Duffy Scores Again
Detective Sean Duffy is again embroiled in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Not to mention the countless added troubles that author Adrian McKinty thrusts upon our hero. Duffy is a cop. He’s also a Catholic, a rarity in the ranks of the Protestant-dominant law enforcement community of Belfast in 1985. Which makes him doubly unpopular. Well aware that he makes an easy target, Duffy starts each day by checking under his car for a bomb. He’s been lucky so far. But he’s still suffered a painful assortment of bullet wounds, broken bones and rocky relationships. But you gotta love the hard-drinking Duffy. He never allows his superiors’ orders, or multiple dangers, to get in the way of doing his duty. He’s a tough, old-school cop who never looks the other way. In the detective’s latest adventure, he investigates a possible link between a questionable series of suicides/murders and the theft of missiles from a Northern Ireland factory. Sean Duffy is brought to life by award-winning narrator Gerard Doyle. British-born Doyle, who has followed Duffy through all his exploits, provides the perfect Irish accent for the hard-core detective. The gruffness, moodiness, anger, pain, and seemingly Scotch-infused speech always hit the mark. Doyle is also expert at delivering distinct and consistent voices to the wide range of characters. A better match of narrator would be highly unlikely for this audiobook series. Turn on the audiobook, sit back, pour yourself a Duffy-favored Islay Scotch, and root for the good guy. And just maybe McKinty will go easier on him next time. “I went outside. A filthy-looking cloud hanging over Belfast like an evil djinn. The first raindrops. I checked under the BMW for bombs and got inside. I drove down Coronation Road, past a gaggle of sodden children and an emaciated horse being ridden by Dominic Mulvenna, the malevolent, demon child from the last house on the street. The rain had become a biblical scourge. “