The Sean Duffy Series - Book 1
The Cold Cold Ground
“The audiobook exceeds all expectations because of narrator Gerard Doyle. His storytelling is understated, and his dialect work is remarkable…Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
Winner of the Spinetingler Award for Best Crime Novel
A Kirkus Reviews Pick of Recommended Audiobooks
Fast-paced, evocative, and brutal, The Cold Cold Ground is a brilliant depiction of Belfast at the height of the Troubles—and of a cop treading a thin, thin line—from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author Adrian McKinty.
“McKinty is one of the most striking and most memorable crime voices to emerge on the scene in years.” —Tana French
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things—and people—aren’t always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It’s no easy job—especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force. Add to this the fact that, as a Catholic policeman, it doesn’t matter which side he’s on, because nobody trusts him, and Sergeant Duffy really is in a no-win situation.
“The audiobook exceeds all expectations because of narrator Gerard Doyle. His storytelling is understated, and his dialect work is remarkable…Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
“A dark-humored shamus in the Philip Marlowe tradition.”
Wall Street Journal
“A masterpiece of Troubles crime fiction.”
Irish Times (Dublin)
“A crime novel, fast-paced, intricate, and genre to the core.”
The Guardian (London)
“McKinty creates a marvelous sense of time and place.”
Irish Independent (Dublin)
“If Raymond Chandler had grown up in Northern Ireland, The Cold Cold Ground is what he would have written.”
The Times (London)
“Reader Gerard Doyle captures every ironic twitch of McKinty’s world-weary Duffy…In each note of Doyle’s narration you hear Duffy’s resignation to the madness surrounding him. The plots are riveting, but the front-row seat to Duffy’s deteriorating equilibrium makes them even better.”
Kirkus Reviews (audio review)
“Everything in this novel hits all the right notes, from its brilliant evocation of time and place to razor-sharp dialogue to detailed police procedures.”
Booklist (starred review)
“McKinty’s fine police procedural is also the ultimate page-turner.”
Library Journal (starred review)
“A journey into a terrifying and almost dreamlike labyrinth of violence and betrayal.”
Shots Crime & Thriller Ezine
“[A] deft mix of noirish melancholy with express-train pacing and blockbuster-ready action.”
Publishers Weekly
“A razor-sharp thriller…told with style, courage, and dark-as-night wit.”
Stuart Neville, author of The House of Ashes
“Riveting, brilliant, and just about the best book yet on Northern Ireland.”
Ken Bruen, author of the Jack Taylor novels
Gerard Doyle, a seasoned audio narrator, he has been awarded dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards, was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008, and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He was born of Irish parents and raised and educated in England. In Great Britain he has enjoyed an extensive career in both television and repertory theater and toured nationally and internationally with the English Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in London’s West End in the gritty musical The Hired Man. In America he has appeared on Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law & Order. He has taught drama at Ross School for the several years.