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THE COLOUR OF BLOOD
by Declan Hughes
John Murray, April 2007
352 pages
12.99 GBP
ISBN: 0719567475


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

After years of being a crime fiction backwater, the Irish are finally staking their claim to the genre. To the patron saint of noir, St Ken Bruen, we can now add Declan Hughes.

The influences from the American hard-boiled PI tradition are clear in Hughes's work – our hero Ed Loye is hard-drinking, unable to resist the femme fatale, and has the required stubbornness to see it all through to the end.

But unlike the first outing, THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD, the narrative and pacing are much tighter. And, equally importantly, the book feels genuinely rooted in Dublin. Last time out it felt as if Hughes was shoe-horning his idea into a place it wasn't much interested in going to.

Now, though, Ed is back in Dublin to stay. And Hughes captures modern Ireland with its two classes – those who have benefited from the Celtic Tiger boom, and those who are still bumping along on the bottom. To this mix he adds the Eastern European immigrants who are making Ireland their home.

THE COLOUR OF BLOOD is focussed over three days, and moves along briskly. Ed is asked to find Emily Howard, a missing 19-year-old. Tracking her down turns out to be just the beginning of the story, as porn films, gangsters and murky family history from 30 years back criss-cross the action.

Hughes, a playwright, is surprisingly, perhaps, better on narrative than he is on dialogue. There are plenty of lush, vivid descriptions, including the final image of Dublin's dawn skyline turning the colour of blood. The dialogue at times tends to feel a tad clunky and stagy. But the characterisation is strong, as Hughes sets the wealthy Southside family with their rugby-playing and preoccupation with their professional standing alongside the low-lives.

This is a writer who has clearly immersed himself in the PI tradition and has given it a new spin. After a slightly bumpy start, this series is finally starting to motor.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, April 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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