cold Cold Ground to James Nesbitt.
This sounds great, and talk about unimpeachable critics! Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until it makes its way to the US. In fact, I'm still waiting for Falling Glass! Neither of which we are likely to see until spring. (Unless you can score a galley for me.)
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