“Gerard Doyle gives a riveting performance…Doyle is brilliantly understated, dark, and ironic…Tender and brutal, this is an amazing book boasting a stunning performance. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
Description
This Irish bad-boy thriller, set in the hardest streets of New York City, introduces us to Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping from the Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Clever, fearless, and handy with a pistol, young Michael is just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a New York crime boss, to join his gang of thugs fighting for their turf. But just as Michael is being anointed Darkey’s rising star, he inadvisably seduces Darkey’s girl. Suddenly the tables are turned, and Darkey plans a very hard fall for young Michael. But Darkey fails to account for Michael’s toughness—or his determination to wreak vengeance upon those who betray him.
A natural storyteller with a gift for dialogue, McKinty delivers us a stunning new noir voice, dark and stylish, mythic and violent—complete with an Irish lilt.
Praise
“Gerard Doyle gives a riveting performance…Doyle is brilliantly understated, dark, and ironic…Tender and brutal, this is an amazing book boasting a stunning performance. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
“Dead I Well May Be, as a portrait of violence and revenge, is a gem.” Washington Post
“McKinty…is a storyteller with the kind of style and panache that blur the line between genre and mainstream. Top-drawer.” Kirkus Reviews
“A literate, funny, wise old soul in the body of a dangerously naive teen, his Michael draws us close and relates a fantastic tale of murder and revenge in low, wry tones, as if from the next barstool…One of the best crime fiction debuts of the year.” Booklist
“Michael Forsythe is a crook, a deviant, a lover, a fighter, and a thinker. His Irish-tough language of isolation and longing makes us love and trust him despite his oh-so-great and violent flaws. When you finish this book, you just might wish you’d lived the life in its pages, and thought its thoughts, both horrible and sublime.” Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Nov 30, 2004 |
| Release Date | December 1, 2004 |
| Number in Series | 1 |
| Series Display String | The Dead Trilogy |
| Release Date Machine | 1101859200 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Suspense, Hard-Boiled |
Author Bio
Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the Troubles. His father was a welder in Harland and Wolff—the shipyard where they built the Titanic; his mother was a school lunch lady and secretary. Adrian went to Oxford University on a full scholarship where he studied philosophy.
Emigrating first to America and then Australia he found work as a door-to-door salesman, a driver, a bookstore clerk, a barman, a high school English teacher, and a semipro rugby player.
His debut crime novel, Dead I Well May Be, was shortlisted for the 2004 Dagger Award and was optioned by Universal Pictures. He is the author of more than a dozen crime novels that have been translated into over forty languages. He has won the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Barry Award, the Macavity Award, the International Thriller Writers Award, and is a three-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award.
His 2020 novel The Chain was a New York Times bestseller and appeared on twenty-five best-of-the-year lists. His 2022 novel The Island was an instant New York Times bestseller and made five best-of-the-year lists including those of the London Times and the New York Times.
Adrian is a member of the Linnean Society and the National Audubon Society. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
Narrator Bio
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.
Overview
This Irish bad-boy thriller, set in the hardest streets of New York City, introduces us to Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping from the Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Clever, fearless, and handy with a pistol, young Michael is just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a New York crime boss, to join his gang of thugs fighting for their turf. But just as Michael is being anointed Darkey’s rising star, he inadvisably seduces Darkey’s girl. Suddenly the tables are turned, and Darkey plans a very hard fall for young Michael. But Darkey fails to account for Michael’s toughness—or his determination to wreak vengeance upon those who betray him.
A natural storyteller with a gift for dialogue, McKinty delivers us a stunning new noir voice, dark and stylish, mythic and violent—complete with an Irish lilt.