Kneeling at the Altar by
Jim Lusby
pbk out Jul 98
(Gollancz)
at £9.99
The trouble with being a good cop is that you don't wait for cases to come
to you. You can't help seeing the suspicious all around you. So when
Waterford's Detective Inspector Carl McCadden notices a man in the casualty
waiting area with flowers and chocolates, long after visiting time is over
on the main wards, he takes enough of an interest to save the man from a
beating at the hands of a group of vigilantes in the hospital car park.
At first, it all looks like the same sad old story -- a secret paedophile
preying on local boys whose parents discover what's going on and take the
law into their own hands. But as soon as McCadden starts to probe, strange
undercurrents are revealed. Why is a blind man searching the woods? Who is
the man in the Christian Brothers habit who seems to appear at crucial
moments? And if 'kneeling at the altar' has more than one meaning, so might
'lead us not into temptation.'
On his third outing, Lusby's excellent DI McCadden discovers that deceit
doesn't always cover abuse, that concern can sometimes mask persecution,
and that everyone keeps secrets for their own particular reasons. But in
spite of it all, McCadden remains relaxed, perceptive, always himself in
the teeth of the extreme frustrations of policing contemporary Ireland.
Forget Ballykissangel -- this is the real Ireland, where pleasure and pain
are inextricably linked without the rhythm of Riverdance in the background.
(
Val McDermid
- 1995 Gold Dagger winner and creator of the highly acclaimed Kate Brannigan, Lindsay Gordon and Tony Hill series. Val's reviews originally appear in the Manchester Evening News)
Kneeling at the Altar by
Jim Lusby