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Belfast Noir
Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.
Reflecting a city still divided, Belfast Noir serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk.
Featuring brand-new stories by: Glenn Patterson, Eoin McNamee, Garbhan Downey, Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Brian McGilloway, Ian McDonald, Arlene Hunt, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Claire McGowan, Steve Cavanagh, Lucy Caldwell, Sam Millar, and Gerard Brennan.
From the introduction by Adrian McKinty & Stuart Neville:
"Few European cities have had as disturbed and violent a history as Belfast over the last half-century. For much of that time the Troubles (1968�1998) dominated life in Ireland's second-biggest population centre, and during the darkest days of the conflict--in the 1970s and 1980s--riots, bombings, and indiscriminate shootings were tragically commonplace. The British army patrolled the streets in armoured vehicles and civilians were searched for guns and explosives before they were allowed entry into the shopping district of the city centre...Belfast is still a city divided...
Reflecting a city still divided, Belfast Noir serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk.
Featuring brand-new stories by: Glenn Patterson, Eoin McNamee, Garbhan Downey, Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Brian McGilloway, Ian McDonald, Arlene Hunt, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Claire McGowan, Steve Cavanagh, Lucy Caldwell, Sam Millar, and Gerard Brennan.
From the introduction by Adrian McKinty & Stuart Neville:
"Few European cities have had as disturbed and violent a history as Belfast over the last half-century. For much of that time the Troubles (1968�1998) dominated life in Ireland's second-biggest population centre, and during the darkest days of the conflict--in the 1970s and 1980s--riots, bombings, and indiscriminate shootings were tragically commonplace. The British army patrolled the streets in armoured vehicles and civilians were searched for guns and explosives before they were allowed entry into the shopping district of the city centre...Belfast is still a city divided...
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2014
238 people are currently reading
1219 people want to read
About the author
Adrian McKinty
49 books4,371 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 91 reviews
June 20, 2025
This is a collection of short stories written during "the troubles" in Belfast. The quality of the stories varies considerably. Some are very good. Most are pretty average and a few are downright awful.
March 14, 2017
Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville have put together a terrific collection in the latest in the Akashic noir series, Belfast Noir. This volume introduces readers to several writers they may not have previously known including Steve Cavanagh, Claire McGowen, and Garbhan Downey. There are several authors included - Alex Barclay, Arlene Hunt and Sam Millar - who have a number of novels behind them but will be new to American readers . This collection shows us the range of what can be considered “noir” and stories range from comic to thrillers to violent (though never too graphic). Brian McGilloway’s opening story is a perfect introduction to the collection as it straddles both the past and present, and both sides of the border. The Troubles hover in the background and are sometimes forwarded as in Ruth Dudley Edward’s story Taking It Serious. I loved the premise of Glenn Patterson’s story Belfast Punk Rep which mentions Terri (Hooley we presume) and Good Vibrations (the record store and label). Perhaps my favorite story structure was Eoin McNamee’s Corpse Flowers, in which story segments are based on CCTV footage. I definitely want to read more of Sam Millar’s character Karl Kane, who has his own series of books. The Introduction “The Noirest City on Earth” by McKinty and Neville describes the evolution of the new generation of Ulster writers, giving much of the credit to a group of poets in the early 1970’s, including Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson, and Michael Longley (among others), who “produced the greatest body of Irish literary work since the Celtic revival”. The short Foreword by David Torrans, proprietor of the only independent bookshop in Belfast, No Alibis, cements the link between the literary revival of the 1970’s instigated by poets, and crime fiction. For me the connection makes sense as Torrans and his shop provided the book tables with scores of poetry volumes at the Seamus Heaney Commemorative Conference at Queen’s University, Belfast in April of this year (2014). Additionally, Torrans hosts book launches and programs including authors and musicians beyond the mystery genre. This volume will make mystery readers around the world aware of Belfast’s great literary tradition.
August 25, 2021
There is always a little extra with Irish lit that makes it well worth reading
June 6, 2016
Strong, but not quite noir enough
Belfast was my birthplace, and my only idea of a big city for the first ten years of my life. I lived nearby or visited regularly until the mid-seventies, well after the Troubles began. I remember the barricades, check points, and "peace walls" that Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville describe in their excellent preface to this collection of fourteen stories set in and around the city. Before that as a child, I recall the grey buildings, grimy alleys, and ill-repaired bomb damage left after the war, the smell of stale beer and vomit outside the bars, the damp grit under your feet near the docks, all of which they also mention. Belfast is absolutely a city made for noir. It was the setting for Odd Man Out, the James Mason movie that Carol Reed made before The Third Man, that Neville and McKinty cite as so perfectly capturing the dark side of the city. The mean alley on the black and white cover photograph is spot-on. An anthology of great Belfast fiction from the past sixty years would be well worth reading; it should definitely include something by Neville at least, in the vein of his superb novel The Ghosts of Belfast, which also gets the city just right.
But the selling point here is that these are brand-new stories, with no recycled material; you won't waste money on things you have read before. I find this a mixed blessing. All of them are good; there is not a single dud. But they are not all what I would call noir, and only a few manage to capture that particular darkness of the city that the editors evoke so well. For instance, there is a story by Lucy Caldwell called "Poison" about two schoolgirls whose crush on their Spanish teacher brings terrible consequences; it is a wonderful piece actually, set in a suburb of Belfast on the edge of the country, but it is not even a crime story, let alone noir. As you might expect, many of the stories relate to the sectarian struggles of the Troubles, though now mainly used as background. The opening tale, "The Undertaking" by Brian McGilloway, about an undertaker asked to use his coffins for smuggling, is one of the few set in the earlier period; it captures the atmosphere beautifully, though with a comic twist. Steve Cavanagh's story, "The Grey," about a lawyer defending a client on a long-ago sectarian murder, is also slightly comic, turning out to hang upon quite different motives. "Wet With Rain," a terrific story by Lee Child, who now lives in New York, is about Americans going back to clean up on a piece of violence from decades before. Conversely, the disturbed teenager in "Taking it Serious" by Ruth Dudley Edwards, another fine story, is obsessed by the past, dangerously so.
Some other stories are strong but, apart from the accents, could take place almost anywhere. Gerald Brennan's "The Ligature" is about another teenager, this time a girl in a facility for juvenile offenders. In "The Reservoir," Ian McDonald describes a man's unexpected visit to his daughter's wedding; it may be the best story in the book for its unsettling combination of humanity and violence, yet the crimes in the background, drug-dealing, are to be encountered in any modern city. Oddly enough, the piece that I think captured "Belfast noir" best was a modern story, Eoin McNamee's "Corpse Flowers," set in 2013, when the city has become a refuge for the dispossessed riffraff of Eastern Europe. It is told in police blotter style, as the summary of evidence from CCTV cameras all over Belfast; but it manages to capture the darkness of its hidden corners like nothing else.
Belfast was my birthplace, and my only idea of a big city for the first ten years of my life. I lived nearby or visited regularly until the mid-seventies, well after the Troubles began. I remember the barricades, check points, and "peace walls" that Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville describe in their excellent preface to this collection of fourteen stories set in and around the city. Before that as a child, I recall the grey buildings, grimy alleys, and ill-repaired bomb damage left after the war, the smell of stale beer and vomit outside the bars, the damp grit under your feet near the docks, all of which they also mention. Belfast is absolutely a city made for noir. It was the setting for Odd Man Out, the James Mason movie that Carol Reed made before The Third Man, that Neville and McKinty cite as so perfectly capturing the dark side of the city. The mean alley on the black and white cover photograph is spot-on. An anthology of great Belfast fiction from the past sixty years would be well worth reading; it should definitely include something by Neville at least, in the vein of his superb novel The Ghosts of Belfast, which also gets the city just right.
But the selling point here is that these are brand-new stories, with no recycled material; you won't waste money on things you have read before. I find this a mixed blessing. All of them are good; there is not a single dud. But they are not all what I would call noir, and only a few manage to capture that particular darkness of the city that the editors evoke so well. For instance, there is a story by Lucy Caldwell called "Poison" about two schoolgirls whose crush on their Spanish teacher brings terrible consequences; it is a wonderful piece actually, set in a suburb of Belfast on the edge of the country, but it is not even a crime story, let alone noir. As you might expect, many of the stories relate to the sectarian struggles of the Troubles, though now mainly used as background. The opening tale, "The Undertaking" by Brian McGilloway, about an undertaker asked to use his coffins for smuggling, is one of the few set in the earlier period; it captures the atmosphere beautifully, though with a comic twist. Steve Cavanagh's story, "The Grey," about a lawyer defending a client on a long-ago sectarian murder, is also slightly comic, turning out to hang upon quite different motives. "Wet With Rain," a terrific story by Lee Child, who now lives in New York, is about Americans going back to clean up on a piece of violence from decades before. Conversely, the disturbed teenager in "Taking it Serious" by Ruth Dudley Edwards, another fine story, is obsessed by the past, dangerously so.
Some other stories are strong but, apart from the accents, could take place almost anywhere. Gerald Brennan's "The Ligature" is about another teenager, this time a girl in a facility for juvenile offenders. In "The Reservoir," Ian McDonald describes a man's unexpected visit to his daughter's wedding; it may be the best story in the book for its unsettling combination of humanity and violence, yet the crimes in the background, drug-dealing, are to be encountered in any modern city. Oddly enough, the piece that I think captured "Belfast noir" best was a modern story, Eoin McNamee's "Corpse Flowers," set in 2013, when the city has become a refuge for the dispossessed riffraff of Eastern Europe. It is told in police blotter style, as the summary of evidence from CCTV cameras all over Belfast; but it manages to capture the darkness of its hidden corners like nothing else.
March 18, 2023
A first rate collection of really good stories - the one by Gerald Paterson is downright brilliant and would grace any collection of short fiction - I also have a very fond remembrance of Clare McGowan's just turned eighteen, just left school PI. If that suggest a story with an element of humour that is correct, most of these stories contain a strong humorous element - a very Irish sense of humour and being Belfast it is probably true to say that there is a strong gallows humour. I love it and recognised it at once, though it has been many years since I lived in Ireland, and that was in the Republic.
I don't read much crime fiction so I can not really comment on these stories as crime stories I can confirm that they are well written and enjoyable, but that is also my Irish background speaking, there is to much in these stories that ring true but also bring back memories for me to be completely dispassionate. I am sure that they are good, but can't assure you that there Irish flavour will carry or be enjoyed by everyone, but considering the praise and international recognition many of the authors have received it is probably something you need not worry about. I won't vouch for the other volumes in this multi-volumed series but this book of stories based in Belfast is first rate.
I don't read much crime fiction so I can not really comment on these stories as crime stories I can confirm that they are well written and enjoyable, but that is also my Irish background speaking, there is to much in these stories that ring true but also bring back memories for me to be completely dispassionate. I am sure that they are good, but can't assure you that there Irish flavour will carry or be enjoyed by everyone, but considering the praise and international recognition many of the authors have received it is probably something you need not worry about. I won't vouch for the other volumes in this multi-volumed series but this book of stories based in Belfast is first rate.
November 27, 2014
I received this Advance Reading Copy (ARC) through the LibraryThing Early Review program.
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories from authors born in Belfast Northern Ireland, some famous, and others not so much.
Each story held my attention at least for the first 10 pages. The stories I liked the most of the sixteen were: "Wet With Rain" by Lee Child, "Poison" by Lucy Caldwell, and "Pure Game" by Arlene Hunt. The other stories were ok, but the writing styles didn't grab me as much as the three mentioned.
My advice to you is to read this book, and make up your own mind which stories you prefer, and trust me it's a personal preference. 4 stars
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories from authors born in Belfast Northern Ireland, some famous, and others not so much.
Each story held my attention at least for the first 10 pages. The stories I liked the most of the sixteen were: "Wet With Rain" by Lee Child, "Poison" by Lucy Caldwell, and "Pure Game" by Arlene Hunt. The other stories were ok, but the writing styles didn't grab me as much as the three mentioned.
My advice to you is to read this book, and make up your own mind which stories you prefer, and trust me it's a personal preference. 4 stars
June 24, 2015
3.5 stars
Since 2004, Akashik Books has been putting out the "Noir" series. Each is a collection of short stories set in a specific city with most contributors being natives. With more than 60 volumes published & 20 on the way, it's a great way to sample new authors.
When I saw this book listed as the "#1 Best Seller in Great Britain Travel Guides" on Amazon, I thought someone screwed up. Now I'm not so sure.
In these 14 stories, all neighbourhoods of Belfast are well represented so you get a sense of its' ethos, from manor house to tenement. With such rich, recent history there is no shortage of inspiration for local writers.
I won't go into individual details...you could read a couple in the time it would take to read this review & it all depends on personal preference anyway. As with all anthologies some are great, some are good & some are "meh". There is violence, suspense, colourful characters, sadness & humour. And no doubt everyone will have a different favourite.
I picked it up because of a couple of authors whose novels I already enjoy. Now I'm looking forward to checking out books by some who were introduced to me here.
Since 2004, Akashik Books has been putting out the "Noir" series. Each is a collection of short stories set in a specific city with most contributors being natives. With more than 60 volumes published & 20 on the way, it's a great way to sample new authors.
When I saw this book listed as the "#1 Best Seller in Great Britain Travel Guides" on Amazon, I thought someone screwed up. Now I'm not so sure.
In these 14 stories, all neighbourhoods of Belfast are well represented so you get a sense of its' ethos, from manor house to tenement. With such rich, recent history there is no shortage of inspiration for local writers.
I won't go into individual details...you could read a couple in the time it would take to read this review & it all depends on personal preference anyway. As with all anthologies some are great, some are good & some are "meh". There is violence, suspense, colourful characters, sadness & humour. And no doubt everyone will have a different favourite.
I picked it up because of a couple of authors whose novels I already enjoy. Now I'm looking forward to checking out books by some who were introduced to me here.
March 24, 2015
I'm not much of a fan of short fiction. Often I find that authors either don't know when to bring the story to a close, or, they end them too abruptly. But I do like to discover new authors through collections, and the series of city-based Noir tales published by Akashic (soon they might run out of cities; I doubt we'll see a Pelican Rapids Noir) can occasionally be a gold mine for finding new authors. How many I discover will affect my rating.
Edited by two favorite authors, Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville, this one is devoted to stories in or around Belfast. There were a couple I really enjoyed, some others that were just OK, and a few that got quickly skimmed after reading the first couple pages. Generally, those written by authentic Irish authors fared the best. Unfortunately, there were too few stories that gripped me.
Edited by two favorite authors, Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville, this one is devoted to stories in or around Belfast. There were a couple I really enjoyed, some others that were just OK, and a few that got quickly skimmed after reading the first couple pages. Generally, those written by authentic Irish authors fared the best. Unfortunately, there were too few stories that gripped me.
March 18, 2018
Short stories are a tougher thing to do well than writing a regular length book, or so it sometimes seems.
Belfast Noir is part of a series that gathers together writers who live in or are associated with a particular city around the world. The problems I had with this book were:
1. By its very title Noir- one would expect mysteries, or darker edgier stories, and especially with Belfast being the setting for all of the stories in the book, where as a number of the stories in this collection definitely didn't meet this criteria.
2. A number of the stories just weren't that interesting.
On the plus side with this book as with any short story collection the reader is exposed to writers they may not have been familiar with. That was certainly true with Belfast Noir, and I look forward to reading a couple of full size novels from Sam Millar, and Steve Cavenagh.
Belfast Noir is part of a series that gathers together writers who live in or are associated with a particular city around the world. The problems I had with this book were:
1. By its very title Noir- one would expect mysteries, or darker edgier stories, and especially with Belfast being the setting for all of the stories in the book, where as a number of the stories in this collection definitely didn't meet this criteria.
2. A number of the stories just weren't that interesting.
On the plus side with this book as with any short story collection the reader is exposed to writers they may not have been familiar with. That was certainly true with Belfast Noir, and I look forward to reading a couple of full size novels from Sam Millar, and Steve Cavenagh.
July 27, 2019
An memorable selection of crime stories that work best as character studies. I can’t wait to read more from these writers and those mentioned in the forward.
September 11, 2019
My favorite, Irish noir.
July 4, 2020
3.7. I liked this book, mainly in the strength of a few of the stories. 3.7 is the average of my individual ratings for each - see below.
My top 3 are probably Rosie Grant’s Finger (funny), Pure Game (surprising), and Lee Child’s Wet with Rain - which was my favorite.
The Undertaking 4
Poison 5
Wet with Rain 5
Taking it Serious 5
Ligature 2
Belfast Punk REP 2
The Reservoir 4
The Grey 4
Rosie Grant’s Finger 5
Out of Time 2
Die Like a Rat 3
Corpse Flowers 4
Pure Game 5
The Reveler 2
My top 3 are probably Rosie Grant’s Finger (funny), Pure Game (surprising), and Lee Child’s Wet with Rain - which was my favorite.
The Undertaking 4
Poison 5
Wet with Rain 5
Taking it Serious 5
Ligature 2
Belfast Punk REP 2
The Reservoir 4
The Grey 4
Rosie Grant’s Finger 5
Out of Time 2
Die Like a Rat 3
Corpse Flowers 4
Pure Game 5
The Reveler 2
Read
August 26, 2018I’m not going to rate this book because I read it for an Irish book club even though I don’t really care for short stories. A couple were okay but most were too dark for my taste. It did not bring back fond memories of my trip to Belfast in June!
May 22, 2018
Audio. Short stories, not really “noir”, but entertaining. Uneven writing, but if your into Irish writing (and audio) you’ll enjoy it.
August 26, 2021
The undertaking and Rosie grants finger are the best two
December 28, 2022
It was ok as a whole, some stories much better than others. I did skip one once I realised it was graphic animal cruelty - ‘Pure Game’, I realise that this happens but I don’t need to read about it.
May 25, 2017
BELFAST NOIR was a real treat to read. It is one title in the Akashic Publishers noir series. I have read several now and each one is interesting, unusual and radiates a great sense of place.
BELFAST NOIR edited by Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville is no exception.
It consists of an introduction by Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville; a foreword by David Torrans; a Table of Contents; a map (I love the map); a section about the authors/contributors; a sneak peek at USA Noir; more series titles; Akashic Noir series awards and a blurb about Akashic Books.
There are four parts with 14 stories.
The story POISON by Lucy Caldwell (taking place in Dundonald) was very disturbing to me - the friends’ actions and deceitful antics, and the lingering question - Was the young girl with Mr. Knox his daughter Melissa?
WET WITH RAIN by Lee Child (taking place on Great Victoria Street) was very disturbing.
TAKING IT SERIOUS by Ruth Dudley Edwards (taking place on Falls Road) made me cringe.
THE RESERVOIR by Ian McDonald (taking place in Holywood) was downright nasty.
LIGATURE by Gerard Brennan (taking place in Hydebank) was pitiful.
(I am getting depressed rereading these stories. Does nothing happy ever happen in Belfast?)
THE GREY by Steve Cavanagh (taking place in Laganside, Queen’s Island) was a ‘teeny bit’, a ‘wee bit’ ok. Not happy, but ok.
PURE GAME by Arlene Hunt (taking place in Sydenham) - I didn’t see this ending coming.
CORPSE FLOWERS by Eoin McNamee (taking place in Ormeau Embankment) was extremely evil.
(I will ask again - is anything normal in Belfast Northern Ireland?)
These stories are more than gritty and grim; they are true blackness - true noir.
All the stories were grim, gritty, violent and nasty at their worst and puzzling at their best.
The series by Akashic Books is terrific and I can’t wait to read even more titles.
BELFAST NOIR edited by Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville is no exception.
It consists of an introduction by Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville; a foreword by David Torrans; a Table of Contents; a map (I love the map); a section about the authors/contributors; a sneak peek at USA Noir; more series titles; Akashic Noir series awards and a blurb about Akashic Books.
There are four parts with 14 stories.
The story POISON by Lucy Caldwell (taking place in Dundonald) was very disturbing to me - the friends’ actions and deceitful antics, and the lingering question - Was the young girl with Mr. Knox his daughter Melissa?
WET WITH RAIN by Lee Child (taking place on Great Victoria Street) was very disturbing.
TAKING IT SERIOUS by Ruth Dudley Edwards (taking place on Falls Road) made me cringe.
THE RESERVOIR by Ian McDonald (taking place in Holywood) was downright nasty.
LIGATURE by Gerard Brennan (taking place in Hydebank) was pitiful.
(I am getting depressed rereading these stories. Does nothing happy ever happen in Belfast?)
THE GREY by Steve Cavanagh (taking place in Laganside, Queen’s Island) was a ‘teeny bit’, a ‘wee bit’ ok. Not happy, but ok.
PURE GAME by Arlene Hunt (taking place in Sydenham) - I didn’t see this ending coming.
CORPSE FLOWERS by Eoin McNamee (taking place in Ormeau Embankment) was extremely evil.
(I will ask again - is anything normal in Belfast Northern Ireland?)
These stories are more than gritty and grim; they are true blackness - true noir.
All the stories were grim, gritty, violent and nasty at their worst and puzzling at their best.
The series by Akashic Books is terrific and I can’t wait to read even more titles.
October 15, 2014
This is the first of the Akashic 'Noir' series that I've read, and given my interest in all things Belfast, it wasn't a big surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
The collection is edited by Adrian Mckinty and Stuart Neville but features stories from neither of NI's probably best known crime writers-instead we get the opportunity to read crime shorts from established literary fiction writers like Glenn Patterson and Lucy Caldwell, local and international crime writers such as Alex Barclay, Lee Child, Brian McGilloway and Eoin McNamee and up and coming local writers in the genre, such as Gerard Brennan and Steve Cavanagh.
The collection features settings and protagonists from all over the city and its outskirts, as well as covering a broad range of perpetrated crimes, with stories written in both the first and third person, portraying often chilling but sometimes humorous tales.
Personal favourites for me were stories by Lucy Caldwell, Glenn Patterson, Garbhan Downey and Arlene Hunt (whose tale of illegal dog fighting, a problem in NI, I found most chilling), and while some of the writing was better than others, it was a 5 star read for me because of the vivid depiction across the board, albeit in an often dark form, of the city in which I live, which I'm always a sucker for.
My main concern now is that I don't get addicted to the Noir series-having read the list of titles at the beginning of the collection, I've already purchased Manhattan Noir 1 & 2, and have the feeling that many more of the titles will end up on my shelves before long.
Well worth the read!
The collection is edited by Adrian Mckinty and Stuart Neville but features stories from neither of NI's probably best known crime writers-instead we get the opportunity to read crime shorts from established literary fiction writers like Glenn Patterson and Lucy Caldwell, local and international crime writers such as Alex Barclay, Lee Child, Brian McGilloway and Eoin McNamee and up and coming local writers in the genre, such as Gerard Brennan and Steve Cavanagh.
The collection features settings and protagonists from all over the city and its outskirts, as well as covering a broad range of perpetrated crimes, with stories written in both the first and third person, portraying often chilling but sometimes humorous tales.
Personal favourites for me were stories by Lucy Caldwell, Glenn Patterson, Garbhan Downey and Arlene Hunt (whose tale of illegal dog fighting, a problem in NI, I found most chilling), and while some of the writing was better than others, it was a 5 star read for me because of the vivid depiction across the board, albeit in an often dark form, of the city in which I live, which I'm always a sucker for.
My main concern now is that I don't get addicted to the Noir series-having read the list of titles at the beginning of the collection, I've already purchased Manhattan Noir 1 & 2, and have the feeling that many more of the titles will end up on my shelves before long.
Well worth the read!
June 15, 2015
A compilation of short stories which generally avoids the pitfalls of many such volumes: all the stories are written by people who know what they are writing about - the sense of place is entirely convincing; almost all the stories are good and some are very good indeed. My personal favourites are Ligature by Gerard Brennan, the story of an apparently hard-bitten female prisoner in Hydebank Women's Prison, The Reservoir by Ian McDonald, a clever story of revenge involving Loyalist drug gangsters and Corpse Flowers by Eoin McNamee in which the narrative unfolds through a series of camera images (CCTV, home video recordings etc.). Perhaps the balance of the stories features rather too much black humour and not enough serious noir, but there is hardly a dud story in the collection. One theme that (perhaps subconsciously) breaks through in most of the stories is the whole-hearted disgust felt for the paramilitaries and their fellow-travellers who made our lives in Northern Ireland hell for so many decades in the past and still possess a pervasive and malign influence today.
December 6, 2014
A collection of stories that packs a punch. Each crime/thriller/mystery short story is beautifully crafted and readers will lose themselves in the powerful and engrossing prose. The setting is the dark underbelly of Belfast. All the grime, murder, and violence found in Belfast shows itself in these stories. I can honestly say that there is not one story I didn't like, the dog fighting one was a little rough, but overall, I found myself totally digging all the stories. Some of the contributing authors are big names like Lee Child and Alex Barclay and others are little known, but amazing emerging authors. This noir anthology is a must for anyone interested in this genre, and even for those who aren't (like myself) because it's an impossibly hard to put down collection. Belfast show's its true colors (ie bloodstains) in this gritty collection. Thoroughly enjoyable!
October 31, 2015
These short stories are what I am looking for when I think noir. Deliciously odd and bordering on the creepy. Belfast as a setting is always a factor. As an example, a character wakes up from a drug bender and not knowing if she's in a friendly sector because she can't see any walls or graffiti.
Definitely a treat in audio with the wonderful authentic Irish narrators.
Fans of Karen Slaughter would not be disappointed.
Definitely a treat in audio with the wonderful authentic Irish narrators.
Fans of Karen Slaughter would not be disappointed.
December 1, 2024
“Is there ever anything else in this bastarding place? When the sun shines, it’s dark. Belfast is God’s own private joke of perverse nastiness.“
April 24, 2023
An interesting and diverse collection of stories, the majority of them featuring people haunted by the men of violence of Belfast's past. All entertaining stories, though were a few that stood out for me.
I enjoyed Brian McGilloway's The Undertaking with it's dark humour and delightful twisting end at Roselawn cemetry, - a place where I have attended a few farewells since moving to Belfast.
Lucy Caldwell's tale of Poison was an all too credible tale of school girl obsession and professional misconduct.
I also liked the form of Eoin McNamee's Corpse Flowers a tale of missing person and murder told in episodic glimpses through different camera lenses - be it the TV channel at the press conference, or various CCTV camera's partial capture of different encounters on the way to the denouement.
In The Grey Steve Cavanagh elegantly captured a Rumpole-like vibe with a weary barrister defending a long time client, but for a cold case murder rather than the habitual fraud of his youth. The story packed a good punchy plot wrapped up in some velvet writing.
I enjoyed Brian McGilloway's The Undertaking with it's dark humour and delightful twisting end at Roselawn cemetry, - a place where I have attended a few farewells since moving to Belfast.
Lucy Caldwell's tale of Poison was an all too credible tale of school girl obsession and professional misconduct.
I also liked the form of Eoin McNamee's Corpse Flowers a tale of missing person and murder told in episodic glimpses through different camera lenses - be it the TV channel at the press conference, or various CCTV camera's partial capture of different encounters on the way to the denouement.
In The Grey Steve Cavanagh elegantly captured a Rumpole-like vibe with a weary barrister defending a long time client, but for a cold case murder rather than the habitual fraud of his youth. The story packed a good punchy plot wrapped up in some velvet writing.
November 11, 2020
I do like a bit of Noir
I’m not a huge fan of short stories, usually, but there are some authors involved with this compilation who I have previously read and enjoyed, so I thought I would give it a go.
I do like a bit of Noir - I enjoy being shocked and thrilled by grizzly murders and savage beatings, by power struggles and jealousies and by witnessing mans’ inhumanity to his fellow man. It probably says more about me, then, that the story I found most upsetting and appalling in this book, was one about illegal dog fighting.
All in all, I enjoyed this set of stories, they all kept me reading on. Some were long enough for me to only manage one before bedtime, others I managed to read a couple in one night. And, I loved the inclusion of the odd bit of dark Belfast humour.
So, overall, worth a read - enough of a range of subject matter, place and plot lines to hold this reader’s attention. Best of all, it has introduced me to some authors whose work is new to me and I shall be seeking out other books by them in the future.
I’m not a huge fan of short stories, usually, but there are some authors involved with this compilation who I have previously read and enjoyed, so I thought I would give it a go.
I do like a bit of Noir - I enjoy being shocked and thrilled by grizzly murders and savage beatings, by power struggles and jealousies and by witnessing mans’ inhumanity to his fellow man. It probably says more about me, then, that the story I found most upsetting and appalling in this book, was one about illegal dog fighting.
All in all, I enjoyed this set of stories, they all kept me reading on. Some were long enough for me to only manage one before bedtime, others I managed to read a couple in one night. And, I loved the inclusion of the odd bit of dark Belfast humour.
So, overall, worth a read - enough of a range of subject matter, place and plot lines to hold this reader’s attention. Best of all, it has introduced me to some authors whose work is new to me and I shall be seeking out other books by them in the future.
May 21, 2017
The forward and intro to this are a great intro to the city of Belfast. I found this collection to be less strong than the others I've read in this series because a lot of them were a little formulaic. I realize it's noir, but how many alcoholic detectives can fit into one book? I found this to be less violent and more supernatural than other books in the series, too.
These anthologies are a great way to find new writing, but since I read a lot of Irish writers, there weren't too many new names here. The stories that were my favorite tended to be by writers I knew I would like and whose work was already familiar to me. While I liked that every neighborhood in the city was represented, and I liked the sections of the book representing the past, present, etc I wasn't always clear on why a story was placed where it was.
Worth checking out if you're a noir fan, and this is a great reminder of Belfast if you've ever been there.
These anthologies are a great way to find new writing, but since I read a lot of Irish writers, there weren't too many new names here. The stories that were my favorite tended to be by writers I knew I would like and whose work was already familiar to me. While I liked that every neighborhood in the city was represented, and I liked the sections of the book representing the past, present, etc I wasn't always clear on why a story was placed where it was.
Worth checking out if you're a noir fan, and this is a great reminder of Belfast if you've ever been there.
December 16, 2023
This is an excellent collection for short fiction, set, as one might expect, in the dark years of the roughest conflict in Northern Ireland. A minority, rabid nationalism, poverty, and spin set off the violent Troubles, and people still had to try to live their lives through them. Belfast even today shows evidence everywhere of its past. There's a very accessible introduction that helps to give backstory, as it were.
To an American, some of this might feel dystopian, or like science fiction, because we haven't experienced warfare at home, not on a slow burn from internal sources in modern times. This makes for deep, suspenseful, and poignant works.
None of this is prostheletizing. It is what it is without apology. It has a nice bite to it, a sharp flavor. None of the works is extremely long. Well balanced and edited anthology. I recommend.
To an American, some of this might feel dystopian, or like science fiction, because we haven't experienced warfare at home, not on a slow burn from internal sources in modern times. This makes for deep, suspenseful, and poignant works.
None of this is prostheletizing. It is what it is without apology. It has a nice bite to it, a sharp flavor. None of the works is extremely long. Well balanced and edited anthology. I recommend.
July 21, 2025
I am not a great fan of short stories. This one sure has the "noir" right. I read this as I have been to Belfast and thought I'd get a feel for the neighborhoods as promised and the whole "series" promised. The writing was good, but the subjects were depressing and distressing. I admit had read the almost last one - Pure Game by Arlene Hunt - any earlier, I might have taken the book back to the library. I have been all over Ireland and the accents and local talk can be puzzling, but a lot of the language passed me! Each story is about a neighborhood in Belfast and much was in the late days of "the troubles". I didn't learn much about Belfast other than it is a big city with dark happenings.
June 16, 2020
A collection of short stories set in Belfast, mainly crime fiction, which had an intriguing mix of writing styles throughout it. As is often the case with these kind of collections, it's a bit hit and miss. Overall though, I really enjoyed it. I read a lot of crime fiction normally anyway, normally American and Scandi stuff, so it was refreshing to read something full of authentic Norn Iron dialogue and references. A wee taste of home. It has definitely succeeded in sparking my intrigue in relation to the other work these writers have published, and I've no doubt I'll be adding a few to my 'Want to Read' pile.
January 21, 2021
Belfast Noir is a strong entry in Askanic’s Noir Series. It contains several good stories, especially Ruth Dudley Edwards’ fine "Taking It Serious," which I found highly memorable.
I was, however, dismayed by the inclusion of Arlene Hunt’s "Pure Game." I stopped reading it after a few pages (the story’s subject is not made clear immediately); maybe it ended with all the human characters dying agonizing protracted deaths, but even had I been guaranteed that was so I would not have read it and indeed would have rejected any book containing it. I’d therefore be a hypocrite to recommend the book.
I was, however, dismayed by the inclusion of Arlene Hunt’s "Pure Game." I stopped reading it after a few pages (the story’s subject is not made clear immediately); maybe it ended with all the human characters dying agonizing protracted deaths, but even had I been guaranteed that was so I would not have read it and indeed would have rejected any book containing it. I’d therefore be a hypocrite to recommend the book.
January 16, 2022
Part of a large collection of such volumes, all set in different cities, all noir.
There are some pretty good ones in there, and also a couple you could do without. The most noticeable thing about them all, however, is their obvious desire to move beyond the Troubles and to anchor themselves in a modern-day Belfast where, time and again, characters express the distance they wish to put between themselves and the religious (recent) past. Interesting.
There are some pretty good ones in there, and also a couple you could do without. The most noticeable thing about them all, however, is their obvious desire to move beyond the Troubles and to anchor themselves in a modern-day Belfast where, time and again, characters express the distance they wish to put between themselves and the religious (recent) past. Interesting.
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