Books
Winterland

by Alan Glynn
Minotaur Books, February 2010, $25.99

The Ireland of Glynn's new suspense novel isn t the jolly, Emerald Isle of legend; it s a hard, gray country populated by hard gray men to whom friendship and family ties mean little compared to the billions of dollars to be made in property development. The action begins immediately, when Noel Rafferty is shot dead in a Dublin pub. No surprise there, because the thuggish Noel is involved in numerous illegal activities. However, later that night, Noel's uncle also named Noel Rafferty is killed in a car wreck. But this Noel was an upstanding citizen, a structural engineer on a major Docklands construction project. Winterland is no whodunit, and we soon learn that this case of mistaken Noels was set in motion by Paddy Norton, a Rafferty family friend.

Thus begins what can more accurately be called an economic thriller, where multi-national financing and fierce competition for the project s naming rights have overtaken any perceived benefit of the new Docklands development. Gina Rafferty, a bright software developer and kinswoman of the dead men, is drawn into a morass of evil which include various Irish politicians, an American financier, and even a Nobel Prize-winning economist. In trying to find the truth, Gina discovers a corrupt, conniving world where money rules and morals are little more than memories. Utterly devoid of cheerful pubs, twinkling priests and other standard Irish sentimentalities, Winterland sheds light on the dark side of modern-day Ireland, a country which seems disturbingly like our own. A gripping, revealing read with one caveat: the book's tiny typeface could present a challenge to some readers.

Betty Webb

The Ireland of Glynn's new suspense novel isn t the jolly, Emerald Isle of legend; it s a hard, gray country populated by hard gray men to whom friendship and family ties mean little compared to the billions of dollars to be made in property development. The action begins immediately, when Noel Rafferty is shot dead in a Dublin pub. No surprise there, because the thuggish Noel is involved in numerous illegal activities. However, later that night, Noel's uncle also named Noel Rafferty is killed in a car wreck. But this Noel was an upstanding citizen, a structural engineer on a major Docklands construction project. Winterland is no whodunit, and we soon learn that this case of mistaken Noels was set in motion by Paddy Norton, a Rafferty family friend.

Thus begins what can more accurately be called an economic thriller, where multi-national financing and fierce competition for the project s naming rights have overtaken any perceived benefit of the new Docklands development. Gina Rafferty, a bright software developer and kinswoman of the dead men, is drawn into a morass of evil which include various Irish politicians, an American financier, and even a Nobel Prize-winning economist. In trying to find the truth, Gina discovers a corrupt, conniving world where money rules and morals are little more than memories. Utterly devoid of cheerful pubs, twinkling priests and other standard Irish sentimentalities, Winterland sheds light on the dark side of modern-day Ireland, a country which seems disturbingly like our own. A gripping, revealing read with one caveat: the book's tiny typeface could present a challenge to some readers.

Teri Duerr
176

by Alan Glynn
Minotaur Books, February 2010, $25.99

Glynn
February 2010
winterland
25.99
Minotaur Books