From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. McKinty finishes up his knockout trilogy featuring Irish mercenary Michael Forsythe with his most visceral, satisfying effort yet (after 2006's
The Dead Yard). Perennial fugitive Forsythe has drifted to Lima, Peru, where he's grabbed by a couple of strong-arm men who force him at gunpoint to take a phone call. Bridget Callaghan, a former lover and the one-time fiancée of Irish-American mobster Darkey White (whom Forsythe killed), has finally tracked Forsythe down and offers a modest proposal: come to Belfast and find her 11-year-old daughter, Siobhan, who's gone missing, or take a bullet. Our man arrives in Dublin on June 16, when the city is overrun with Joyceans celebrating Bloomsday. Dodging various assassins, Forsythe makes his way up to Belfast. Back on his home turf, he sets out after the girl, apparently kidnapped by a fringe group of IRA paramilitaries. McKinty writes masterful action scenes, and he whips up a frenzy as the bullets begin to fly. Devotees of Irish literature will also appreciate the many allusions to Joyce's
Ulysses.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
A near-perfect marriage of fiction and performance, THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD is a must-listen. Actor Gerard Doyle inhabits the narrator, an Irish ne'er-do-well with a heart of gold, Michael Forsythe. An international traveler and mercenary/criminal/dealer of justice and death, Forsythe is portrayed by Doyle in an intimate virtuoso performance that intensifies the taut, gritty writing. Every nuance of the protagonist's soul lives in the read; listeners will be grasping for the following CD lest they lose the energy of the story. Whether we are hearing Forsythe, his enemies, comrades, cops, kids, or women, there is never a lack of distinct personality in this soaring, tragic story. D.J.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
