The Death of an Irish Sea Wolf
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
In a remote community off the west coast of Ireland, residents inclined to gossip speculate why reclusive Clement Ford, the "Sea Wolf," has become such a generous benefactor to his neighbors. then one night, a mysterious figure from Ford's past arrives on the island, and by morning three people are murdered and Ford has disappeared. In the wake of the tragedy, Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr, and his intuitive wife, Noreen, along with his trusted staff from the Murder Squad, must piece together the deadly evening's events and answer the questions: Who really is the enigmatic Sea Wolf? And what does he have that is worth killing so many people for?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A blistering start provides the latest Peter McGarr mystery with all the atmosphere of an espionage thriller. But then all the characters are sequestered for an interminable mid-narrative wait that drags the plot to a halt and squanders most of the tension. Clement Ford has lived to a ripe old age on a remote Irish island, keeping his past of WWII-era piracy a secret while dispensing funds to the sullen islanders through a secret trust fund that has insured both their silence and their loyalty. Now his worse nightmare has happened. A nemesis from his thieving days has sailed a boat into the local waters. In the space of a few pages, bodies are strewn, more bodies are missing and McGarr, head of the Special Crimes Unit, is called from Dublin to investigate. The man chasing Ford is also older, speaks in a mysterious language and has an evil brood of offspring for helpers. All this comes at the reader at an agreeable clip before hunter and hunted and wounded and dead all but vanish, and McGarr, his wife and daughter, and the rest of the coppers sit and wait. Gill, usually a more than able stylist, isn't able to keep his reader's attention with romantic subplots and stuff about sudden invasions of the beautiful and windswept locale by tourists with the same last name. McGarr and his wife, Noreen, have been a pleasure to encounter before (Death of an Ardent Bibliophile; Death of a Joyce Scholar), but this time Gill forsakes his usual atmospheric style for a gutsy start that runs out of steam in a hurry.
