I Hear the Sirens in the Street

Detective Sean Duffy, Book 2

By: Adrian McKinty

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A torso in a suitcase looks like an impossible case, but Sean Duffy isn’t easily deterred, especially when his floundering love life leaves him in need of a distraction. So with detective constables McCrabban and McBride, he goes to work identifying the victim.

The torso turns out to be all that’s left of an American tourist who once served in the U.S. military. What was he doing in Northern Ireland in the midst of the 1982 Troubles? The trail leads to the doorstep of a beautiful, flame-haired, twentysomething widow, whose husband died at the hands of an IRA assassination team just a few months before. Suddenly Duffy is caught between his romantic instincts, gross professional misconduct, and powerful men he should know better than to mess with. These include British intelligence, the FBI, and local paramilitary death squads - enough to keep even the savviest detective busy. Duffy’s growing senseof self-doubt isn’t helping. But as a legendarily stubborn man, he doesn’t let that stop him from pursuing the case to its explosive conclusion.

©2013 Adrian McKinty (P)2013 Blackstone Audio

Worst Patterson collaboration

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A newbie to the Mystery and Thrillers genre - maybe.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Andrian McKinty 'I Hear Sirens in the Street"

How could the performance have been better?

The author needed to dial down the drama. In an effort to make it action packed and exciting - he overdid it. It was too formulaic. In trying to create a quirky lead character he ended up with the most annoying character in any book - ever.

What character would you cut from I Hear the Sirens in the Street?

Half of them, it had too many characters altogether.

Any additional comments?

The reader had a habit of ending most of his sentences in a questioning tone, very irritaitng.

Another great read/listen

I've recently discovered McKinty and his narrator, Doyle. They work together as well as Craig Johnson and George Guidall.
So entertaining as far as dialog, descriptions, and character development. Lots of cliff-hanger episodes and some a bit contrived but still worth the time to follow the story to the end. I fully plan to listen to all of McKinty's Sean Duffy series. Seems like a real taste of Ireland!

Great mystery, Great Trilogy

This is a gritty series about a time when there was no good side of things. I love the fact that the hero, Sean Duffy, is Catholic working for the police. The conflicts this creates are as complicated and volatile as Belfast was in the troubles.

It's great police work mired in political intrigue. John DeLorian plays a central role in this one. I actually met him in 1984 or 5 after his fall. He was a broken man, but a good man.

The story flows and is fast moving. I'll never miss a McKinty novel and neither should you!

Five stars !

I liked -but not "excessively - the first book of the serie as i found the main character (inspector Duffy) a bit too crafted and the environment (the period of the quasi civil war -"the troubles "-in Ireland) overplayed. This second episode wrote off all my earlier doubts and left me without reservations. It is a damn good book, well written, with a great balance between action and characters development. The story is gritty, violent and tender at times, with nuggets of humour dropped in here and there. A really good read

Another Gritty Triumph For McKinty

Sean Duffy can't seem to catch a break. Though clever,well-read,witty and possessed of a certain broken charm, Duffy is a man constantly asking for--and receiving trouble. A catholic cop who lives in a protestant world, Duffy has never yet been able to bring a killer to justice, and all he has to show for his efforts are a lot of scars.

"Sirens" brings us to a Belfast which has been given a sliver of hope in the form of the DeLorean Motor Company. As McKinty seems to do so well, he seamlessly weaves his fictional world around the sometimes stranger-than-life events of actual history.

I can't speak highly enough of the narrator, Gerard Doyle, who hops effortlessly between accents and dialects.

Great

Fast-paced, funny, and fascinating story of a Catholic cop in Northern Ireland at the height of sectarian tensions. A great detective story, history lesson, and walk down the memory lane of 1980s pop culture wrapped in a well-narrated audiobook.

Sean Duffy, where will you go from here?

Start with "A Cold Cold Ground" that introduces us to Sean Duffy, a good companion cast of characters, and background on The Troubles in the 1980's. This book resumes where that one left off. A non-stop police thriller starting with a torso in a suitcase. Duffy dives right in, with one small clue blending in to another murder. They seem to be connected, but logically they are not, or are they? Duffy digs in, getting himself targeted by various groups, cops and robbers alike. His love life is suffering, his body ends up suffering, and perhaps his future is suffering. An interesting story, along with the absolute perfect narrator pulling us back to 1980's Ireland.

Duffy II

Not quite as strong as the first book and the end begs the third book, which I don't particularly like. Neverthess, Duffy remains an engaging character and the narration of these books is terrific.

As good as it gets!

This series is beyond wonderful for detective/mystery lovers. The writing here is crisp and fast paced and the character development is just enough to get the point across. McGinty is a true word master and wastes nothing. The subtle humor is sheer genius at times and the stories intricately woven against a background of real events and real people. The literary references are perfect. What can I say? I am hooked. I want more. I also have to mention the masterful narration by Mr. Doyle. PLEASE get the third of this series on audiobooks as fast as you can!

There really is nothing better

Than a Sean Duffy novel read by this narrator. I am almost through the series. Very depressing.....hopefully there are mitre forthcoming.