Dark Times in the City

by Gene Kerrigan

Danny Callaghan is just out of jail and enjoying a quiet drink in a Dublin pub when two men walk in with guns. On impulse, he intervenes to rescue the intended victim, petty criminal Walter Bennett, and finds himself dragged into Dublin's murky underworld. As the police grope for answers and Danny struggles to protect those he loves, the rising tensions between the gangs threaten to erupt into a bloody showdown.Dark Times in the City portrays a society stumbling from prosperity to uncertainty - where cocaine and easy money have fuelled a ruthless gang culture and a man's impulsive decency may cost him the lives of those who matter most.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Ireland, Mystery, Thriller, Noir, Novels

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2009

About the author

Gene Kerrigan is an Irish journalist and novelist who grew up in Cabra in Dublin. His works include political commentary on Ireland since the 1970s in such publications as Magill magazine and the Sunday Independent newspaper. He has also written about Ireland for International Socialism magazine. He was chosen as World Journalist of the Year in 1985 and 1990, and has written books, including fiction and non-fiction. His book The Rage won the 2012 Gold Dagger for the best crime novel of the year.

http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Gene_Kerri...

Reviews

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Dark Times in the City Kerrigan gives as a good a portrayal of the relations between the new, vicious and ambitious gangsters and the older generation of Dublin’s underworld, and the ordinary folk caught in cross-fire. The writing is taut, using short half page to two page scenes to drive the narrative along. The prologue is good, but then I struggled to get into the story for the first 15 pages or so. After that the pages kept turning. The reason I think I had trouble with the opening was revealed in part three of the book which jumps back in time to provide the back story as to why Walter Bennett was the target of an assassination. Personally, I think the book would have worked a little better if it had started with this section. I don’t think it would have mattered if the reader wasn’t introduced to Callaghan until 40 or 50 pages in as the back story grabs immediately. Kerrigan is good at writing about the police and I would have also preferred to have had more scenes involving them, particularly Bob Tidey, who looked like he was going to develop into a great character and then all but disappears. Similarly there is a sub-plot with Oliver, Callaghan’s neighbour, that wasn't as fully developed as it could have been. These though are just personal plotting preferences and the book does work as is. Dark Times in the City was an enjoyable read, though for my money not quite as good as Kerrigan's other books.

[Noel Brey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela sobre los suburbios de Dublín y la larga sombra del IRA, donde un exconvicto que intenta encauzar su vida se interpone en un ajuste de cuentas. A partir de ahí, la mierda empieza a subirle hasta el cuello. Magnífica. Parece que algunos nunca pueden escapar de los días sombríos.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danny Callaghan is getting his life back together. Out of prison after killing a man who was beating up some boys who had ridiculed his weight at the golf driving range -- it turns out the man was locally connected -- Callaghan just wants a quiet evening in the bar when two hoodlums walk in intent on killing Walter Bennett. Callaghan intervenes, temporarily saving Bennett's life, but that puts his own in the cross hairs.

This Irish crime novel is just about as dark as it gets. One interesting note was that the IRA could be used by the crooks as cover for their misdeeds.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll assume that Danny Callagham is the protagonist and the story will follow the typical hero's path. You'll assume when the narrative shifts from Danny's POV that it is just a brief digression. By then you'll be half way through the book and begin to realize that Danny isn't all this book has to offer. Maybe this isn't the same old road you've been down many times before. The mean streets are familiar but you're taking a different route.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading foreign crime novels, because I often have no idea if what I'm reading is cliché or not. It's very liberating.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

noir of modern ireland, where the neighborhood thugs have been replaced by wanna be global mafia, but things are still personal, brutal, and Machiavellian. lots of hard choices, horrific violence, dirty cops, conflicted excons, . super book for that.

[Havers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der irische Autor Gene Kerrigan ist gelernter Journalist, und dass ihn die wirtschaftliche und politische Situation in seinem Heimatland umtreibt, ist den zahlreichen Beiträgen zu entnehmen, die er seit vielen Jahren für unter anderem für den Sunday Independent schreibt. Ebenfalls aus seiner Feder stammen zahlreiche Sachbücher, aber auch einige „schwarze“ Kriminalromane. Von letzteren sind mittlerweile zwei in der deutschen Übersetzung im Polar Verlag erschienen: „Die Wut“ und „In der Sackgasse“, wobei dieser bereits 2009 im Original erschienen ist.

Wie bereits in dem Vorgänger ist auch in Kerrigans aktuellem Roman „In der Sackgasse“ der Handlungsort Dublin. Die Immobilienblase ist geplatzt, der „keltische Tiger“ zu einem Kätzchen mutiert, die Finanzkrise steht vor der Tür. Nicht nur das Großkapital ist aufgeschreckt, auch innerhalb der Dubliner Unterwelt haben die Revier- und Verteilungskämpfe begonnen, denn Ganoven jeder Couleur wollen sich noch ihr Stück vom Kuchen sichern. Natürlich kommt hierbei auch den eine oder andere gewaltsam zu Tode, aber das wird in diesem Milieu billigend in Kauf genommen.

Aber es gibt auch noch schwere Jungs mit einer persönlichen Moral. Bestes Beispiel hierfür ist Danny Callaghan, nach einer längeren Haftstrafe gerade frisch aus dem Knast entlassen. Acht lange Jahre hat er abgesessen, verurteilt wegen Totschlag an einem windigen Typen namens Brendan Tucker, dessen Bruder Rache geschworen hat. Aber das ist nicht das einzige Problem, das Danny hat, denn auch einer der großen Bosse der Dubliner Unterwelt ist hinter ihm her, hat er dessen Handlangern doch durch die gewagte Rettungsaktion eines Kleinkriminellen die Tour vermasselt. Danny gerät zwischen die Fronten, es scheint, alles wären alle verfügbaren Gangster nicht nur hinter ihm, sondern auch hinter den Menschen aus seinem persönlichen Umfeld her. Und plötzlich muss er Dinge tun, die er eigentlich mit seinem Gewissen eigentlich nicht vereinbaren kann, um diese zu schützen.

Wenn es um Geld, Macht und Einfluss geht, unterscheiden sich die Methoden skrupelloser Anzugträger kaum von denen der Kriminellen. Da wird gedroht, erpresst und Gewalt angewendet, um den letzten Aufrechten in die kriminelle Spur zu bringen. Diese Botschaft vermittelt der Autor in seinem Roman. Integrität, persönliche Moral und Anstand bleiben auf der Strecke, wenn es nur noch darum geht, die eigene Haut zu retten. Kein Wunder, dass sein Protagonist „in der Sackgasse“ landet.

Kerrigan fängt die Atmosphäre in der irischen Metropole jenseits der Glaspaläste ein und entwickelt ein stimmiges Panorama dieser Zeit vor dem Crash. Natürlich ist das für uns bloße Spekulation, aber so könnte es durchaus in der Dubliner Unterwelt abgegangen sein. Tempo von Anfang an, ein sympathischer Protagonist und diverse unerwartete Wendungen machen aus „In der Sackgasse“ eine spannende Lektüre.

[John Sheehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, one that I would heartily recommend to any fans of Irish crime noir. This is the second of Mr. Kerrigan's fictional novels I have read (he also writes non-fiction), and I'm looking forward to reading the others.

The story is set in the Irish underworld, in the years since the financial meltdown. The lead character is just out of prison after serving time for murdering an up and coming crime boss. As he adjusts to life outside of prison while trying to stay out of trouble, he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time as he saves the life of a petty criminal marked for death for informing to the Guards. The story works it's way to a thrilling conclusion that will have your heart pounding.

The characters are well drawn, their motivations believable, and the settings and locales are evocative of Dublin in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's no question that as a crime junkie that Irish crime is, for me, among the best in the genre, whether set back during The Troubles or just later day crime. The list of too notch writers in the field goes on and on.

This one, from Kerrigan, is a dandy, an ultra violent gang story. It features a couple of really likeable good guys, one especially, caught up in a whirlwind of bad activity and more than several well drawn crime boss bosses who propel the plot forward.

If this is your thing too, it's as good as it gets.

[Patrick O'Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young thug upstarts take on the old school gangsters with a "I wanna do the right thing" ex-con caught in the middle. Decent plot, but I found the characters stereotypical - but then Irish thugs actually do tend to be in real life. I'm giving it a four because I can dance to it.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

My third Kerrigan novel and each is superb. For those who like the genre, I *highly* recommend these books. Absolutely authentic, gritty, complex plotting, but the author holds and pulls all the strands together with a deft hand, rich characters, depth of observation...

[Mikee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn good book! Cold and gritty and violent, but couldn't put it down. Kerrigan is the best!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going back, now, to read The Dublin Trilogy... that's how much I loved this literary crime novel. I think Gene Kerrigan is my new favorite Irishman.

[Jeffrey Cavanaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning, page-turning crime thriller that captures the dark essence of the genre. I don't think a better book of this type could be written.

[Ig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Make a great Sodabergh directed film.
Not sure if plot construction really pays off in a novel. Like the short handed writing fits the crime genre style.

[Mrs. Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I’ve written before in reviewing his first two novels, Gene Kerrigan’s books are wonderfully written … and very bleak. Dark Times in the City is full of doomed characters and horrible violence. He uses today’s Ireland to illustrate his belief that individuals in a community born in and based upon the brutal exploitation of chosen “others” can never free themselves from the consequences of that beginning or, for that matter, even permanently eradicate the original policy.* A character who is accumulating war-level armaments explains calmly that “… there’ll come a time when the complacency is gone, when there’s a new IRA and serious people need serious material. … Sooner or later the real thing will start again, as long as the Brits lay claim to a single acre of this island.” Kerrigan is not merely skeptical but actually contemptuous of the conviction that “peace” in Ireland has brought prosperity to replace hostility: they were “never done boasting about how many cranes there were on the Dublin skyline. The cranes were badges of national pride, and they talked about them in the same respectful tones that the old folk used when they remembered the sacred patriot dead.”
If I’m making Dark Times in the City sound like a political treatise then I’m doing Kerrigan a disservice. It is a gripping, albeit horrifying, novel. I recommend it heartily to any reader who can tolerate a book in which no one is going to live happily ever after.

*whether this applies in other countries the reader can decide. Kerrigan is Irish and writes about Ireland.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a bummer that it appears this guy stopped writing fiction,
his 4 noir, crime fiction books are top notch,
in a field full of shitty writers,
of the ones that stand out to me he really is quite good,
and very overlooked obviously because he stopped writing these.
Good character depth, violence that is not just for the sake of it,
with just enough Irish to be different from the American writers.

[christopher Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kerrigan writes no nonsense prose. His story flows and characters evolve effortlessly. His depiction of Dublin and the "Celtic tiger' that left so many behind is first rate. Everything is grey, even the worst villains are touched with a warped humanity.

[Barbpie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't stop reading until I'd finished this one. I lost count of all the murder victims but most of them had it coming. Can't wait for the next book by Gene Kerrigan. He's got his finger on Ireland's pulse.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more bloody, a little less procedural than the others I've read, but the local color is terrific.

[Debara Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. Good story if a bit violent.

[Don Osterhaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew! "Dark" is definitely the operative word. Not for the faint of heart.

[Phenomene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grim depiction of gangster elements in contemporary Ireland. Too gory for my taste.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down.

[Laird Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, dark and violent. A quick read.

[Philip Girvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impossible to put down.

[Taco Beta · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 *

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murdering gangsters murder many people.

[Daniel Polansky]

An ex-con's good deed gets punished, embroiling him in a vicious Dublin gang war. Nasty and cleverly plotted.