The Bloomsday Dead

By: Adrian McKinty

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

In this concluding book of Adrian McKinty's highly praised Dead series, Michael Forsythe confronts his former lover and archrival, Bridget, a New York Irish Mob boss.

Michael has survived his infiltration of an IRA splinter cell in Boston, and now, his many near fatal wounds healed, he begins his next adventure as manager of hotel security in Lima, Peru. It is there that he is contacted by Bridget, whose fiancé he killed.

Bridget, calling from Dublin, says that her 11-year-old daughter has been kidnapped. Michael's choice is to fly to Dublin and help her find the girl, or be executed at the hands of Bridget's goons, who are holding him at gunpoint. He agrees to nothing, but is soon on the way to Dublin, leaving the first two of many dead bodies in his wake.

Don't miss these other noir thrillers in the Michael Forsythe series: Dead I Well May Be (Unabridged) and The Dead Yard (Unabridged).

©2007 Adrian McKinty (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"[H]is most visceral, satisfying effort yet....McKinty writes masterful action scenes, and he whips up a frenzy as the bullets begin to fly." (Publishers Weekly)
"[O]utpaces its immediate predecessor, The Dead Yard...with [McKinty's] trademark dark lyricism, one great red herring, and a masterful plot twist that brings Forsythe's character full circle in a lightning flash." (Booklist)

SIX STARS ******

After slogging through a number of adequate audible books recently, I jumped at the opportunity to acquire the latest McKinty. I was so taken with the first chapter that I called my husband when I reached the end of the first chapter just to revel in the fine writing and reading. Today, I hit my parking space near the end of the first download and sat in the lot until the chapter ended. There is absolutely no better combination of writer and reader in the Audible library!

If you have not listened to any of the other McKintys, do NOT start with this one. Do the "Dead" series in sequence.

Michael Forsyth - The Legend Continues!

Adrian McGinty stories are tornado-twisty! And Michael Forsyth is 'the' Irish super-dark-hero. You gotta' start this series with "Dead I May Well Be" the first in this epic. Oh, this book stands on its own bottom but you'll like it enough to want to read the other two in the trilogy only to discover that you began at the ending.

Some reviewers are shocked… SHOCKED! That Michael Forsyth and his hair-trigger mob buddies talk like men. If you are shocked… SHOCKED! By the way that men talk in ugly and dangerous situations… Well, go find a teenage romance novel or maybe a Disney story about unicorns and dancing bunnies, K? Sigh.

BTW, McGinty has the power to make you laugh out loud in complex moments. Oh… Of course I gotta' mention Gerard Doyle's narration… Okay… "WOW!" You got a better superlative? Fill it in here __________. Thanks.

Another Amazing Book

Adrian McKinty has fast become one of my favorite authors and Gerard Doyle is a spectacular narrator. This third installment of the Michael Forsythe series is tremendous. It would be useful to have listened/read to the two prior installments, and absolutely essential to have read Dead I May Well Be before Bloomsday Dead. I will be in serious withdrawal until McKinty comes out with his next book.

McKinty and Doyle: a perfect pair

I have listened to every title that Adrian McKinty and Gerard Doyle have collaborated on as writer and reader. They are so perfectly suited as complements to each other, that I can not imagine one without the other.

Ack, What Happened?

Oh dear. McGinty went over the top with this one. The first two Forsythe books stretched credibility, but the credibility was there. In this novel at one point Forsythe contemplates the fact that his life is not unlike that of a "Mexican soap opera." The sad news is, that this is indeed what this book and his life have become. McGinty pulls out every predictable cliche (I won't list them all here as spoilers though I'm tempted to because any astute reader will groan early on...oh I *hope* he's not going to go down this predictable path). Forsythe keeps saying to himself that his life is "over the top" in this book -- and it is and has been before, but in "Bloomsday Dead," McGinty has simply gone too far, he's toppled off the top into a heap of pastiche and cliche, almost tainting the power of the first two books. Sigh. What a sad way to end the saga.

Great ending to a thriller series!!

The Bloomsday Dead is the third and final book in Adrian McKinty's wonderful Michael Forsythe thriller series. It is definitely best read after Dead I Well May Be and The Dead Yard, but it can also stand on its own. Forsythe in the earlier books quit the Irish mafia, testified against some of them, and was placed in the US witness protection. Rather than give away the plot, I'll just say that this book ends the story of gangster Micheal Forsythe perfectly and his future is bright indeed.

For those not accustomed to Adrian McKinty the Forsythe novels are a great introduction. McKinty is among the best thriller writers living today. Every one of his books is superb. This series is over a decade old. His current novels are mostly in his Sean Duffy series. I recommend all of them.

McKinty is one of those authors who found an outstanding narrator for his audiobooks and stayed with him. Gerard Doyle is one of the best.

Great pulp fiction, and perfect narration

I loved the first two in this series, "Dead I Well May Be" and "Dead Yard". If you enjoy a good story of swearing, drinking, lusting, and killing, you should love this. This third book (and I'm about 75% done) is even more over the top with it's cliff hangers and close calls than the first two, which may be fitting for a swan song. Logic, realism and character depth? Hell no! But grit, blood, lust and revenge. Yeah, more of that please. Oh, and the narration fits the first person tale perfectly. Ya wee shite!

Good story; Charming reader

This was my first book by McKinty, and I will download the others.
Michael goes about the most outrageous business with humor and introspection and with that lovely Irish lilt. It would be hard not to be captivated by it all.

Adrian McKinty is now on my favorite author list

This continue the story started by "Dead I Very Well Maybe". You will want to hear this one, an excellent listen with all the right Irish and NYC accents. The story has a big twist at the end. I heard this in 2 days and all my yardwork got done.

It was going great.....until the last 30 seconds

This is the best of the series, and I really hope it isn't the last, but not just because I love the decent ex-gang member with a heart of gold and a sense of humour. Because the last 30 seconds of this book left us with an unrealistic and implausible "happily ever after" ending, and I would love to see what really becomes of the characters (Bridget, Michael, Siobhan) in the future. Happy, maybe, but not forever more, I'm sure.

But this book was written 10 years ago, so I know there won't be any more, and the Sean Duffy series (and some stand alone novels) are moving forward instead.

But don't let the last 30 seconds keep you from enjoying this great Northern Irish noir novel. Time has moved on and Michael goes to Belfast from his new job in Lima at the request of mob boss Bridget to help find her kidnapped daughter, with the promise that if he succeeds she will stop trying to find and kill him in revenge for his past deeds. Along the way, there are kidnapping attempts, murder attempts, killings, humour, and pathos.

As in the other McKinty books, the narration by Gerard Doyle is perfection.

Loved it!

Great end for the series, love the twists and seriously like this narrator, well worth the time spent listening, finished it in 2 days.

An accidental find

I stumbled across Adrian Mckinty’s work by sheer accident. I have now read both his series the Michael Forsyth ones and the detective ones. Really engaging books hard to put down. Dark and thrilling. Written really well. My observations for this book which marked it down from five stars is the constant mention of people being black. I’m sure it’s an effort to be inclusive however there is no such stressor when speaking of other characters that they are white it’s almost a given that the characters are white unless specifically identified as black which actually falls within the realms of ‘normal’ and ‘other’ hence de-normalising the black people. My other observation is how can Siobhan be Michael’s child. He only ever stalked that woman and then murdered her fiancée in front of her. There’s no mention of a rekindling of their romance in the previous book. I don’t think the child suddenly being his was necessary for the story especially as it brought no continuity.

All in a days bloodbath!

Action, poetic language & of course blood prevail in this the last book in Adrian McKinty's Dead trilogy.
Twelve years on since killing, selling out the New York Irish Mob, Michael still has assassins on his trail, a price on his head, placed there by Bridget of his undoing, who is now the Boss. Then suddenly, after her daughter Siobhan, is kidnapped whilst in Belfast, she offers him amnesty from her goons, if he can find the girl, so returns to his home city & Ireland.
What follows is a 24 hour bloodbath on June 16th, Bloomsday of the title. With no Irish antecedents, this observance was new to me. It really exists, is an annual celebration of all things James Joyce. The date & name relate to when the Irish writers character Leopold Bloom, from the epic novel Ulysses, consummates his relationship with his wife-to-be in Dublin.
Despite the high corpse count, Bloomsday Dead is both witty & lyrical, but the big reveal re Siobhan's true paternity is no surprise, and the ending between the antihero, death bringer Michael & Bridget is disappointing, way too soft, cliched for that's been a dark, violent, and for the most part riveting, well written trilogy.

An outstanding read

Yet another gripping book from Adrian McKinty and the perfect ending to this trilogy.
Narration by Gerard Doyle as faultless as ever.

Totally brilliant

Funny, brilliant, exciting, well written, well narrated. Another fantastic book that is unpredictable and gripping

This Series should be made into a film x

My gosh my mouth has been wide with astonishment at times. What a fabulous listen! sad there's not more about Michael but my gosh good luck to him!

Fantastic story line

Kept reading to the end but I am from old school. Too much bad language

Brilliant!

Loved this book as much as the others 👍🏼 looking for the next one now x

Compelling intriguing engaging kidnap mystery

What a fast paced book so much going on with the books coming to an end it had a sweet ending for Michael, Bridget and Siobhan, lots of twists and turns. Narration was brilliant and added to the storyline

Incredible depth

The layers of description, poetry and suspense make this story powerful and intense. I couldn’t stop listening, there is real beauty within the book despite the often dark narrative. The narrator is perfect for this series.