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Kerrigan, Gene - 'The Rage'
Trade Paperback: 304 pages (June 2011) Publisher: Harvill Secker ISBN: 1846552567

Hardened criminal Vincent Naylor comes out of Dublin's Mountjoy Prison after a long sentence for GBH and meets up with his brother Noel to discuss an armed robbery that they are considering. The planning and implementation of this robbery takes up most of the book. In alternate chapters we hear of the trials and tribulations of Detective Sergeant Bob Tidey, his perjury giving evidence in a court case, his love life and his daily difficulties in meeting the targets in clearing up various crimes.

The pressure he is under to achieve his clear up rate is diverted, when he hears of the worries of a retired nun whom he has befriended. Sister Agnes is very concerned about these two young men, who she notices leave a car in her road and then go off. Two days later and they have not returned, so she alerts the police and they check it for bombs etc, but then they discover that the registration number is false. They then realise that it is likely to be used as a get away car in the commission of a crime, perhaps a bank robbery. So armed police are stationed around the clock at both ends of the road, in undercover vehicles, to await the return of the robbers.

A shoot-out occurs when the robbers arrive in their first getaway car intending to change cars. Following this the surviving brother's wants revenge for the death that has happened and he starts killing all he thinks are responsible for his loss. What happens and how many are killed form the remaining part of this very exciting but very violent story.

The author is very experienced and skilful at what he does and has written three previous novels and seven non-fiction books. He writes a very suspenseful and atmospheric story packed full of commentary on his perceptions of what is wrong economically with Ireland - being in the Euro and the damage to the economy - which gives the book an added dimension of being very contemporary to the time we live in.

I loved this book, it was very exciting and moved at a very fast pace. I will certainly look out for his name in future and I hope that we will hear more of Detective Sergeant Bob Tidey.

Terry Halligan, England
July 2011

Details of the author's other books with links to reviews can be found on the Books page.
More European crime fiction reviews can be found on the Reviews page.



last updated 31/07/2011 10:05