Listen to this book. You won't be disappointed.

Just finished The Cold Cold Ground. I've been a big fan of Adrian McKinty for the last few years and I've listened to all of his books. This new one does not disappoint. In fact I think it's his best since Dead I Well May Be. The plot is both intricate and thought provoking. We are given a glimpse of a different time and place (Belfast in the 1980's during the Troubles), and a different culture. One not on an especially healthy path.

We're used to hearing about 3rd world countries at war with themselves. Tribes going at each other for no good reason other than their irrational hatreds, blood feuds, and power grabs. But when it's a country that most of us would consider civilized we often don't think of what life would be like if such horrors occurred in our own countries. The Cold Cold Ground gives us a glimpse of that world along with a great story.

Gerard Doyle , the narrator, is terrific. At first, I considered reading The Cold Cold Ground the old fashioned way, something I haven't done with any of McKinty's other books, but I'm so hooked on having these stories read to me in a think Irish accent (actually multiple accents, not only Irish, but English, American, as well as different variations of Irish) that I decided against it. Doyle's reading brings the novel to life and makes some of the Irish slang more readily understandable.

Don't miss McKinty's earlier novels, especially the Dead Trilogy and Falling Glass (voted Best Mystery or Thriller of 2011 here on Audible). All great stuff.

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117 people found this helpful

What a stunning book

What made the experience of listening to The Cold, Cold Ground the most enjoyable?

The author of last year's Audible.com's Best Mystery or Thriller strikes again, only this book is even better. There is an enormous degree of sublety and sophistication in this book, both in the plot and the vivid atmosphere created of 1980s Northern Ireland. McKinty always treats the reader as intelligent in his unwillingness to paint a black and white picture of the 'troubles'. He also builds a drum-tight plot which weaves fictional and true characters together. There's a lot of tounge in cheek humor at the expense of some of these character's bloated egos, too.All of these features make this a brilliant book, but the superb narration by Doyle works to make something sublime.

What other book might you compare The Cold, Cold Ground to and why?

Stuart Neville's The Ghosts of Belfast. Detail, sophistication and grittiness

Which character – as performed by Gerard Doyle – was your favorite?

Gerry Adams

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely

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109 people found this helpful

A Tense and Convincing Mystery

If you could sum up The Cold, Cold Ground in three words, what would they be?

Detective Sean Duffy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary has to walk a very fine line. It’s 1981 and Northern Ireland is ablaze in sectarian violence after IRA commander and hunger-striking prisoner Bobby Sands dies. As a Catholic, Duffy is mistrusted by the Protestant population, and even by some of his police colleagues. As a policeman (or peeler, as the slang name has it) he is mistrusted and often hated by the Catholic population. In the midst of riots and random violence, Duffy is assigned to investigate the killings of two gay men. As he investigates, it begins to look as though a serial killer is at work. As he digs deeper, he runs afoul of both the IRA and his own superiors, neither of whom seem to want him to find the killer.

McKinty paints a tense and convincing picture of the suspicion, danger and continuous threat of catastrophic violence that hung over Northern Ireland during “The Troubles.” He has also created a believable and sympathetic character in Sean Duffy. Duffy is a man who leads a difficult life with dignity, integrity and a fair amount of dark humor.

I have liked McKinty’s work for several years now, and have admired his ability to plot a very tight mystery. He has managed to keep the ideas that propel his mysteries fresh so we have not had to suffer through the reverse-engineered plots that mar the careers of so many great mystery writers. It is gratifying to see that there are plans for more Duffy novels.

I discovered McKinty’s novels through my love of the work of the actor who has narrated all the audio editions of his novels so far, an Irish actor named Gerard Doyle. Some years ago I tried to listen to the book Eragon. I didn’t care for it and gave up quickly, but I loved the voice talent, so I sought out other books that he had narrated. My local library had the audio edition of McKinty’s Hidden River. It was easily the best mystery I read/listened to in 2004. I’ve been a real fan of Doyle’s interpretation of McKinty’s books ever since.

After you listen to Cold Cold Ground and you find yourself impatiently waiting for the next Duffy book, give Hidden River a listen—you won’t be disappointed.

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92 people found this helpful

Left Me Pretty Cold Too

This is cynical stuff. There's not much of anybody to really like in the story, and extreme violence makes it not for the faint of heart or stomach.

BUT, this is a really effective view of what it must be like to live in a war zone such as Northern Ireland was at the time of this action (and many places in the world, alas, remain today). McKinty is chillingly good at description, and the constant fear, guardedness, emotional numbness and lack of hope seem very real. There could be no more suitable narrator for this than Gerard Doyle.

If you like gritty, realistic mysteries about the worst of characters and situations you may appreciate this one. It's a lot of bleak, but I can say that it took all the "romance" out of the fabled "troubles" of Ireland for me - an outcome very much intended by the author, I think!

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69 people found this helpful

Conservative Readers Beware

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

Those who don't have a problem with bad language and subject matter will probably not be bothered at all by this book.

Has The Cold, Cold Ground turned you off from other books in this genre?

Nope, I love murder mysteries.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The performance is great and the historical setting of the book really pulls you in.

Any additional comments?

Very bad language and some subject matter that may make you a little uncomfortable if you're a more conservative reader. Most of you probably won't have a problem with it but if that kind of thing bothers you just be aware.

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46 people found this helpful

A Gripping Sense of Time & Place

Belfast in the 1980s defines.... (get ready to look it up..) dystopian. There, I finally worked that word into a conversation, but it fits like a mercury-switched bomb beneath an Ulster cop's car. The Troubles are rumbling all about with the caprice of Northern Irish weather when a psycho-sexual serial killer challenges the police. Adrian McKinty's ear is laser aimed at the moment, and he hears for us the way average people struggled to create a sense of normalcy, even if normal meant solving a kinky murder mystery during the heat of a civil war.

I wish that Gerard Doyle, whose own wonderful accent delivers us believably into this space, was just a tad broader at capturing the various Irish dialects which the author assigns to certain of this ensemble cast. But, that's a piddling complaint. Sure n'-I'm-thinkin' that this is both a cultural and procedural investigation which takes the reader on a trip to what's, thankfully, history now: For at least as long as the truce that Clinton and Mitchell so powerfully negotiated between Irish and Brits some fifteen years ago.

I'm off to find me a bit more from Adrian McKinty.

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38 people found this helpful

Catholic cop in Northern Ireland fights the IRA!

This is book 1 in what will soon be a five book Detective Sean Duffy series. The book is set in the early 1980's in Northern Ireland where Sean Duffy begins work as a cop in a rural area of the country. Duffy has a university degree in psychology, but decides he prefers detective work. The cases he is working are a murder and an apparent suicide that may be murder.

Adrian McKinty released 11 novels before releasing The Cold Cold Ground in 2012. He is a master of the police/crime thriller genre. I recommend all of his books.

Gerard Doyle narrates this book. He is one of the best.

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36 people found this helpful

A Great Story, very well told

Adrian McKinty understands the world he sees and is extremely talented at describing it. This story takes place in Ireland during the "troubles" and peels back many layers of politics, religion and community while telling the story of a young police officer tracking down what he believes is a serial killer. The story moves fast and the intersection of events in dealing with the I.R.A. police agencies, neighbors and thugs is well built and has a feel of realism that McKinty is talented at bringing to the page. The story is tight with the tension built and outcome uncertain until the very ending, which is constructed well from the facts as they are brought before the reader. This is an exciting and well told story with an accompanying narration that is as good as it gets.
Highly recommended.

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27 people found this helpful

Just Not My Idea of Great

If you're into explicit descriptions of violent death, you'll love this book. I'm not and I didn't. It's not the kind of book I'd listen to again and again.

Although Adrian McKinty is truly an accomplished artist, in my opinion his talent is wasted on so much dreary violence. He writes as though there's nothing else for human beings to be interested in.

He creates a lovable character in a gripping plot, but then surrounds him with horrible murders, at which we are also compelled to look, in all their ghastly details. The story seems to promise a psychological mystery involving a homophobic serial killer who leaves clues containing mythological allusions. But it rapidly becomes just another detective story in which we encounter the typical rookie cop (who is right, of course) getting busted, chewed out, and taken off the case by his superiors. Predictably, he goes about solving the case on his own at the risk of losing his job. A note to authors, editors, and agents: WE KNOW HOW THIS PLOT GOES, ALREADY!

The fact that this author is one of Audible's listeners' most favorites is a sad statement about how much fictional evil we call good these days.

I agree totally with every plaudit the previous listeners have given the narrator, Gerard Doyle. He's got many great voices with appropriate accents, perfect timing, and excellent tone. He reads as though he is the character and we're in the character's mind with him.

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23 people found this helpful

Fantastic!!!!

This is a great book. If you haven't listened to an Adrian Mckinty book you are cheating yourself. This guy is in a class by himself. I have listened to all of his books more than once. His last book Falling glass won book of the year on audible 2011. Cold cold ground is as good or better. Enjoy.

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23 people found this helpful