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Dead Trilogy #3
The Bloomsday Dead
Attending to his usual challenges as the head of security for the Miraflores Hilton in Lima, Michael Forsythe receives an impassioned summons from a dangerous ex-lover, Bridget, who threatens Michael's life if he fails to rescue her kidnapped daughter. By the author of Dead I Well May Be. 20,000 first printing.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
118 people are currently reading
1090 people want to read
About the author
Adrian McKinty
49 books4,360 followersAdrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living first in Harlem, New York and from 2001 on, in Denver, Colorado, where he taught high school English and began writing fiction. He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
June 24, 2019
Dusk is when Belfast really clicks. Fights. Murders. Burglary. A thousand calls about someone we're doing over. Someone we're lifting. Sober men rubbing their hands and performing with clear consciences wee jobs and the breaking of bones.
Michael's working a sweet job as hotel security in Peru when his former flame, now arch-nemesis,asks for demands his help in finding her missing daughter. Once he arrives in Ireland, he learns that the girl has indeed been kidnapped, and the ransom is due by midnight on Bloomsday - June 16th. The clock is ticking, and the pressure's on, but first Michael has to figure out just who keeps trying to kill him . . . and why.
My five-star rating is for the entire Michael Forsythe trilogy. Now it's onto the Sean Duffy series, and I can't wait. McKinty is quickly becoming my favorite crime writer.
Michael's working a sweet job as hotel security in Peru when his former flame, now arch-nemesis,
My five-star rating is for the entire Michael Forsythe trilogy. Now it's onto the Sean Duffy series, and I can't wait. McKinty is quickly becoming my favorite crime writer.
October 6, 2018
“I shot him in the left kneecap, the noise sounding dissonant and terrible in the wee room. He screamed and tumbled off the bed. The kneecap is a nasty place to take a bullet because of the conjunction of bone, muscle and nerve endings. Especially at close range with a .38.
“You fucker, you shot me, I’m dying, I’m fucking dying,” he gurgled, writhing in agony.
I knelt beside him.
“No one ever died because of a bullet in the kneecap. One time many years ago, I shot a man in the kneecaps, the ankles and the elbows. Christ, you should have seen the state of him. Well, that’s what I’ll do for you. To begin with.”
Reader, be warned! If you have a delicate constitution and are squeamish about violence, than this book is not for you!
The last in a trilogy featuring Irish tough guy Michael Forsythe The Bloomsday Dead shows McKinty on top form (literally) firing on all cylinders.
Michael is a one-man army mowing down everything that stands in his way to reconnect with his great love, who tragically has also become his greatest enemy.
The Bloomsday Dead often resembles one of those insanely violent R-rated 1980’s action movies, full of profanity and blood, but it’s also surprisingly emotional and occasionally even poetic.
Forsythe seems to have more lives than John McClane, surviving being beaten, stabbed, shot, tortured. Did I mention he has a prosthetic foot? But that won’t stop our hero. You do not know whether to wince or laugh at his suffering.
The action reaches its absurdist highlight when some goons are trying to take out our protagonist with a grenade launcher.
It’s utterly ludicrous, and yet McKinty invests this wild, barbaric tale with enough humanity and complexity to make it feel believable.
An utter delight and unmissable for any fan of great hardboiled fiction
“You fucker, you shot me, I’m dying, I’m fucking dying,” he gurgled, writhing in agony.
I knelt beside him.
“No one ever died because of a bullet in the kneecap. One time many years ago, I shot a man in the kneecaps, the ankles and the elbows. Christ, you should have seen the state of him. Well, that’s what I’ll do for you. To begin with.”
Reader, be warned! If you have a delicate constitution and are squeamish about violence, than this book is not for you!
The last in a trilogy featuring Irish tough guy Michael Forsythe The Bloomsday Dead shows McKinty on top form (literally) firing on all cylinders.
Michael is a one-man army mowing down everything that stands in his way to reconnect with his great love, who tragically has also become his greatest enemy.
The Bloomsday Dead often resembles one of those insanely violent R-rated 1980’s action movies, full of profanity and blood, but it’s also surprisingly emotional and occasionally even poetic.
Forsythe seems to have more lives than John McClane, surviving being beaten, stabbed, shot, tortured. Did I mention he has a prosthetic foot? But that won’t stop our hero. You do not know whether to wince or laugh at his suffering.
The action reaches its absurdist highlight when some goons are trying to take out our protagonist with a grenade launcher.
It’s utterly ludicrous, and yet McKinty invests this wild, barbaric tale with enough humanity and complexity to make it feel believable.
An utter delight and unmissable for any fan of great hardboiled fiction
May 7, 2020
Excellent! My favorite installment in the series.
I complained about the second book (let me note, we are talking about the complaints at a very high level), that it was probably a wee overacted, in the first place in the final phase. Well, The Bloomsday Dead is by no means less bloody and yet I had so much fun with it. I laughed loud (a lot!), who cares about dead bodies?! Adrian McKinty at his best: for sure one of the best books (AND A FANTASTIC AUDIO BOOK!!!!!) I read/listened to in 2020 (may be not only in this year).
I am not a re-reader/re-listener, but I know that I'll listen to this book again!
Highly recommended!
This book is not a stand-alone! It is the last and the final part of the Dead Trilogy by Adrian McKinty.
June 20, 2022
This is the last of the books in the Michael Forsyth trilogy, and it is fucking masterful. McKinty is one of the few authors for whom I will crawl to the library; I have never yet been given access to a galley, but a luminary like this guy doesn't really need the approbation of a schoolteacher blogger. The whole trilogy is outstanding, and since I borrowed the audio version, I got to hear Gerard Doyle, who as far as I can tell reads all of McKinty's books, and rightly so. There's a particular twist at the climax that I never saw coming. Recommended to all that love intense crime fiction.
June 24, 2022
A good, solid closer to a highly entertaining series, bringing everything full circle to the series' start way back in New York City. I still have a huge crush on Michael Forsythe, but that ending was a bit cliched.
December 7, 2016
I LOVED this!!! I shouldn't have - too much murder - but it was delightful. How strange that is. In a few cases I felt like I was reading about a gang that shouldn't shoot straight. Michael is adorable - for a cold-blooded killer. That's what makes this a confusing series. I smiled and laughed throughout this book. And cringed. I figured out most of the story long before the end but that didn't diminish the enjoyment.
I know I should be bothered by the line of bodies Michael leaves on several continents but he's such a character it's hard to blame him. This story takes place in just over a day and it's amazing.
Favorite line: "I've seen a dozen better looking corpses - and that's just today."
I have decided I'd read anything Adrian McKinty writes, especially if Gerard Doyle narrates it. What a collaboration!
A great way to end the series but, please, bring Michael back.
I know I should be bothered by the line of bodies Michael leaves on several continents but he's such a character it's hard to blame him. This story takes place in just over a day and it's amazing.
Favorite line: "I've seen a dozen better looking corpses - and that's just today."
I have decided I'd read anything Adrian McKinty writes, especially if Gerard Doyle narrates it. What a collaboration!
A great way to end the series but, please, bring Michael back.
August 13, 2017
Not as funny as some of McKinty's other Forsythe books but one of the most thrilling finishes ever.I loved the ending.This was a fine ending to the 'Dead' series,but we are not entirely finished with Mr.
Forsythe.See Falling Glass.Three thumbs up for Adrian McKinty!
Forsythe.See Falling Glass.Three thumbs up for Adrian McKinty!
February 14, 2019
The final book in the 'Dead' Trilogy which chronicles the life of Michael Forsythe, one-time Irish mob gangster turned informer, and now permanently on the run fearing vengeance from his one-time lover, now leader of the mob (after he killed everyone else in a revenge spree).
Forsythe is a charming rogue, a survivor with an uncanny ability to escape attempts on his life, and is no shrinking violet when it comes to dishing out violence himself.
This book opens with yet another attempted 'hit' on our hero, as he is tracked down by Bridget, his former lover and now Irish mob boss in New York. She sends a couple of men to bring him in. This time, though, it is different - she says that she wants Michael to help her find her daughter, who has been kidnapped, after which she will wipe the slate clean.
Michael, understandably, is suspicious. This is a girl who has tried to have him killed several times already, and the first he has heard of any daughter. He can't resist though, as, despite everything, he is still attracted to her (in true noir fashion she is the ultimate femme fatale).
So, he returns to Ireland to try and retrieve the kidnapped child.
The story is much more action driven than the previous two instalments in the series, with the whole book taking place in around 2 days, with essentially non-stop action as soon as the book opens, right through to the finale. It's good to see Michael back in Ireland, dealing with the paramilitaries and mobsters in Dublin and Belfast.
Extremely violent, with some of it quite graphic, but still with enough charm to avoid the story becoming unpleasant.
Not quite as strong as the first two books, but does have a reasonably satisfying conclusion, that conforms to the stereotypes of the genre. You don't have to be Einstein to work out the main 'twist' in the story (which actually didn't work for me, as there were major timeline problems), but this didn't detract overall.
I really enjoy McKinty, and am sad this series has come to an end. I did, however, prefer the Sean Duffy series (also sadly finished). As far as I can tell, he hasn't really written anything else, which is a shame.
Highly recommended for fans of action and noir, and don't mind it a bit gritty and violent. Essential to read this trilogy in order though, so start with 'Dead I May Well Be'
Forsythe is a charming rogue, a survivor with an uncanny ability to escape attempts on his life, and is no shrinking violet when it comes to dishing out violence himself.
This book opens with yet another attempted 'hit' on our hero, as he is tracked down by Bridget, his former lover and now Irish mob boss in New York. She sends a couple of men to bring him in. This time, though, it is different - she says that she wants Michael to help her find her daughter, who has been kidnapped, after which she will wipe the slate clean.
Michael, understandably, is suspicious. This is a girl who has tried to have him killed several times already, and the first he has heard of any daughter. He can't resist though, as, despite everything, he is still attracted to her (in true noir fashion she is the ultimate femme fatale).
So, he returns to Ireland to try and retrieve the kidnapped child.
The story is much more action driven than the previous two instalments in the series, with the whole book taking place in around 2 days, with essentially non-stop action as soon as the book opens, right through to the finale. It's good to see Michael back in Ireland, dealing with the paramilitaries and mobsters in Dublin and Belfast.
Extremely violent, with some of it quite graphic, but still with enough charm to avoid the story becoming unpleasant.
Not quite as strong as the first two books, but does have a reasonably satisfying conclusion, that conforms to the stereotypes of the genre. You don't have to be Einstein to work out the main 'twist' in the story (which actually didn't work for me, as there were major timeline problems), but this didn't detract overall.
I really enjoy McKinty, and am sad this series has come to an end. I did, however, prefer the Sean Duffy series (also sadly finished). As far as I can tell, he hasn't really written anything else, which is a shame.
Highly recommended for fans of action and noir, and don't mind it a bit gritty and violent. Essential to read this trilogy in order though, so start with 'Dead I May Well Be'
July 16, 2022
I have read and really enjoyed all the Sean Duffy Series. They are excellent, so I thought I'd try Michael Forsyth. It's very different and while it takes place in Northern Ireland, it doesn't have the same sense of place that I got from the Duffy series. I probably should have read the first two in the series first for some background, although much of it is alluded to in the 3rd and last. Forsyth is brought back to NI by a sworn arch enemy to help find her daughter, who has been kidnapped. There are several surprises, and it's certainly a quick read.
July 30, 2020
All the stars!!
What an amazing finale to an amazing trilogy!
So sad to say goodbye to Michael Forsythe , I’ll definitely miss him!
And again, all the stars to the perfect narrator Gerard Doyle, who made Adrian McKinty’s great books even better. I’ll listen to anything he’ll read, even just an old phone book.
What an amazing finale to an amazing trilogy!
So sad to say goodbye to Michael Forsythe , I’ll definitely miss him!
And again, all the stars to the perfect narrator Gerard Doyle, who made Adrian McKinty’s great books even better. I’ll listen to anything he’ll read, even just an old phone book.
May 29, 2008
Michael Forsythe is a bad MoFo. I've said it before. He's a great character you hate to love. He's a bad guy. One of the best bad guys there is. The Bloomsday Dead is currently the final book in the Forsythe trilogy. My god I hope it's not the last.
For me, McKinty writes just the way I want to read. To the point, but not leaving out a single spicy detail. A lot of wit, and, you know, Irish. Solid bloody Irish.
I enjoyed this book for the same reasons I enjoyed the other 2. Wit, cleverness, killing, cussing, and an all around interesting story. Killing. Yeah there was some of that in all the books. I decided to keep track this time just because. I think the following is accurate.
The book is 12 chapters spread over 289 pages.
Chapter 1 Michael kills 3.
Chapter 2 None die.
Chapter 3 Michael mortally wounds a man but we don't know that he dies.
Chapter 4 Michael wounds 2 more.
Chapter 5 No wounds or deaths.
Chapter 6 Michael wounds 2.
Chapter 7 Three people are killed by someone other than Michael. 5 are wounded by someone other than Michael. Michael wounds one man.
Chapter 8. Michael kills 3 and wounds another.
Chapter 9. Michael wounds 3.
Chapter 10. No wounds or deaths.
Chapter 11. Michael kills 5.
Chapter 12. Michael kills 3 and someone else kills one more.
One book. Michael kills 12 people and wounds 8 different lads. Geesh. I told you, bad MoFo.
If you've read the others, you have to finish the series. If you haven't read the others, start with Dead I Well May Be and catch yourself up for cripes sake.
For me, McKinty writes just the way I want to read. To the point, but not leaving out a single spicy detail. A lot of wit, and, you know, Irish. Solid bloody Irish.
I enjoyed this book for the same reasons I enjoyed the other 2. Wit, cleverness, killing, cussing, and an all around interesting story. Killing. Yeah there was some of that in all the books. I decided to keep track this time just because. I think the following is accurate.
The book is 12 chapters spread over 289 pages.
Chapter 1 Michael kills 3.
Chapter 2 None die.
Chapter 3 Michael mortally wounds a man but we don't know that he dies.
Chapter 4 Michael wounds 2 more.
Chapter 5 No wounds or deaths.
Chapter 6 Michael wounds 2.
Chapter 7 Three people are killed by someone other than Michael. 5 are wounded by someone other than Michael. Michael wounds one man.
Chapter 8. Michael kills 3 and wounds another.
Chapter 9. Michael wounds 3.
Chapter 10. No wounds or deaths.
Chapter 11. Michael kills 5.
Chapter 12. Michael kills 3 and someone else kills one more.
One book. Michael kills 12 people and wounds 8 different lads. Geesh. I told you, bad MoFo.
If you've read the others, you have to finish the series. If you haven't read the others, start with Dead I Well May Be and catch yourself up for cripes sake.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2019
The writing itself is still quite good but Michael Forsythe’s activities would have maimed and/ or killed a fellow 5 times over. Even if not the case, he would have been detained by one or another authority before he had left Dublin.
The first book in the series was fantastic but still very entertaining and not too over the top. The second in the series, over the top. The third, too outlandish by far and way over the top.
Considering that I enjoy Sci-fi, fantasy and Y/A offerings and I am generally happy to suspend judgement for a charming story, this is saying a lot, for me. Oh well, at least the trilogy is over. What to read ...
The first book in the series was fantastic but still very entertaining and not too over the top. The second in the series, over the top. The third, too outlandish by far and way over the top.
Considering that I enjoy Sci-fi, fantasy and Y/A offerings and I am generally happy to suspend judgement for a charming story, this is saying a lot, for me. Oh well, at least the trilogy is over. What to read ...
January 4, 2022
This is Bloomsday with a bang. The book is literally unputdownable. For this last instalment in the Forsythe Saga (forgive the pun for those old enough to get it), McKinty has pulled out all the plugs as our (anti-)hero races to save the life of the daughter of Bridget, his ex-lover, who has sworn to kill him. Michael races around Northern Ireland leaving a trail of destruction and mayhem in his wake. But this is McKinty and the writing is inspired, while his dialogues are always razor-sharp.
September 29, 2014
Love this guy Michael Forsyth. These books would make great action films. Too bad Liam Neeson is too old for the role. Cliffhanger to the end and Michael is a one-man tour de force who gets out of impossible situation after impossible situation. The Belfast setting is a big plus, and at the end you wonder what's next. Want to see if there has been a follow up to this because I have to know....
January 19, 2019
I miss Sean Duffy. Perhaps Michael Forsythe is simply too perfect- artificial foot aside. Wanted to love this book. I like that the vast majority of the plot is plausible. Saddened by Mr. Forsythe's preference for killing anyone blocking his way. Found the relationship with the main female character implausible and sentimental.
September 11, 2020
Maybe I waited too long to get to the last one in this trilogy but it just didn't do it for me. I liked the first two, but this one bored me. It never clicked and I ended up reading just to finish it. Not completely unfortunate but not great either.
June 28, 2020
This third book in McKinty’s Dead Trilogy is the one I enjoyed the most.
December 27, 2023
For those not familiar with the 'Dead' series by Adrian McKinty, the protagonist is Michael Forsythe, a young man from Northern Ireland who emigrates to America in the 1980's after less than successful experiences in the British Army and in petty crime. The first of the three novels in the series concerns his work for the Irish mob in New York. The second is about his recruitment by the British to infiltrate a violent IRA offshoot in Boston. This, the final installment, finds him hired by an old flame (and enemy) from New York to return to Ireland and assist in finding her kidnapped daughter. He happens to arrive in Dublin on Bloomsday, an annual festival for fans of James Joyce's novel 'Ulysses.'
Briefly, this book is the most interesting (and the most violent) of the three. During one 24-hour period Michael pursues a series of leads in an attempt to locate the missing girl before the ransom demanded by the kidnappers has to be delivered. Each of these leads involves a fight, usually with fatal consequences for at least some of the people Michael encounters. It's well written, fast-paced, and exciting, but not in my opinion quite as enjoyable as the author's 'Sean Duffy' novels. Well recommended.
Briefly, this book is the most interesting (and the most violent) of the three. During one 24-hour period Michael pursues a series of leads in an attempt to locate the missing girl before the ransom demanded by the kidnappers has to be delivered. Each of these leads involves a fight, usually with fatal consequences for at least some of the people Michael encounters. It's well written, fast-paced, and exciting, but not in my opinion quite as enjoyable as the author's 'Sean Duffy' novels. Well recommended.
April 13, 2020
Well I don’t know why I was debating about the ‘hero’ of Killshot being one recently when I can enjoy reading such a nonstop violent book like the Bloomsday Dead. The one day of the plot involves Michael Forsythe (a sidekick to Sean Duffy in that series) killing and hammering his way through endless opponents. Set in the author’s most creatively inspiring hunting ground, Belfast, it’s full of hard brutalised men, gang members with dreadful IRA ancestry. Michael has to find the kidnapped daughter of the queen of gangster/mobsters, his former boss/lover Bridget Callaghan.
To explain its charm, there’s a mordant wit in Michael’s inner thoughts, fast paced action, and a very powerful evocation of the Irish setting
Could be 4 stars but for the many ways to hurt, maim, kill people, all quickly described before we move on to the next one.
From my library BorrowBox.
To explain its charm, there’s a mordant wit in Michael’s inner thoughts, fast paced action, and a very powerful evocation of the Irish setting
Could be 4 stars but for the many ways to hurt, maim, kill people, all quickly described before we move on to the next one.
From my library BorrowBox.
February 10, 2020
Action packed, edge of your seat. How many more lives can Michael have???
It was obvious from the beginning that Siobhan is Michael’s daughter.
The ending was completely crazy and not believable at all. Out of character for the trilogy. And - The idea that Michael and Brigitte would live happily Ever After is a disappointing ending to this blood bath of a book. They have so much blood on their hands, they don’t deserve it.
It was obvious from the beginning that Siobhan is Michael’s daughter.
The ending was completely crazy and not believable at all. Out of character for the trilogy. And - The idea that Michael and Brigitte would live happily Ever After is a disappointing ending to this blood bath of a book. They have so much blood on their hands, they don’t deserve it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2024
I enjoyed this series. I listened to all 3 books as audiobooks. I liked the main character, Michael Forsythe, and Gerard Doyle, the narrator, does an excellent job using different voices to differentiate the characters. I listened to the first two books in a row and needed a break from the violence. The third book I found a bit boring, but it was worth listening to finish the series. If you like mob stories, you might enjoy these.
May 12, 2024
Michael Fosythe has been sought out by now Irish Crime boss Bridget Callahan to find her young daughter Sioban who is missing. He has had multiple factors taking a shot at him throughout the entire process and has to come face to face with his illicit past to find her.
Nonstop excitement and many deaths until he find her and has a heart felt reunion with her and her mother.
Nonstop excitement and many deaths until he find her and has a heart felt reunion with her and her mother.
December 11, 2019
Great series with a satisfying (for me) ending. I am always anticipating a new McKinty book and am so glad I read this older series.
May 28, 2020
OK. I’ve been going on about the general excellence of McKinty’s writing, about his offering a kind of master class in genre, and about my sense that he’s still awfully good even at his worst. I’m not going to quite change that claim here – for most of this novel he remains funny and moves his story along – but I have a hard time forgiving the conclusion here.
This one is clearly weaker than the two that come before it in the Michael Forsythe trilogy. This begins with a twist that’s both unnecessary and unbelievable. Forsythe’s long-ago girlfriend Bridget – who, in earlier novels, has risen to the top of the Irish mob in the United States – has been trying to kill him for years. Then, when her daughter is kidnapped in Belfast, she determines to ask him to come serve as a private detective on the case. Never mind that Forsythe hasn’t been in Belfast for twenty years nor that he has a bounty on his head from the mob and parts of the I.R.A.; somehow he’s the only one who can do this. Never mind that – and I am not making this up – Bridget knows where he is because she has just dispatched a team of hitmen to kill him. No, suddenly he’s the only man for the job.
To McKinty’s credit, he accounts for that absurdity throughout, softens its edges into something that, while not believable, has some currency within the fiction of the novel. Forsythe becomes an ever-more efficient killing machine, but, again, McKinty writes well enough to sustain much of the edge.
As a further plus, McKinty continues with his skill of bringing local color to his settings. I lived for a time in Dublin, and it was great to walk those streets again in his telling. I’ve never been to Belfast, but I have a sense of its structure since McKinty paints cityscapes with such sustained skill.
No, the big problem for me with this one is that McKinty blinks.
[SPOILER from here on out:] Of course Bridget’s daughter is actually Forsythe’s child. That felt obvious from very early in the novel, and I was a bit insulted that McKinty never let Forsythe entertain the possibility. To be fair, it doesn’t come as a huge reveal, but it comes with what is supposed to be some dramatic breakthrough.
The real problem, though, comes when – with the resurrected bad guy/one-time Forsythe pal as well as all the other killers, enemies, and in-the-way toughs – Forsythe has killed everyone. They’re all gone, and he’s paid the supposed noir price of losing his sense of decency and direction.
So, why, then, does Bridget agree immediately to his marriage proposal and their relocation to South America? Why would she give up her hard-won role as a mob boss? Why would she suddenly forgive Forsythe after trying multiple times over a decade to kill him?
The only answer is that McKinty has committed a cardinal sin of the genre: he has come to like his character too much. Momentum would have had Forsythe ride off into a sunset of peripatetic adventures, a tough guy out to pasture. Noir logic would have had him killed. I can see the great betrayal at the end, Bridget thanking him for bringing back Siobhan and then, before he can introduce himself as her biological father and upset their status as the heirs to the once-powerful Darkey White, killing him herself.
Letting Forsythe live, though, undermines the entire noir sense of the story. Noir’s cynicism comes from its sense that the universe doesn’t care about any of us. Once you come to accept that premise, though – accept it least within a given fiction – there’s comfort in knowing that we are all called on to follow our own sense of what it means to do the right thing. In the end, noir is not cynical. Instead, it casts other viewpoints as cynical. It exposes the idea of something like divine favor as fraudulent. Once you’ve killed (or seen killed), you can’t think of any particular life as more meaningful than another.
So, even though I still admire McKinty and look to him as someone who can model how to work within the genre, I can’t quite forgive him for ending this – his first published series – in such disappointing fashion.
This one is clearly weaker than the two that come before it in the Michael Forsythe trilogy. This begins with a twist that’s both unnecessary and unbelievable. Forsythe’s long-ago girlfriend Bridget – who, in earlier novels, has risen to the top of the Irish mob in the United States – has been trying to kill him for years. Then, when her daughter is kidnapped in Belfast, she determines to ask him to come serve as a private detective on the case. Never mind that Forsythe hasn’t been in Belfast for twenty years nor that he has a bounty on his head from the mob and parts of the I.R.A.; somehow he’s the only one who can do this. Never mind that – and I am not making this up – Bridget knows where he is because she has just dispatched a team of hitmen to kill him. No, suddenly he’s the only man for the job.
To McKinty’s credit, he accounts for that absurdity throughout, softens its edges into something that, while not believable, has some currency within the fiction of the novel. Forsythe becomes an ever-more efficient killing machine, but, again, McKinty writes well enough to sustain much of the edge.
As a further plus, McKinty continues with his skill of bringing local color to his settings. I lived for a time in Dublin, and it was great to walk those streets again in his telling. I’ve never been to Belfast, but I have a sense of its structure since McKinty paints cityscapes with such sustained skill.
No, the big problem for me with this one is that McKinty blinks.
[SPOILER from here on out:] Of course Bridget’s daughter is actually Forsythe’s child. That felt obvious from very early in the novel, and I was a bit insulted that McKinty never let Forsythe entertain the possibility. To be fair, it doesn’t come as a huge reveal, but it comes with what is supposed to be some dramatic breakthrough.
The real problem, though, comes when – with the resurrected bad guy/one-time Forsythe pal as well as all the other killers, enemies, and in-the-way toughs – Forsythe has killed everyone. They’re all gone, and he’s paid the supposed noir price of losing his sense of decency and direction.
So, why, then, does Bridget agree immediately to his marriage proposal and their relocation to South America? Why would she give up her hard-won role as a mob boss? Why would she suddenly forgive Forsythe after trying multiple times over a decade to kill him?
The only answer is that McKinty has committed a cardinal sin of the genre: he has come to like his character too much. Momentum would have had Forsythe ride off into a sunset of peripatetic adventures, a tough guy out to pasture. Noir logic would have had him killed. I can see the great betrayal at the end, Bridget thanking him for bringing back Siobhan and then, before he can introduce himself as her biological father and upset their status as the heirs to the once-powerful Darkey White, killing him herself.
Letting Forsythe live, though, undermines the entire noir sense of the story. Noir’s cynicism comes from its sense that the universe doesn’t care about any of us. Once you come to accept that premise, though – accept it least within a given fiction – there’s comfort in knowing that we are all called on to follow our own sense of what it means to do the right thing. In the end, noir is not cynical. Instead, it casts other viewpoints as cynical. It exposes the idea of something like divine favor as fraudulent. Once you’ve killed (or seen killed), you can’t think of any particular life as more meaningful than another.
So, even though I still admire McKinty and look to him as someone who can model how to work within the genre, I can’t quite forgive him for ending this – his first published series – in such disappointing fashion.
May 26, 2017
the finale of the trilogy; exciting and a page turner; must read all 3 to appreciate this.
September 29, 2011
‘They say that when he was conceived the good fairy was on sabbatical. They say that when he was born vultures perched themselves on the houses of his enemies.’
‘The Bloomsday Dead’ is a bullet ridden romp through Irelands underbelly in which perennial protagonist Michael Forsyth is pitted against criminals and under world types from all walks of life as he tries to reclaim a former nemesis’s daughter from her captors. The dark and damp backdrop of Ireland creates an atmosphere of deep seeded depression and survival abandonment – despite the dire predicaments the protagonist finds himself he never fails to use all of his nine lives. McKinty changes tact from previous instalments preferring to focus more on the private investigator angle over hard man hell bent on vengeance adding another string to Forsyth’s impressive arsenal and well defined character. For fans of the series, ghost of books past return and loyalties are tested to the limit with each decision affecting the story’s dynamics and flow. Bridget’s (mob boss) missing daughter Siobhan and Forsyth’s connection to both ensures a compelling and blood soaked journey from start to finish which culminates in a violent ending true to the trilogies origin. ‘The Bloomsday Dead’ is a page turner along the lines of Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt series (minus the vampire) and Spillane’s unrelenting Mike Hammer outings – 5 Stars.
‘The Bloomsday Dead’ is a bullet ridden romp through Irelands underbelly in which perennial protagonist Michael Forsyth is pitted against criminals and under world types from all walks of life as he tries to reclaim a former nemesis’s daughter from her captors. The dark and damp backdrop of Ireland creates an atmosphere of deep seeded depression and survival abandonment – despite the dire predicaments the protagonist finds himself he never fails to use all of his nine lives. McKinty changes tact from previous instalments preferring to focus more on the private investigator angle over hard man hell bent on vengeance adding another string to Forsyth’s impressive arsenal and well defined character. For fans of the series, ghost of books past return and loyalties are tested to the limit with each decision affecting the story’s dynamics and flow. Bridget’s (mob boss) missing daughter Siobhan and Forsyth’s connection to both ensures a compelling and blood soaked journey from start to finish which culminates in a violent ending true to the trilogies origin. ‘The Bloomsday Dead’ is a page turner along the lines of Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt series (minus the vampire) and Spillane’s unrelenting Mike Hammer outings – 5 Stars.
January 19, 2017
This is the final chapter in this series and this time Michael is contacted by an ex- not quite girlfriend to come back to Ireland and help find her kidnapped daughter.
Previously to this contact,she has had a bunch of hit-men after him for years and years as Michael killed her then fiancé- which sort of was the end of some of his troubles and the start of new troubles.
After several mishaps along the way - which Michael thinks MAY be this womans way of getting back at him, but which she denies he carries on to search for her daughter.
Again when you think things can't get any worse- they do, again and again...how can a man live through so much pain?
I am sorry to see the end of this series but I guess it has played its course.
Well done again to Mr Doyle for his superb narration.
Previously to this contact,she has had a bunch of hit-men after him for years and years as Michael killed her then fiancé- which sort of was the end of some of his troubles and the start of new troubles.
After several mishaps along the way - which Michael thinks MAY be this womans way of getting back at him, but which she denies he carries on to search for her daughter.
Again when you think things can't get any worse- they do, again and again...how can a man live through so much pain?
I am sorry to see the end of this series but I guess it has played its course.
Well done again to Mr Doyle for his superb narration.
December 25, 2021
Really not the best McKinty I’ve read. Lots of murder, mayhem, and taxing our hero beyond human endurance, but this book doesn’t have the backdrop of Ireland and the “Troubles” which deepen the experience of mayhem in others of his stories. The protagonist has been wandering the world to escape the hit on his life, ends up back in Ireland, but Ireland is not truly a theme here, more a backdrop. This may be a parallel to the author’s life, as he moved from country to country after leaving Ireland. But this mobsterlike character isn’t really that sympathetic to me, as he murders without much saving grace.
April 9, 2010
The third and final book in the Michael Forsythe storyline. With Bridget back in the story his emotions get the better of him. I kind of guessed the ending and am a bit indifferent about it, but the twist threw me for a great loop. I can't get enough of Adrian McKinty's stuff and would LOVE to see these turned into movies.
May 7, 2012
uses at its frame James Joyce's "Ulysses" somewhat in homage and somewhat as a satire --- every Irishman is presumed to have read and committed Ulysses to heart, correct? Once in a while a bit over the top in the physical damage Michael emerges still ticking from, but other than that , I loved it. Listened to the Audible version read by Gerald Doyle -- outstanding narration.
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