Black Irish, Stephan Talty
Black Irish, Stephan Talty
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Black Irish

Author: Stephan Talty

Narrator: David H. Lawrence XVII

Unabridged: 10 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/26/2013


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this explosive debut thriller by the author of Empire of Blue Water, a brilliant homicide detective returns home, where she confronts a city’s dark demons and her own past while pursuing a brutal serial killer on a vengeful rampage.

“The captivating start of a brilliant thriller series.”—Tess Gerritsen

Absalom “Abbie” Kearney grew up an outsider in her own hometown. Even being the adopted daughter of a revered cop couldn’t keep Abbie’s troubled past from making her a misfit in the working-class Irish American enclave of South Buffalo. And now, despite a Harvard degree and a police detective’s badge, she still struggles to earn the respect and trust of those she’s sworn to protect. But all that may change, once the killing starts.

When Jimmy Ryan’s mangled corpse is found in a local church basement, this sadistic sacrilege sends a bone-deep chill through the winter-whipped city. It also seems to send a message—one that Abbie believes only the fiercely secretive citizens of the neighborhood known as “the County” understand. But in a town ruled by an old-world code of silence and secrecy, her search for answers is stonewalled at every turn, even by fellow cops. Only when Abbie finds a lead at the Gaelic Club, where war stories, gossip, and confidences flow as freely as the drink, do tongues begin to wag—with desperate warnings and dire threats. And when the killer’s mysterious calling card appears on her own doorstep, the hunt takes a shocking twist into her own family’s past. As the grisly murders and grim revelations multiply, Abbie wages a chilling battle of wits with a maniac who sees into her soul, and she swears to expose the County’s hidden history—one bloody body at a time.

With Black Irish, Stephen Talty stakes a place beside Jo Nesbø, John Sandford, and Tana French on the cutting edge of psychological crime thrillers.

About The Author

Stephan Talty is the author of the New York Times bestseller Empire of Blue Water, as well as Escape from the Land of Snows, The Illustrious Dead, and Mulatto America. Black Irish is his first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Scott on July 01, 2013

Sometimes, evil can simply be the turning away from a cry for help, an inaction rather than an action. Sometimes, evil is birthed in the moral apathy and emotional indifference of a community. It is sometimes said that evil is born, not made. This is not true. Evil is very definitely made, by man. A......more

Goodreads review by Hallie on May 16, 2013

Anyone who lived in Charlestown or South Boston back in the day will feel right at home in Stephan Talty’s South Buffalo in “Black Irish.” Residents call the neighborhood “the County.” It’s a tight-knit community of Irish immigrant families with a rampant distrust of outsiders. Even though Detective......more

Goodreads review by Bob on July 01, 2013

Beware of the Irish mob....of Buffalo.... That is pretty much the message of Black Irish, the new mystery/thriller by author Stephan Talty. Before one sees the 'two stars' and thinks that this book is a clunker...I want to rest assured that there is a lot in this book that is good. The setting is inte......more

Goodreads review by Josh on January 24, 2013

I was thoroughly enjoying this book until about halfway through when the main character (a sharp minded, quick thinking, strong willed but emotionally damaged woman) decided to use sex as a means of getting information from someone. It really threw a wrench in the story for me and took away from thi......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 01, 2020

'Black Irish', Stephan Talty's first fiction effort, is a serial killer mystery with a couple unique twists: its lead detective Absalom 'Abby' Kearney and the location, an all-Irish portion of Buffalo, NY. Kearney's a real piece of work. She's the adopted daughter of a legendary Buffalo detective wh......more


Quotes

“Abbie Kearney is one of the most intriguing new suspense protagonists in memory, and Black Irish marks the captivating start of a brilliant thriller series.”—Tess Gerritsen
 
“Luxuriantly cinematic . . . a compulsively readable crime thriller . . . Move over V. I. Warshawski; Buffalo gets its own crime novel heroine.”The Buffalo News
 
“A suspenseful debut novel with a circuitous plot . . . Black Irish is simply a riveting read.”Booklist (starred review)
 
“Talty shows his chops when recounting [Buffalo’s] Irish roots.”Kirkus Reviews
 
“Talty does a fine job portraying the cohesiveness of the Irish, their loyalty to one another, and their obsession with their history. . . . A memorable story of betrayal and vengeance.”Publishers Weekly