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The Midnight Choir
The Midnight Choir
Oct 30, 2024 5:24 AM

Author:Gene Kerrigan

The Midnight Choir

Sometimes, getting away with it is all that matters.

Dixie Peyton, widow of a petty criminal, is struggling to regain custody of her son. In desperation she seeks the help of controversial detective Harry Synnott, a man obsessed by his own interpretation of justice. But Synnott has other priorities. As he finds himself getting deeper into trouble, Dixie risks becoming a sacrifice on the altar of Synnott's career.

Meanwhile the police have arrested a blood-stained man. They seem to have chanced upon a murderer - now they need to find out who he killed. Ruthless gangland leader Lar Mackendrick is hunting an informer. And armed thief Joshua Boyce is about to rob a jeweller's shop. For all of them, as the pressure mounts and the choices become stark, getting away with it is all that matters.

Reviews

Fresh and radical

—— Independent

Absorbing, beautifully written, gritty

—— The Times

Kerrigan has always been one of this country's leading journalists. With this novel, he becomes one of its leading writers. The Midnight Choir is both riveting and disquieting

—— Irish Times

The writing is fiercely unsentimental, the plotting complex and the characterisation pleasingly contrary ... [This] will stay with you for a long time

—— Metro

Lee Child's protagonist, Jack Reacher, is a hero in the Dirty Harry style, a man who lives by his own principles...Produces a surprising twist when it's least expected

—— Sunday Telegraph

A good, edge-of-the-seat thriller

—— Punch

Great fun! Franklin succeeds in vividly bringing the 12th century to life with this cracking good story. Expertly researched, a brilliant heroine, full of excellent period detail

—— Kate Mosse, author of LABYRINTH

A skilful blend of historical fact and gruesome fiction

—— Publishers Weekly

Terrific... Wonderfully plotted. It's a historical mystery that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and crime-thriller

—— Diana Gabaldon , WASHINGTON POST

...A morbidly entertaining novel that outdoes the competition

—— NY Times

Delightfully original

—— LITERARY REVIEW, June 2007

Brilliant...A ripper, peopled with vivid characters.

—— THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

The deserved winner of this year's Ellis Peters Historical Dagger is a cunningly plotted tale set in medieval Cambridge. A serial killer is at large, and the Jews are blamed. Henry I offers protection because he needs the money. He sends a medical examiner - a master of the art of death - to find the killer. Great stuff

—— THE OBSERVER

Gruesome and compelling

—— Evening Standard

Norwegian star Jo Nesbo has obliterated most of his Scandinavian rivals in the bestseller stakes, with The Leopard published in paperback this week... The uncrowned king of Norwegian crime fiction is Jo Nesbo. Books such as The Redbreast (2000) and his imposing novel The Snowman have propelled Nesbo to the heights. Apart from its narrative finesse, his work also provides a coolly objective guide to fluctuations in Norwegian society. There is also a universal feeling that his work is more strikingly individual than that of most of his Scandinavian colleagues... Harry is a lone wolf, a chronic alcoholic separated from his wife and child but in touch with the zeitgeist of his country. And Nesbo gives us a sharp picture of Norwegian society in flux, crammed with relevant detail - as you might expect from an ex-freelance journalist, particularly where the role of the media is described

—— Barry Forshaw , Independent

Nesbo has a skill for dispatching his victims with increasing inventiveness, and he barely lets you draw breath before delivering a virtuoso torture and death scene in the opening chapter

—— Shortlist

The plot is intriguing, and Nesbo's writing is as taught as ever

—— Sunday Times

It's fascinating to discover, from the incident details, what it is like to live for much of the time in a world under snow... Nesbo writes beautifully

—— Jessica Mann , Literary Review

There are passages [which are] so anatomically gruesome...that they can only be properly read through the gaps between protecting fingers

—— Prospect

Norwegian star Jo Nesbo has obliterated most of his Scandinavian rivals in the bestseller stakes, with The Leopard published in paperback this week...The uncrowned king of Norwegian crime fiction is Jo Nesbo. Books such as The Redbreast (2000) and his imposing novel The Snowman have propelled Nesbo to the heights. Apart from its narrative finesse, his work also provides a coolly objective guide to fluctuations in Norwegian society. There is also a universal feeling that his work is more strikingly individual than that of most of his Scandinavian colleagues...Harry is a lone wolf, a chronic alcoholic separated from his wife and child but in touch with the zeitgeist of his country. And Nesbo gives us a sharp picture of Norwegian society in flux, crammed with relevant detail - as you might expect from an ex - freelance journalist, particularly where the role of the media is described

—— Independent
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