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Times, The (London, England) - Saturday, January 14, 2012
Author: Peter Millar
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The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty
Serpent's Tail, 352pp £12.99 £11.69
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When I was growing up in Northern Ireland there were two very rare species: Catholic policemen, and people who left as students but came back. In Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy, Ulster-born Adrian McKinty has given us a hero who is traumatised enough by "the troubles" to want to do something to stop the madness of mutual murder by two tribes who have more in common with each other than anyone else.
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But when he is called to deal with what looks like a routine murder of an IRA or UVF informer on a housing estate in Carrickfergus, he finds something else: a corpse that has been ritually sodomised and had the score from a Puccini opera inserted in his rectum. Is he on the trail of Northern Ireland's first serial killer with a sexual rather than a paramilitary motive? In a world wherein which "ordinary criminals" are scarce, the Catholic Church considers divorce and abortion crimes and MI5 muddies the waters, Duffy finds himself in a wilderness of mirrors, scared of his own reflection.
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McKinty himself left Northern Ireland and didn't come back, but perhaps that distance — he now lives in Australia — has helped him to preserve a razor sharp ear for the local dialogue and a feeling for the bleak time and place that was Ulster in the early Eighties, and pair them with a wry wicked wit.
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If Raymond Chandler had grown up in Northern Ireland, The Cold Cold Ground is what he would have written.
73 comments:
Of course Raymond Chandler spent the formative years of his childhood living with his grandparents in County Waterford.
Awesome review - congrats!
Cool photo, too - did you take it yourself?
I wonder if Peter Millar's related to the crime writer Sam Millar.
Kate
I didnt take the pic but I thought it tied in nicely to the cows in the street incident in chapter 2. And of course getting stuck behind cows and sheep is an every day thing on N. Ireland's B roads.
Adrian
Still looking forward to getting my copy! I'd leave a review online but I'm a slow reader. Making do in the meantime with Scandinavian noir. (Thanks for that post; the doc was good.)
Those cows remind me of a scene from Barry Levinson's "An Everlasting Piece" - ever see it?
Another great review! Congratulations.
I'm about 2/3rds the way through the audiobook of TCCG. It's highly enjoyable and very entertaining.
The book deserves all the great reviews that it's getting!
I know it's my browser, but I kind of like the way all these photos are showing up enormous on the screen.
I like the picture but I would have thought it might be too Oirish for your tastes.
The running of the cows!
I like the photo. We've been in line waiting for cows to pass in Ireland, New Zealand, and New Mexico.
Hope your latest sells well. I downloaded it from audible and am looking forward to a long listen.
Speedskater,
I'm glad you're liking it so far, although I should warn you that the last third is all French farce and Vicar jokes.
Seana
Its a cliche but one that happens all the bloody time. And like I say its a kind of shout out to chapter 2.
Peter
If only the bastards would run. In my experience they never do more than waddle.
Michelle
Not as long as DIWMB but it is 10 hours and 3 minutes which is a bit better than Falling Glass. I can't bring myself to buy any audio under 6 hours as I dont think its good value.
favourite line so far:
Sean: "What's the matter with you? Don't you ever root for the underdog? Jesus, you'd be on the side of the Sheriff of Nottingham."
Matty: "We ARE the Sheriff of Nottingham."
Jack
Huh. I remember that line but I thought I cut it for pace in the prison chapter.
Glad you dug it anyway.
Yeah, I'm glad that bit was spared too.
Seana
When you're cutting for pace usually gags and scenes of characters reading stuff on the toilet are first to go.
I seem to remember that the pacing at that moment was exactly right. It's not just a gag, it's a swift reminder of Duffy and the police's place in this whole world.
Seana
Thats nice of you to say so. If you read it and Jack read it and neither of are reading from the galley then what must have happened is that I cut it, had second thoughts, and put it back in.
I checked--it's not a galley. I remembered the line from the earlier draft when I got around to it, and it gave me the same rather pleasurable little shock.
I once encountered some cows in Turkey. I turned and walked the other way. They apepar gentle, but at the time I didn't know how they might react.
It's funny, but almost all my own experience of cows comes from going to college. This is because the UC of Santa Cruz is not only in the redwoods but in the middle of meadows. I rode up on the bus once and saw a dead cow with all four feet sticking up in the air. It looked like a fake, but it wasn't. And walking across a meadow to get down to town at Thanksgiving one year, when no one else was around, I ran into a lone cow, who didn't seem friendly. I'm not actually sure if it was a cow or a bull, but it had horns and it was unexpectedly large in person.
Yep, a cow is awfuly large up close, alive, and at ground level. One always reads about animals that move surprisingly fast for creatures of their size or ungainly appearance, so I thought caution the best course. Instead of circumnavigating the island, I turned back the way I ha come and got a lift in a cart -- pulled by a horse.
Congrats on that review. Just finshed CCG a few minutes ago, so now I can take a bit of time and look at all the reviews, as I never read them before I read a something. Bottom line...I loved it and if you lived close by, I could talk for endless hours with you or anyone who has read it.
I'll get cracking on a review and expect to finish it tomorrow.
Juice Newton, a GA cameo, and that one scene with Duffy ( you know which one I mean ;)
Great job, Adrian and the first chapter of book 2... what an opener.
I thought the line was brilliant, highlighting the split in Duffy's own mind, and how the police were perceived. Are you working onthe next one as we write?
Seana
Ok good. It is a bad habit though to be always looking for the joke and I've got to watch that.
Peter
Turkish cows. Enough said. Isn't that how they took Constantinople? Armed attack cows?
Sean
Yeah Juice Newton's Queen of Hearts was a bane of my childhood environment.
The scene with Duffy in the bog you mean? That nearly hit the cutting room floor too.
Lil
In theory I'm working on the next one. Lets just leave it at that shall we? You dont know who might be listening.
Congratulations. I hope these reviews lead to more recogition of your work (and sales too). In the meantime, I'm still waiting for the Australian release - Feb 1st, I think...
Funny bit describing Ireland's duality by mentioning (inter alia) bicycle valves!
Simon
The recognition is great but I hope people buy the book. I know it all sounds grim but really there are some light moments and hopefully a mordant Belfast wit.
Speedskater
My editor left a query note at "Presta Valve/Shrader Valve" but I just ignored it and soldiered on. It was a much longer and weirder list of dichotomies but it got too weird and too long so I did cut some of them but I was always keeping Presta/Shrader. I thought maybe 1 reader in 50 would get it which was fine by me.
I was refering to the scene where SD gets the resin
Sean
Yeah. The bog. There was some discussion whether I took that scene too far, but I felt that actually maybe I didn't go far enough.
The resin is good stuff too. You dont really see that in America because grass is so plentiful. You have to cook it off a lighter and roll it into tobacco or bake with it as they do in Amsterdam.
Cool, we are talkng about the same one. It certainly added a whole new layer of conflict / suspense to the story, and the more I think about it, it was a brilliant move. Not sure if it would have worked as good / better if the deal was sealed.
Very familiar with resin, as it was part of the hash fad that I rememeber from 79-82 here in the US
Hash was the drug of choice in my youth. I was surprised to find when I got to college in the US. that it was considered a luxury item. I always thought mixing it with tobacco was for wusses, though.
Sean
Yes the ballance in that scene was tricky. Glad you think I hit upon the goldilocks solution.
Oh hash was a scene was it? I never saw it anywhere when I was in the US.
Peter
How do you smoke it without tabac? Do you use a water pipe or something?
A little pipe with a wire screen -- or so I;m told.
(all hearsay of course) but you stuck a sewing needle through a piece of cardboard, then jammed the piece of hash on it, set it afire and put a glass over it. When the glass filled with smoke, you lifted the edge, and inhaled the smoke. Thus "hash under glass" of HUG as we(I mean they) used to call it.
This discussion falls under the rubric of historical research, right?
Historical research, or nostalgia for lost youth.
Sean, Peter, Lil
I don't know about that. Whenever I'm in Amsterdam I get totally baked. When in Rome...
Like Sean's method, only sticking the piece on the end of a knife heated over the stove. The bad kids called it "the hot knife."
I visited an Amsterdam coffeeshop, and it got raided!
Just finished the audio version - it was fabulous. I didn't know much about the troubles so while I was listening I was doing research. One question-will there be a sequel?
Congrats on the great reviews. The wife and I are still a book behind unfortunately, though we will rectify that soon. (And will do a review.)
Saw this today and thought you might enjoy. Hope all is well.
Brian O
Very informative thread lol. Now I know how to do hash, pick a lock & what to with cows in Turkey. Sounds like an idea for a book
Marg
Hope the original research wasnt too annoying.
Will there be a sequel? Thats the plan anyway, although at the moment, I'm sort of in, the, ahem, planning stage.
Brian
I'm supposed to be writing a 1000 word piece on Strangers on a Train so that will come in very useful as at the moment I've written zero.
Hope you like the book when you get to it!
Swooperman
Just dont try to smuggle hash out of Turkey. That is a movie. And a true story. And its not a pretty one at all.
And don't get caught dissing cows, either.
No, wait. That's India.
Peter
Except in the Punjab where they happily eat them.
Quentin Tarantino picks his top films of the year here:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/quentin-tarantino-certainly-made-some-interesting,67751/
His worst film of the year was my favourite, so I guess I wont be working with him in a hurry.
Forget about cows. What about demon sheep?
If Tarantino calls, just skip comparing movie lists and you'll be fine.
Just added my review to Audible.com You are getting some stunning reviews there, which are mounting up. However, history shows that in 1981 the obvious superiority of the Beemer over the Granada, didn't lead to a tidal wave of people buying the former and dumping the latter.
Seana
If Tarantino calls I'll tell him to his face that I loved Inglorious Basterds and then spend the next ten minutes deleting my blog posts about it.
Alan
Ahh, the poor old useless Ford Granada. But its replacement was the rather cool Ford Sierra which wasn't bad at all was it?
Cheers for the review, mate.
They eat cows in the Punjab??? That's Sikh!
Still waiting for my copy to arrive from some mob in the USA but meantime did you see this book about Bloody Sunday, here reviewed is Spectator.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/7567433/a-reallife-whodunnit.thtml
Be interested in your comments.
Paddy
I never liked Tarantino's movies but I have huge respect for him saying after "Jackie Brown" that he wasn't going to make movies for grown-ups anymore. Or for people who read books, I think.
Peter and I were teenagers in Montreal when the steady supply of hash came into the city through Beirut. Call it another French connection...
I never gave a thought to the provenance of dope, callow youth that I was.
Hi Adrian - not sure how to send you a comment - but just finished cold cold ground & it's a stunning read - prompted me to buy dead trilogy & falling glass to keep me going pending your Duffy sequel - only downside for me was Duffys gay moment which seemed totally lacking in credulity without having any bearing on the character or the plot line
John Grundy
John
I dont know, I felt it was true to the character. Its where the character led me anyway. There was no plan for it go that direction when the chapter began but Duffy sort of took over and I think he knew what he was doing. Sort of.
I think following Duffy where he went was the right choice there.
Thanks for the explanation Adrian - will be interested to see were the character develops to as you build on CCG - but I'll struggle with his credibility after CCG if he ends up Gay!!
Looking forward to reading more of your work & will recommend you without hesitation
Hi Adrain, Have just bought a copy of The Cold Cold Ground ,like you im a ex pupil of Victoria P.S. This is a first time i have read any of your books so naturally im looking forward to the read ,do the Victoria Mafia get a mention, hopefully not , i used to be Sh*t scared of them especially when i had to take the train at Downshire train halt,so good luck with the book.Alan
John
I suspect that was a one off.
Slates
Yup Victoria Primary School. Most of the book takes place on Coronation Road which was the heartland of the so called Victoria Mafia. I still have a lot of family in Carrick so all the names have been changed but I reckon you'll recognise a few people.
ggh
Hi Adrian
Just read your book, terrific, evocative of the times that I lived through. It teems with the paranoia,chaos and gritty black humour of 'Norn Iron' yet the potential for more might be closer to reality of those days.
Currently reading The Big Sleep on my new kindle and certainly agree with Peter Millar's suggestion.
I won your book in the English crime competition, but already bought it!
I live north of the river in your current adopted city.
Bloggs
Yeah people not from Norn Irn dont understand the black humour bit much do they? Its like that old expression I didnt know whether to laugh or cry.
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