Dead I Well May Be by
Adrian McKinty
pbk out April 04
(Serpent's Tail)
at £10
A gangster story set in New York in 1992 when there are over two thousand murders a year;
most of them related to the gang wars and the explosion of the use of crack cocaine. Into this
urban nightmare comes young Michael Forsythe, over from troubled Belfast to seek his
fortune. But Michael ends up working for the Irish gangsters, running a protection racket,
and begins a secret affair with the boss, Darkey's, girlfriend. Sent to Mexico on business,
Michael and his crew are incarcerated in a Mexican prison and he soon realises that he has
been set up by Darkey. He swears to get revenge if only he can escape.
McKinty's account of the sordid, violent and at times inept world of organised crime is
leavened by the quick, dark humour of his first person narrator. This is a tough and bloody
story; the razor sharp dialogue is shot through with the cadence and wit of the Irish. The
middle section, classic prison drama vividly recounted, is particularly gripping. There is no
glamour in the life he portrays but we get the mundane and the frightening and at times the
poignant view. Like his anti-hero, McKinty left Northern Ireland for the USA where he now
lives.
Manchester Evening News 29.5.04
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
Dead I Well May Be by
Adrian McKinty
