All the Dead Voices
On sale
13th May 2010
Price: £9.99
Genre
Ed Loy has made some changes.
He has moved into an apartment in Dublin’s city centre, leaving behind his family home: he wants to break free of the ghosts of his own past, to live in the teeming present. But if that’s what he wants for his own life, it’s not always what his clients will permit: the baggage they bring with him propel him relentlessly into past.
The police are working along similar lines with their new Cold Case unit. Looking back over a fifteen-year-old murder, they are satisfied by their original findings – but not so Loy. He has been hired by the victim’s daughter to investigate the suspects ignored by the first investigation: a rich property developer, an ex-IRA man and Loy’s own nemesis, George Halligan.
But Loy has to watch his back: in the murky world into which he has fallen, he can’t tell which threats come from the IRA and which from the police protecting their old case. Can Loy persuade his longstanding friend DI Dave Donnelly to help solve the Fogarty case, or does he have to rely on the murderous George Halligan? Does it all go back to the IRA? Are the men who gave the commands now respectable citizens?
In his toughest case yet, Ed Loy delves into the dirty side of life in the New Ireland, where progress comes at a price and no one is free of their past.
He has moved into an apartment in Dublin’s city centre, leaving behind his family home: he wants to break free of the ghosts of his own past, to live in the teeming present. But if that’s what he wants for his own life, it’s not always what his clients will permit: the baggage they bring with him propel him relentlessly into past.
The police are working along similar lines with their new Cold Case unit. Looking back over a fifteen-year-old murder, they are satisfied by their original findings – but not so Loy. He has been hired by the victim’s daughter to investigate the suspects ignored by the first investigation: a rich property developer, an ex-IRA man and Loy’s own nemesis, George Halligan.
But Loy has to watch his back: in the murky world into which he has fallen, he can’t tell which threats come from the IRA and which from the police protecting their old case. Can Loy persuade his longstanding friend DI Dave Donnelly to help solve the Fogarty case, or does he have to rely on the murderous George Halligan? Does it all go back to the IRA? Are the men who gave the commands now respectable citizens?
In his toughest case yet, Ed Loy delves into the dirty side of life in the New Ireland, where progress comes at a price and no one is free of their past.
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Reviews
'The authority of a writer who has found his stride: it's energetic, pacy and vivid'
'Muscular writing, a smart line in self-deprecating humour, terrific dialogue and an engrossing portrayal of the sights and sounds of Dublin noir'
'This is an extremely dark book, pushing the limits in terms of violence and morality'
'Loy is a winning combination of caustic cynicism and romantic idealism ... [Hughes] works with heavy resonant imagery [and] gives the reader an ending which confounds the expectations of the genre ... which is all the more satisfying for it'
'A tense, well-written thriller, very effective at conveying the undercurrent of danger to Ed's investigations. It weaves together the different threads of the story expertly, and every word counts'
'Seems like Declan Hughes has scored another winner'
'Ever-improving series ... Dublin's answer to Ian Rankin's Edinburgh-set Rebus books ... Hughes has always been a fine writer ... All the Dead Voices sees him up his game with impressive results ... gripping, beautifully written and occasionally wise'
'A gritty and realistic look at modern Ireland ... the fantastic thing about this book is the characters; they are so clearly depicted and authentic, you genuinely feel as if you have entered the gang-land Ireland ... highly recommended!'
'What lifts it all out of the ordinary is Hughes' self-awareness ... there are plenty of highlights ... an enjoyable and satisfying read'
'With his terrific sense of place - it's a great, gritty vision of Dublin - and a convincing characterisation, Hughes goes from strength to strength as a writer. As the tension and suspense build, this tightly crafted novel does not disappoint'
'There is no shortage of action ... well written and gripping, suitably bloody and with a bit of sex thrown in'
PRAISE FOR DECLAN HUGHES:
'I'd be prepared to swear that there has never been a character in Irish crime fiction with a name so taut, muscular and slyly tongue in cheek as Ed Loy . . .'
To call Declan Hughes "a natural" is to engage in understatement. Here is a crime novel that's both deftly plotted and truly character-driven. Like Chandler's Los Angeles, Hughes's Dublin is brilliantly atmospheric. The dialogue crackles and the characters have a truly lived-in authenticity. A great read
Declan Hughes breathes new life into the private detective story
Finally Ireland gets a hardboiled detective worthy of the name...- it's not hard to see why [Declan Hughes'] publisher placed so much faith in such a relative newcomer
'Top class . . . Fast moving, and paced with acutely observed dialogue, Hughes draws an accurate and decidedly dark picture of the changes wrought by Celtic Tiger Ireland on Seaview and its inhabitants. Highly recommended'
Hughes is in his element describing the sites and sounds of the places Loy visits
'Declan Hughes manages the extremely difficult trick of not only locating a credible thriller in Ireland but also casting an eye on the way this society has changed utterly in the past two decades . . . Hughes laces his plot with razor-sharp and frequently hilarious comments on Irish society'
'Declan Hughes has written a thriller that is a hell of a good read . . . there's an energy to his writing that suggests he's in it for the long haul'
'Declan Hughes has an unparalled grip on the parallel uiniverses of contemporary Dublin, and his Ed Loy series just keeps getting better ... this volume has an elegiac post-Tiger, post-Troubles feel - which just turns Hughes's stylish noir an even darker shade of black'
'An exuberantly written slice of Dublin noir'