The Midnight Choir

by Gene Kerrigan

A sophisticated crime story of contemporary Ireland, The Midnight Choir teems with moral dilemmas and Dublin emerges as a city of ambiguity: a newly-scrubbed face hiding a criminal culture of terrible variety. Small-time criminals have become millionaire businessmen, the poor are still struggling to survive, and the police face a world where the old rules no longer apply. “Believe me, you want The Midnight Choir with you on holiday,” says The Sunday Business Post. “This is the kind of book you pass on to someone you like, and say ‘read this.’”

Genres: Mystery, Ireland, Crime, Fiction, Irish Literature, Mystery Thriller, Noir

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

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

[Adrián Ciutat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toda la colección ‘al margen’ de la editorial Sajalín es portentosa. La recomiendo muchísimo. Habré leído unos 20 de sus títulos y todos me han parecido muy destacables.
Éste ‘Coro de Medianoche’, novela trabajadísima y maravillosa sobre los bajos fondos irlandeses, es un ejemplo más de su criterio y buen gusto a la hora de urdir su catálogo 🖤

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fabulous book.

Essentially a crime-fiction genre book, it delves deeply into the guts not only of a fairly large set of characters, each of whom is delineated with mastery, but further..., into the guts of modern Ireland (the Ireland of the Boom years) -- presenting, in a thoroughly convincing and authentic fashion, not simply a mystery, but the mystery... if I can put it thus.

Consider it literature, and not simply genre.

Highly recommended.

[Raro de Concurso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Correcto libro policiaco (porque todo gira a policías, sí) ambientado al inicio de este siglo en Dublín. Escrito por un periodista, conocedor de primera mano de los entresijos de los sitios oscuros de esa ciudad. Muy alejado de tramas increíbles y resoluciones inverosímiles y más centrado en debates éticos y en dilemas morales personales.
Que nadie espere fuegos artificiales y acción a raudales, pero tampoco aburrirse. Porque el libro es muy entretenido y va guardándose cositas para mantenerte atento y enganchado. Con un estilo sobrio y personajes muy humanos, consigue una buena historia, realista y potente. No será el último que lea de Kerrigan.
Y por hoy ya está bien. O me aprieto las tuercas para que confiese dónde he dejado las llaves de casa u hoy, duermo en la calle.

[Jordi Artigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.,5. Bastante por encima del 3 pero le falta para llegar al 4.

[Lorin Cary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Harry Synott is the central character in this excellent Irish police procedural. He has morals and is intent on doing the right thing. He's hot on the tracks of a jewel thief when an old case backfires and the result is no Hollywood ending. The tale unfolds through other viewpoints as well---a local crime chief, two other detectives and a druggie who feeds Harry information and thereby puts herself in jeopardy. Kerrigan deftly handles the varied points of view, juggles subplots adeptly and presents a cast of characters who have edges. A solid read. Bravo

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

I visited Ireland in its "Celtic Tiger" glory days and was struck by how much it had changed in the 15 years since I'd last been (and not in a good way). This book shines a light on the depravity and ugliness that can accompany economic high times. The protagonist, who first strikes you as a regular fellow with acceptable human shortcomings, transforms into a virtual savage by the story's end. Powerful writing--this book haunted me long after I'd finished it.

[Evan Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

***1/2
Good Irish crime fiction

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book as I was retiring for the night, about ten pm, figuring to read twenty or thirty pages.

This book was very good. I read it in one sitting, eyes and reading lamp burning. It covers a wide swath of human corruption, primarily the avarice of go-go new Ireland -- introducing the "protagonist" copy, name of Synott in a discussion of real estate, so there's an LA connection there(like everywhere else now, I suppose) but equalling the criminals with the chosen. Here is a scene where Synott has compromised himself in kissing the ass of the ass-kissing minister of justice, who wants to know what the Dublin gangsters are like. Synnott thinks but does not say:

Same as yours, minister....they want positions and wealth with the least amount of sweat possible. They do whatever it takes.

The buzzword "entrepreneur" is used by both criminal and civilian classes, whether with Synnott's lazy son who wants to leave college to be a branding specialist -- blue skies abound -- or the junkie who has nothing but the hope of doing what she can to raise money to kidnap her son. The book can be summed up when Rose Cheney's husband has her watch a show that is clearly the APPRENTICE -- looking at the contestants, her husband notes: "'Look at the eyes,' David said. 'Naked aggression.' After Rose had watched for a while she wasn't sure if it was greed she saw in the eyes as much as desperation. She found herself feeling sorry for them. They were still recognisably human, but twisted into various shapes of avarice." This is what works, why Kerrigan is so good -- every character is sympathetic, even Dixie and Lar who are introduced as monsters but soon you see that they are twisted into their respective distortions by avarice. Besides his ability to move seamlessly between characters in different strata of Dublin, and enter those worlds with no visible artifice, I think this sympathy and compassion is what I most admire about this work.

The other, more complicated (and savory) corruption is that of ideals: Synnott is described as visiting his parish Father, Padraig, who is presented as a tireless servant of his flock. This visit occurs after his transgression that made his reputation, which is described much earlier than p 259. Padraig asks Synnott -- Harry -- if he believes in God. Of course, says Harry, and then Father Padriag tells him that he used to, too:
"Religion doesn't have to be about God. Just like justice doesn't have to be about the Law. People need something to look up to, and someone has to give it to them. We're barely sentient, Harry, the most sophisticated of us, at the mercy of temperament and greed. If people don't acknowledge that there's a force greater than themselves they won't recognise any limits to what they can get away with." He shook his head. "No better than animals."
"That's what you do? Give them a force greater than they are?"
"The timid need assurance, the brazen need frightening".
DARK! DARK SIDE. This conversation foreshadows the very dark ending, which must be a requirement of Europa Editions -- earlier in the week, I read THE DAMNED SEASON by Carlo Lucarelli, also in one sitting but it was a third as long -- which was about corruption and ideals, but was much lighter and funnier until the very end, when it wasn't so funny. The fall of Synnott in MIDNIGHT CHOIR was stunning and maybe the most invidious corruption of all -- that of the self-righteous.
I may just read it again, for my own edification.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Midnight Choir is very similar in pacing to Gene Kerrigan's previous book in the trilogy, Little Criminals. There is a lot of exposition and setting up tension between characters (most often by those characters committing a crime) that ends up exploding in the last 50 pages or so. It's a very different way of writing a crime novel, and it makes it very suspenseful anticipating everything blowing up in the end.

The Midnight Choir centers on a collection of criminals and garda, the Irish cops, over a relatively short time span. Within than time, we manage to learn more about the desperate and career criminals as well as maybe start to sympathize with some of them. The detectives as well have a tough road ahead, because unlike the nice clean TV crime dramas, cases are not quite so simple or go the way that the reader would hope, like plot focusing on a rape case where the accused uses his parents' wealth and influence to avoid being prosecuted. There are the classic good cops starting out that do not turn out to actually be all that good, and overall the multilayered portrayal of the characters involved makes the reader disgusted with everyone by the end. However, this is a good disgust from well drawn characters behaving like pigs but in a very human and believable way. So, the characterizations in this are spot on and excellent.

A note about how this relates to Little Criminals: Some plot points in Little Criminals are referenced in The Midnight Choir, and there is some slight overlap in characters. While the two are not as closely related as a particular series detective would be, they are linked and it's probably best to read them in order unless the reader doesn't mind some minor spoilers.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title comes from Leonard Cohen (Like a drunk in a midnight choir / I have tried in my way to be free). Inspector Harry Synott is not a drunk like too many literary detectives, but he has tragic flaws: the desire for justice on his own terms and the desperation of a man who cannot imagine life with being a cop. Set in the aftermath of the crash of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland, the characters are carefully and equally drawn, cops, crooks, victims and bystanders alike. The narrative drive is unrelenting. I plan to read more by Kerrigan, whose 2012 "The Rage" won Britain's top crime novel award, the Gold Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association.

[Kit Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was all, "Contemporary Irish cop novel? Hells yeah!" What was the last contemporary Irish book you read that wasn't Angela's Ashes? I know, right? Great sense of time and place (the time being now and the place being post tech-boom Ireland), the ending left me wanting a little more, but was overall a groovy read.

[Robert Intriago · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced and riveting police procedural. The action takes place in Galway and Dublin in a one week period. There is murder, robbery, burglary, abduction, rape, gangsters, touts and nut to make it a fast paced and full of action book. It is not your typical Irish Noir but nevertheless it keeps your attention page after page.

[Neha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chanced on this author through an NPR feature on the author's latest book. Looked up his work on Goodreads, and am glad I did. The book is a quick read, but has quite the depth in subject and location. The writing is tight, and the story(ies) and characters are well flushed out.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that I am not sure weather I enjoyed it or not, it was full of cliches from every other detective book or film or programme I had ever seen or read.

[Laird Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely Irish, in that it's depressing subject matter without a pleasant resolution. Definitely not Irish in that they don't drink much.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is a good solid Irish police procedural with a few surprising inversions of typical plot lines. I did not like it as much as Dark Time in the City.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a veteran journalist, this excellent Irish police procedural hits all the right notes as it follows three cases over the course of a week. At the center of the book is Detective Inspector Synnott, a highly skilled detective who's somewhat of a black sheep among the police force for reasons that aren't immediately revealed. However, the book opens in Galway, as two uniformed plods deal with a man about to jump off a building. After taking him into custody, they see he's covered in dried blood -- but whose blood that is, how it got there, and what this has to do with the rest of the story takes the course of the week to unravel.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Synnott and his female partner, Detective Cheney, handle a rape case involving the son of a prominent businessman. When a jewelry store is robbed (in a great sequence the reader is privy to from start to end), Synnott concentrates on that, while Cheney heads the rape investigation. This is pretty straightforward procedural stuff, as Cheney digs into the rapist's past for evidence of past misdeeds, and Synnott is sure he knows who pulled the heist, but can't come up with any evidence. A fourth storyline involves Dixie Peyton, a desperate snitch of Synnott's, whose bright future as a young mother and fitness instructor was derailed several years ago by the death of her hoodlum husband.

While the weaving together of these four storylines would be entertaining enough, what makes it truly memorable is how Kerrigan wraps them all in a gray coat of murky morality. The tension between law and justice is an age old one, and has cropped up plenty in crime fiction and film -- but Synnott is one of the most engaging embodiments of that tension I've come across in quite a while. Although he fits the standard fictional police detective template pretty well (middle-aged, divorced, emotionally closed, virtually friendless, poor relationship with his son, lives spartanly in a soulless flat), he's not quite as straightforward as he seems -- which is all one can say without spoiling the story.

There are other twists within the various storylines to keep things lively, including a rather intriguing subplot involving the jeweler. Kerrigan also uses elements of the story to underscore the dramatic socioeconomic changes Ireland has seen in the last two decades. But this is all kept more or less in the background, where it belongs, as the focus remains on Synnott and his attempt to mete out justice. A top-notch crime novel that will have me seeking out Kerrigan's past fiction and keeping an eye out for whatever he does next.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It moves between several characters who are detectives or Garda. It follows a few different crimes and criminals. The writing is a little bit hard boiled, I’d say.
This book is set in Ireland. I enjoyed the mood and descriptions of the writing. The plot was well done and quickly paced.
All of the characters are flawed and most are sympathetic. The motives of the characters continue to twist and turn.
If you like crime, mysteries, Ireland, you will enjoy this book.
That said, the ending was a bit of a downer. Realistic, but not fully satisfying in a moral justice kind of way.

[Leslie Appelbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had read the blurb carefully, I would have known this isn't really a mystery, not in the traditional sense anyway. So, if you're looking for a "whodunit", this won't be that. However, Kerrigan is a wonderful writer and captures the Dublin of the '90's so well. The characters are complex but you never really get inside any of them. There are no good guys and bad guys, just varying shades of good and bad. I enjoyed the book but was left totally unsettled by the ending...just what Kerrigan intended, I have no doubt.

[John Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The various plots are blended together at the end and the writing is fine, but as the book moved along I realized I was not all that interested in the fate of the characters. The book was about people who had tossed their lives away and as the book progressed this proved fatal to my interest. another book by him, Rage, has won more praise. The writing was fine, but without characters to interest me I would only give it three stars.

[Marc Audet · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever lived or visited Dublin, this literary who-done-it is for you! The novel is well written with memorable characters who are gritty, flawed, and empathetic. The narrative is well-paced. The idioms are truly Irish and some are specific to Dublin, but you can look them up online as needed. The story is embellished with the names of towns, streets, and sections of Dublin, so you get a sense of being there, on the ground, embedded in the place. Worth a read!

[Miguel Aneas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buena novela negra en general. No cambiará el género y los personajes están bien definidos, aunque les falta el carisma y la chispa que tenía la trama de "Delincuentes de medio pelo". El final es la mejor parte del libro, una pena no haber mantenido semejante intensidad a lo largo de todas las páginas. Aún así, recomendable.

[Noel Brey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una sólida novela negra sobre la corrupción, el crimen y la inmoralidad escondidos bajo el brillo de la próspera Irlanda previa a la crisis financiera de 2008, donde hasta los más íntegros acaban traicionando sus convicciones. Magnífica obra, que bien podría extrapolarse a la España de aquellos años.

[Peter Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this surprised me... suggested by my librarian I figured he mentioned it just because I'm Irish... but actually, the interweaving storylines, complex characters and compelling story really hooked me, right till the end

[Jim Cullison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of moral ambiguity with all the bleak brilliance and meticulous craftsmanship of a Swiss Watch made in Hell, Gene Kerrigan’s novel of crime and chance in modern Dublin is an unforgettable experience that will have you shivering AND reflecting long after you close its covers.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dublin crime novel with fun (sad, holy) back stories of the people involved. Nice plot twist at the end. Some typos in the printing.

[Cormac · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really excellent crime novel, where actions have consequences, good people can do bad things, and the innocent suffer. One of the best out of Ireland.

[Julien L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kerrigan is brilliant. Irish crime fiction that's really about how we justify our actions and convince ourselves how we're doing the right thing.

[Kitty-Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

3’7