The Abstainer

by Ian McGuire

‘Truly terrific' Richard Ford'Dickens for the twenty-first century' Roddy Doyle'A powerful, gripping tale' Sunday TimesA man hanging on by a thread. A city about to snap.   From the acclaimed author of The North Water comes an epic story of revenge and obsession.  Manchester, 1867  Two men, haunted by their pasts.Driven by the need for justice.  Blood begets blood. In a fight for life and legacy.  Stephen Doyle arrives in Manchester from New York. He is an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Fenians, a secret society intent on ending British rule in Ireland, by any means necessary. Now he has come to seek vengeance.  James O'Connor has fled grief and drink in Dublin for a sober start in Manchester as Head Constable. His mission is to discover and thwart the Fenians’ plans. When his long-lost nephew arrives on his doorstep, he never could have foreseen how this would imperil his fragile new life – or how his and Doyle's fates would come to be intertwined.   The rebels will be hanged at dawn, and their brotherhood is already plotting revenge.  Praise for The North Water, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016   ‘Brilliant, fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world’ Hilary Mantel   ‘Utterly convincing and compelling… A startling achievement’ Martin Amis   ‘Riveting and darkly brilliant… McGuire has an extraordinary talent’ Colm Toibin   ‘Has exceptional power and energy’ Sunday Times   ‘A stunning novel that snares the reader from the outset and keeps the tightest grip until the bitter end’ Financial Times   ‘A vivid read, full of twists, turns, period detail and strong characters’ The Times   ‘Terrific – McGuire’s use of the pitiless, fearsomely beautiful Arctic landscape as a theatre for enduring questions is inspired’ Daily Mail   ‘McGuire has a sure and unwavering touch… a writer of exceptional craft and confidence’ Irish Times  

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Crime, Mystery, Historical, Thriller

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2020

About the author

Ian McGuire is the author of White River Crossing which will be published in February 2026. His previous novels are The Abstainer published in September 2020 by Random House (USA) and Simon & Schuster (UK), The North Water published by in 2016 by Henry Holt (USA) and Simon & Schuster (UK), and Incredible Bodies published in 2007 by Bloomsbury. Ian lives in Manchester, England and teaches at The University of Manchester's Centre for New Writing. He is a winner of the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award and Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian McGuire follows The North Water with this impressively researched, utterly brilliant, tautly plotted, historical noir, a tense thriller set amidst the fraught, deadly arena of the savage, no holds barred war between the British and the underground fight by the Irish for Independence in the 19th century, set in the dirt and grime of Manchester and America. Three Irishmen have been hanged, their deaths bestowing them with a martyrdom to the Irish community that serves as a rallying call for vengeance. James O'Connor has relocated to Manchester from Ireland for a new, more sober beginning, working with the police to quash any Fenian plots, although being Irish, he attracts little in the way of respect, liking or trust.

O'Connor runs informers and spies in the Irish community and rumours begin to reach him of a scarred man of interest. Hard man Stephen Doyle is an Irish American veteran of the civil war who steps off the boat into the city of Manchester, stepping off the same boat is O' Connor's nephew, 19 year old Michael Sullivan looking for work. Doyle and O'Connor circle each other as Doyle looks to pull off an audacious reckoning, a battle into which young Sullivan is drawn into. In the most thrilling and suspenseful of narratives, we learn of the past histories of the two men, the tragedies that O'Connor could hardly bear, his struggles with the demon drink, and a life spiralling out of his control that led to his deployment in Manchester, and the backstory, violence and events that shaped the brutal man that is Doyle .

O'Connor ends up going to America, the conclusion of the novel the most surprising, almost completely out of the blue, gut wrenching, bleakest and shell shock of a ending. McGuire's powerful, vivid, convincing storytelling of retribution is never less than compulsive, gripping the reader by the throat, with events and a dynamics that echo the nature of British history with the Irish. There are times when it feels so loaded, even overloaded with tension, this is a period historical thriller that packs one hell of a punch, a punch that is likely to leave an indelible mark on the reader. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

[Beata · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first novel by the acclaimed Author turned out to be compelling for its background and characters. This historical fiction tackles the Fenians, who in the second half of the 19th century plotted, not always successfully, against the English, or the Crown, as it is put in the novel.
The plot is based on two protagonists, both Irish by birth but of different alliegences, who become engaged in a conspiracy in Manchetser in 1867. James O'Connor, now serving in the British Polisce, and Stephen Doyle, a former Civil War soldier who is hired to conduct a successful attack on the English authority. The duel between these two strong characters did give me shivers.
This book is a slow-burner, with good historical background of the places and the times.
*Many thanks to Ian McGuire, Simon ans Schuster UK, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is what historical fiction should be! The Abstainer truly transports you to 1867 Manchester England. Three Fenians are due to be hanged and the worry is whether retribution will be sought. Head Constable O’Connor has left Ireland to start anew in England. His job is to discover what the Fenians’ plans might be.
The Fenians have brought in Doyle from the US. A Civil War vet. “They say you’ve come to cause trouble.”
The book pits man against man, both fighting for a cause they believe in. Each with an entirely different idea of justice. McGuire shows us each man’s mindset and makes them feel very real.
McGuire does a wonderful job of giving us a time and place, even down to the smells. Even the insignificant scenes, like a ratting contest, seem thoroughly researched and laid out. The writing is gorgeous. “He remembers the taste of whiskey on his tongue, like a long, deep cavern he could crawl into and be safe.”
This is a dark, gruesome story. It’s not for the faint of heart. I was totally invested in this book. Towards the end, it went in a very different direction than I anticipated. And I can’t say I appreciated or even understood the ending. So, what would have been a five star book, ends up as a four star.
My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

[Marchpane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, colour me disappointed. After the thrill ride that was Ian McGuire’s The North Water—that propulsive, addictive, historical adventure splattered with garish violence—I had high hopes for this follow-up. But The Abstainer, a police procedural set in 1860s Manchester in the aftermath of an Irish nationalist uprising, is a beige affair.

The protagonist, Jimmy O’Connor, is such a nothing character, remaining passive or at best, reactive, for most of the book. He’s neither good nor particularly bad at his job as a copper, he doesn’t do anything clever or stupid, things just happen around—and to—him… and then quite often they unhappen, with reversals that negate any attempt the book makes at a plot.

There’s no rising tension, no propulsion, no character development to speak of. Murders and reprisal killings happen ‘off stage’. Meanwhile we get to be present for… every staid meeting O’Connor has with his superiors. It’s just dull.

The ending, I think, will strike most readers as jarring and tacked on—a sudden switch to a very minor character, after Jimmy’s fate has been dealt with, once again, ‘off stage’—but I actually kind of liked it, because at least it caught me off guard? It’s a weird ending, maybe not in a good way, but it was unexpected if nothing else.

The Abstainer is not really a ‘bad’ book—it’s not interesting enough to be bad—it’s just not much of anything.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1867 and we make the acquaintance of James O’Connor, Head Constable of police in Manchester. It’s a difficult time for the city as three men are about to be hung for the killing of a policeman. The men are all members of a gang of Fenians, a secret society whose intention is to end British rule in Ireland. Tensions are running high in Manchester as it’s likely there will be a reaction to the executions, so O’Connor is working his network of ‘spies’ in an effort to gain some understanding of what retribution the Fenians might be planning. In addition, he’s fighting some demons of his own: he recently left Dublin to take up this post having fallen foul of his bosses in Ireland for taking to the drink, this following the death of his young wife. His present role represents a chance for a fresh start, but the temptation to grab a tipple is a constant companion. He is the abstainer.

Stephen Doyle is an Irish-American, a scarred veteran of the civil war. He’s a born soldier and not only is he drawn by the romance of a cause he also takes pleasure in the fighting itself. And now he’s travelling to England to join up with the Fenians, his aim being to cause damage and send a message to the English. Doyle and O’Connor are on a crash course, what mayhem will result and who will ultimately prevail?

Having read the author’s superb novel The North Water I was somewhat prepared for a dark noirish tale. I wasn’t disappointed, this book delivers big on atmosphere and character development – I was instantly delivered to the grimy streets of the capital of the North and met two protagonists who are complex and flawed and both, in their own way, totally captivating. I rooted for O’Connor, who was not only fighting the burning desire to find solace in a bottle but also has to deal with the rampant bigotry of many of his colleagues and his superiors. But in Doyle he’s surely found a foe that is more than a match for him, hasn’t he? Then a nephew he hasn’t seen for many years turns up at the policemen’s door and it’s not clear whether this is to prove a blessing or a curse. Soon the nephew too is embroiled in the hunt for the mysterious American O’Connor’s spies have said is now amongst them.

The action and the language is brutal, this is certainly not a soft read. But if you’ve the stomach for it then there’s a huge amount here to appreciate - the narrative is a taut a guitar string and although the pace is relatively slow this just means that the tension is ratcheted up page by page. It’s a brilliant piece of writing. I just love the way that McGuire does not allow the reader an easy escape, on the evidence of the two books I’ve read his preference is to sweat you, to make you think and when it’s over to place something in your head that will be there for some time.

My sincere thanks to Simon & Schuster UK and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr McGuire’s previous novel The North Water was disgusting, unnecessarily gruesome, unrestrainedly brutal and soaked with bodily fluids from every possible orifice and I loved it so I am not sure what it says about me that I found this one far too tasteful and reasonable even though there are fairly regular murders, some child abuse and most of the characters have no manners at all.

The present-tense blanded-out reportage style didn’t help much. He does this, then he does that then he does a third thing. For instance

He pulls himself out of the tanning pit and takes the barrow out to the frosted-over mulch pile. When he gets back to the yard, he tells Neary that the bark grinder has jammed again and needs to be looked at. He waits for Neary to leave, then wheels the empty barrow around the perimeter of the yard

Also – now I’m feeling really mean – sometimes the dialogue is just a string of clapped out cliches :

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Thompson says…

“You’re a smart enough fellow, O’Connor,” he says. “But you’re not nearly as smart as you think you are”…

“I’m no more a traitor than you are.”

This is a bit groanworthy.

Oh dear, and the plot was kind of dreary too – for most of the book the bold Fenians are trying to foment rebellion in Manchester against the English oppressors but there are traitors in their midst. Is it him? No, it's him. But he thinks it's him. Well, maybe it was him. Hmmm, yeah. Wake me up when you’ve caught them all.

The story kicks into life in the last third when our antihero pursues his man back to America, but by that time there’s been much too much of murky Manchester.

This is a perfectly okay straightforward mediumsized fast-reading historical novel. But I like it blacker, bitterer, more rancid. So I hope Ian McGuire will soon get back to what he’s good at - appalling violence, dogs, whales, horror and despair.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damaged boys grow into damaged men, and this book is full of examples of that. James O’Conner, with vengeance as his heritage, is still mourning his wife. Now a Constable in Manchester he is tasked with ferreting out a plot by the Fenians, a not-so-secret society determined to end British rule in Ireland. The Fenians have acquired assistance from America in the form of Stephen Doyle who ran from a difficult childhood and became a soldier. He’s still looking for wars to fight. Other boys become collateral damage in the interplay between these two. This is definitely not a run of the mill police procedural.

This book kept going in sad, dark directions until the heartbreaking ending which I was not expecting. The writing was beautiful and I’m very glad that I read the book. I was actually reluctant to read it because I hated the author’s much-lauded book “The North Water”. I was repelled and disgusted by everything in that book from the first chapter. Fortunately for me, I gave the author another chance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Peter Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The year is 1867 and the setting is Manchester, England. Three members of the Fenian Brotherhood (an organisation striving for Irish independence) have been hanged for taking part in the murder of a policeman. James O'Connor is an Irishman in the local police force, transferred from Dublin in the hope of escaping grief and a serious drinking problem. O'Connor has an informer in the Brotherhood and learns that they have hired Stephen Doyle, a bloodthirsty US Civil War soldier, to exact revenge for the hangings. Matters are complicated further by the arrival of O'Connor's nephew, Michael Sullivan, who claims to have met Doyle on the boat from New York. When O'Connor is beaten one night and his notes on the investigation taken, the situation threatens to spiral out of all control. It becomes a race against time to prevent further bloodshed.

The sadness that O'Connor tries to run from is the death of his wife, and it threatens to consume him. He is haunted by her memory, yet he knows that there is also a fate worse than this:

"It is painful to remember her still so alive, the press of her hand on his shoulder and the pale part of her coal black hair, but the thought that one day that pain might fade or disappear completely is worse. Forgetting is the final betrayal, he thinks. The pain is what is left of the love, and when that pain is gone there is nothing."

Later on, the heartbreak seems to have got the better of him:

"Time becomes memory, and memory becomes the ditch in which we drown."

I was a fan of Ian McGuire's previous novel The North Water, an exciting, gruesome tale with a memorable cast. I didn't find this one quite as gripping - the stakes just didn't seem as high and the violence has been toned down. But I thought that the characters had more depth this time around, especially O'Connor, a tragic and sympathetic figure. I encountered no real surprises for the majority of the story, but the third act took an unusual and welcome turn. McGuire displays his customary flair for period detail, a grimy and dangerous Manchester coming to life under his pen. I feel as though he is honing his skills as a historical novelist, and look forward to reading his next effort.

[Bob Brinkmeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho-Hum.

I was excited to get this novel, which I picked up off the New Fiction shelf of my recently re-opened public library. I had read good things about McGuire, with some writers going so far as to compare him to Cormac McCarthy (one of my favorite writers), as did Philipp Meyer who on one of the book’s blurbs observed that the novel was “part Cormac McCarthy and part Raymond Chandler.” That’s a cool combination—but can anybody be that good?

Maybe, but not McGuire, at least not in this novel (I still plan to read his earlier and even more highly praised work, The North Water). While McGuire might share something with McCarthy and Chandler in terms of his novel’s subject—dark and violent doings by dark and violent people—what he doesn’t share is McCarthy’s and Chandler’s extraordinary gift for language. Pick up a novel by either of these two writers and you are immediately carried away by the taut precision of their prose. The rhythms and cadences of their sentences, the gorgeous (if at times brutal) descriptions, are unmistakable—their prose is their signature, or at least one of their signatures. McGuire on the other hand tells a good story but his prose is about as noteworthy as that from a cookbook from the 1950s (I realize cookbooks these days have gotten quite literary).

Ok, so about the plot: The Abstainer is a historical thriller set in the late 1860s, pitting two antagonists, a constable from Ireland who has been transferred to Manchester (he’s gotten into trouble with his drinking) and an American who has been sent by supporters of the Fenians (Irish separatists) to wreak havoc upon the British. Both men are essentially loners who find themselves working amongst people whom they don’t trust and upon whom they can’t rely; their co-workers feel the same way about them. The novel thus follows two fundamental plot lines: the cat-and-mouse interplay between the constable and the terrorist; and the two men’s efforts to complete their tasks amidst the fraught internal dynamics of their respective organizations. There are lots of twists and turns, particularly at the end, where the face-off between the two men continues in America.

So, all in all, a good enough read if you’re looking for a historical cop thriller set (mostly) in tough and grimy Manchester. The novel’s engaging enough, for its plot though certainly not for its prose. Returning to the cookbook analogy: McGuire’s recipe in the end delivers, regardless of its awkwardly-written directions.

[Issicratea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many readers, I was drawn to The Abstainer by McGuire’s striking 2016 Booker-longlisted North Water. I suspect I’m in a minority in preferring The Abstainer. It’s a quieter, less splashy, less Tarantinoesque novel, and I can see that it might look more conventional at first sight. I liked it a lot, though—I felt it had more emotional depth than North Water and that it was somehow more mature and less attention-seeking. The descriptive writing and the handling of dialogue is excellent in both books.

I also didn’t think The Abstainer actually was particularly conventional. It adopts a ‘genre fiction’ subject-matter (historical detective novel), with some potentially cliched aspects (world-weary ex-alcoholic cop pitted against faintly alter ego-ish nemesis), but it doesn’t follow the usual scripts in the way it develops. I felt McGuire was adopting a genre fiction mode as a vehicle for what is essentially a meditation on universal philosophical-existential topics: memory, personal and collective, and the ways in which it shapes identity; the psychology of revenge, again both personal and collective; the different ways in which we seek meaning in a cruel and indifferent world. The genre aspect is ultimately as much a red herring with McGuire as it is with Ishiguro, when the latter ventures into science fiction or Arthurian romance.

That’s not to say that the immediate, political thrillerish subject-matter of The Abstainer lacks interest. The novel opens with the hanging of the ‘Manchester Martyrs’ in 1867, Fenian sympathisers executed for the killing of a policeman, and the bulk of the narrative is set in Manchester in the febrile atmosphere that follows this event. The interplay between the Fenians, the police informants, and the policemen themselves is handled in a taut, claustrophobic, morally ambiguous manner, and the period detail is vivid (I won’t forget a graphic depiction of the wholesome Victorian pastime of rat-baiting in a hurry).

The last third of the novel spins off into unpredictable territory, and I suspect how much you like it will depend a lot on how you experience this swerve. It’s an audacious move formally, to take you out of the setting that McGuire has created so meticulously, but for me it works. It gives the narrative something of the character of a ‘pilgrim’s progress’ and shifts it from the realist territory it first seemed to inhabit. The final chapter is still more of a departure—yet, again, I felt it worked, connecting with the underlying philosophical concerns of the novel, even as it shoots off into the near-void in narrative terms.

I’ll certainly be looking out for McGuire’s next novel. He’s already the finished item in terms of technical skill, but I feel he’s still questing in terms of his vision. He may yet be to hit his best form.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so prepared to rate this puppy a 5-star, and I pushed thru til the end, as I was on edge waiting to see the final showdown.

Then, the last chapter happened, and that burned out a whole star.

This was such a powerful, and intense novel. Emotional and gritty, short as it was, it packed a punch. I admire how the author surprised me, how unpredictable this story was.

But goddammit, why did it end THIS WAY??

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

My reviews don't seem to show up anymore? Wonder if this is seen? Don't know if it's just me or a bug with GR 🤔

3.5 stars. Enjoyed this much more then the first book I've read by Ian McGuire, but it wasn't the most enjoyable read either. But entertaining enough

[Jin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Geschichte fängt in Manchester in 1867 an, wo unser Hauptcharakter O'Connor als Constable versucht die Pläne der Fenians zu vereiteln. Soweit klang es wie ein typischer Roman mit Detektivarbeit, aber die Geschichte bot mehr als ich erwartet hatte. Zuallererst ist es bemerkenswert wie gut die Atmosphäre von Manchester dargestellt wurde. Es war als ob alles im trüben, grauen Licht umfasst ist und die Menschen im ständigen Nebel unterwegs sind. Korruption, Unzufriedenheit und Einsamkeit scheint an der Tagesordnung zu sein. Im übrigen hat mich die Atmosphäre auch an das Buch "Milkman" erinnert.

O'Connor ist hierbei eine träge Konstante, die erst am Ende aktiv wird. Ein nachvollziehbarer Charakter, von dem ich gerne mehr gelesen hätte, über seine verstorbene Frau Catherine, usw. Im Gegensatz zu dem großen geschichtlichen Rahmen und dem damaligen Zeitgeist kamen leider die persönlichen Seiten der Charaktere etwas zu kurz. Gerne hätte ich mehr von den einzelnen Charakteren erfahren um mich besser hineinversetzen zu können. Die Art und Weise wie die Geschichte sich entwickelt hatte, war zwar etwas vorhersehbar, aber trotzdem hat mir das Lesen Spaß gemacht. Sehr zu empfehlen, wenn man eine gut lesbare Unterhaltung will mit historischem Bezug.

** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **

[Mary Lins · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Abstainer”, the new novel by Ian McGuire, is as captivating and perfectly-paced as his last, “The North Water”. In fact, I am going to plagiarize MY OWN review of “The North Water” as it applies perfectly here:

“McGuire has accomplished four important things with this novel, 1) he has clearly researched the history and the mechanics of his subject matter, 2) he is a talented writer whose graphic description brings this story vividly to the reader's imagination, 3) his excellent sense of plot pacing propels the story forward in a thrilling and suspenseful fashion, and 4) he has created characters the reader can care about; from his flawed "hero" to his vile villains.”

The eponymous “Abstainer” is police detective James O’Conner. It’s 1867 in Manchester, England. O’Connor has been exiled from Dublin, for after his wife died, he went on a bender that caused trouble. Now maintaining his sobriety, he assists the Manchester police with quelling the Fenian uprisings and violence against the English.

Along comes O’Connor’s nephew-by-marriage, nineteen year old, Michael Sullivan, fresh off the boat from America. The boat that brought Sullivan also brought a “killer”, Stephen Doyle who arrives to make trouble for the English.

Soon the Manchester police want to use O’Conner’s nephew to trap Doyle and here is where McGuire crafts a masterful plot; like any good “sting” story, the reader isn’t privy to all the details, so we are surprised along with some of the characters.

“The Abstainer” has a feel of an old fashioned Detective/Western/Chase story, (in a great way) and it works. It’s immediately engaging and historically “gritty”. We come care about sad-sack O’Connor, our anti-hero, very much. And that brings me to the ending…

Without giving it away, I must say that the ending is very strange and I don’t understand McGuire’s intention. I abhor spoilers in reviews so that’s as far as I’m willing to go. I must also say that it didn’t “ruin” the novel for me, just that it made me want to call up Mr. McGuire and say; “WTF man?!?” and hear what his explanation is!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loosely based on English efforts to stop an Irish rebellion in the 1860s, Abstainer focuses on Jimmy O’Connor, a detective in the Manchester Police Force. Like most literary detectives, O’Connor has a past and struggles with his demons. All of this gets him trouble and on a journey that ends in a very weird way. While McGuire does a nice job of creating an atmosphere and a set of fairly well-developed characters, plot changes happen in an almost too convenient way. The ending is some kind of add-on that is unnecessary and almost from another book.

[MisterHobgoblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s an old rebel song – The Smashing of the Van – that tells the sorry take of three Irishmen who tried to spring two Fenian leaders from a prison van in Manchester in 1867. Because they “chanced to kill a man”, the three Irishmen were hanged from a gallows outside Manchester prison.

This is where The Abstainer takes up the tale.

The three martyrs were the best recruiting call the Fenians could have hoped for. Irishmen up and down the land were willing to rise up and claim their freedom. The Manchester brigade were willing to think big, and they had invited Stephen Doyle, an Irish-American, to cross the Atlantic and pull off a coup that would make the Brits sit up and take notice.

On the other side, Leading Constable Jimmy O’Connor – drafted across from the Irish Constabulary to sort out his personal demons and drink – ran a network of spies to infiltrate the Fenian movement. This was organised intelligence in its infancy.

So, for two thirds of the novel we have cat and mouse between O’Connor and Doyle in a fairly routine historical police procedural. There are some wonderful scenes – particularly a meeting of the Fenians in the pub to welcome a new member. I’m not completely convinced by the dialogue; some of the characters seemed to use modern idiom that might have made the characters feel more identifiable, but also reduced some of the historical edge.

Then, at the two thirds point, things get very surreal. It would be a spoiler to explain why, but there is a major paradigm shift that causes us to question what we already knew, and causes us to wonder whether we are reading a police procedural at all. It reminded me more than a little of Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman.

Then, right at the end, there’s a coda set in the US that feels almost as though it belongs to a different book. No easy answers, no happy ever after.

Gosh, it’s weird.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1867, three members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood are hanged for the murder of a Manchester police sergeant. In history known as the Manchester Martyrs, this book imagines what happened next.

Constable O'Connor has come to Manchester from Dublin. He has a serious drinking problem after the death of his only child and wife. This is his last option. He sobers up but is never really accepted as he is Irish. The Brotherhood brings over a hired gun from America to seek revenge for the Martyrs. Stephen Doyle was originally from Ireland but made the voyage at 13. He was the only one of his immediate family to survive and joined his hard working uncle at a farm in PA. His skills were honed in the Civil War.

The British police know the hitman is coming and O'Connor makes it his mission to stop him. What follows is a cat and mouse game with informants and violence. O'Connor is able to stop some of it but at a terrible personal cost. The hunt goes back to America with startling results.

This is a very grim, atmospheric novel that seems very true to its times and it's history.

[Terri Wino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you freaking kidding me??? I'm being generous and rounding a 2-1/2 rating up to a 3 because even though this story was bleak and dismal, I wanted -- no, I needed -- to find out what would happen to these characters.

Having read The North Water, I was prepared for another dark book from this author. What I was not prepared for was one of the shittiest endings I have ever experienced in a book.

I had a difficult time getting into this story and, honestly, almost gave up at the beginning. But somewhere around the 100 page mark, I realized how invested I had become in O'Connor's life and I wanted to see if he would catch the group he was after and what would become of him if he did.

This book soon became one depressing event after another. Now, I knew going in this was going to be a dark story, but I'm just going to say that if you're an author who gives a character so much shit and then you don't give your reader at least some small sense of accomplishment or satisfaction at the end of the character's journey...well...you just suck! And then you don't even give them that final scene they've been wanting throughout the entire book, but instead have the events told to you by another character in the aftermath.

I'm not even going to say anything else about this book, other than I am pissed that I wasted my time reading it. In fact, I'm taking back my rounding up to 3 stars. You're not getting that extra star from me, Ian McGuire!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holding off on reading this. I liked an earlier book by this author and will return to this in a bit. Not in the mood for Fenians right now.
I really liked The North Water....so will return in a bit when i can get off my heating pad. Later ...
This is "Later" now having finished the book. It was not. for me, the compelling read of McGuire's earlier book. It seemed a bit unfocused and meandering as we follow around a policeman who does not know how to care for himself after his wife dies as he stumbles into on hornet's nest after another. The book is generally depressing. It does contain historical detail that interests, but not enough to recommend.

Library Loan








library loan

[Tom Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed in this. I set out expecting something akin to Ben Myers's The Gallows Pole but actually this is much more of a straightforward historical crime story.

The basis of it is good enough, the settings are fine, the plot moves at a reasonable pace. The problem is that nothing about it is good enough. The writing lacks fire, the characters aren't well rounded enough, the story meanders after strong start and it all falls a bit flat. It's neither beautiful nor savage. Just a bit meh.

Not a bad read but it didn't set me alight like I was hoping.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book builds and builds... then just ends. As if the author was in a rush and went “eh, that’ll do.”

[auserlesenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manchester im Jahr 1867: Nach dem Tod von Frau und Kind landet Constable James O‘Connor in England. Der 34-jährige Witwer ist in Dublin dem Alkohol verfallen. Doch in der Ferne erhält er eine zweite Chance. Im englischen Norden soll er seine Landsleute in Schach halten und insbesondere die irischen Unabhängigkeitskämpfer, die „Fenians“, ausspionieren. Die Rebellen der Bruderschaft sind gerade äußerst rachsüchtig. Und ein gerissener Kriegsveteran namens Stephen Doyle ist eigens nach Manchester gereist, um ihnen beizustehen. Ein Strudel aus Gewalt beginnt...

„Der Abstinent“ ist ein Roman von Ian McGuire.

Meine Meinung:
Der Roman besteht aus 33 Kapiteln mit einer angenehmen Länge, wobei das letzte eine Art Epilog darstellt. Erzählt wird im Präsens aus der Sicht verschiedener Personen. Die Handlung spielt überwiegend im Jahr 1867. Eine Ausnahme bildet lediglich das letzte Kapitel. Der Aufbau ist unauffällig, aber funktioniert gut.

Der Schreibstil ist geprägt von zwei Merkmalen: Da sind einerseits die vielen Dialoge. Andererseits gibt es immer wieder atmosphärisch starke Beschreibungen, die düstere, aber intensive Bilder vor dem geistigen Auge erscheinen lassen.

Die Protagonisten, allen voran O‘Connor und Doyle, sind als vielschichtige Charaktere mit psychologischer Tiefe angelegt. Sympathieträger gibt es kaum.

Auf mehr als 300 Seiten ist die Handlung kurzweilig und spannend, manchmal aber ein wenig überdramatisch und nicht ganz realitätsnah. Bluttaten, Gewalt und andere kriminelle Machenschaften kommen zuhauf vor - nichts für allzu Zartbesaitete. Dennoch wirkt der Roman auf mich nicht unnötig brutal. Die letzten Kapitel sind überraschend, aber recht abwegig und haben mich etwas befremdet.

Der Roman basiert auf einer wahren Begebenheit, wie der Autor am Ende des Buches mitteilt. Tatsächlich wurden drei Mitglieder der Bruderschaft als „Manchester Märtyrer“ erhängt. Zudem beruhen einige Figuren auf realen Personen. Alle weiteren Dinge seien jedoch rein fiktiv, betont McGuire. Ein ausführlicheres Nachwort hätte den Roman weiter aufgewertet, denn die Themen (irische Migration nach England und die Bruderschaft) sind gleichermaßen interessant und - zumindest in Deutschland - weitgehend unbekannt. Auch aus der Geschichte selbst sind die genauen Hintergründe und Entwicklungen des englisch-irischen Konflikts leider nicht ersichtlich.

Das dunkle, reduzierte Cover passt gut zur Geschichte. Erfreulich finde ich, dass der treffende Originaltitel („The Abstainer“) für die deutsche Ausgabe wörtlich übersetzt wurde.

Mein Fazit:
„Der Abstinent“ von Ian McGuire ist ein Roman mit kleineren Schwächen, der für spannende Lesestunden sorgt und mich gut unterhalten hat.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As he did in The North Water, McGuire brilliantly creates a mystery/adventure story set n a male-dominated world based in Britain. Here the characters are on different sides of the Irish-English conflict in 1850’s Manchester, England. This is historical fiction with excellent writing and a strong sense of time and place.

[Jonathan Pool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis

The story is set in 1867 in Manchester. It’s a story based around the Irish Fenian movement (in many respects a precursor to the IRA of the c. 20th). The Fenians had strong American connections and support, and drawn from combat in the American Civil War comes Stephen Doyle. In a classic battle of wits, Doyle is bent on revenge for the death of Irish “patriots” and is faced by James O’Connor; himself an Irishman, driven by upholding the law, and the drive to find meaning and purpose following his wife’s death at a young age, and his subsequent descent into alcohol dependency.

Highlights

Writing convincing stories set against a the c.19th century backdrop, the newly urbanised, industrialised society, depend on the author’s use of contemporary descriptive terms and images if they are to be successful. McGuire sets the scene admirably in a smoky, cloistered, room as the Manchester constabulary contemplate a hanging. The book is titled The Abstainer, a reference to alcohol in our lead detective, but it could as easily be titled The Outsider, as O’Connor is pariah among his own peers (his police colleagues), and to the Manchester public at large. He is unlucky in his relationships with women (not all of his own making) and in general he draws bad fortune in most of the places he inhabits. I felt his ostracism and the author did a great job writing a plot driven narrative that depends on the reader forming some affinity with his protagonists.
The primary villain, Doyle, is also a character with layers of personality, and one who fascinates rather than repels.
Together Doyle and O’Connor make excellent and convincing adversaries.
The Fenian cell in Manchester sing patriot songs and drink lavishly. They follow ritual and swear allegiances to the Brotherhood. I liked the portrayals of these committed, if amateur, revolutionaries.
I did like the suddenness in which hitherto significant and central characters were suddenly snuffed out. The narrative too conveyed a true sense of the chance factor of a life spent on the road; hand-to-mouth, and the change in life following a chance encounter. Young boys/men trying to find a way to eat and shelter (Sullivan,and Garnett’s boy) make a good supporting cast.

Lowlights

A little too much coincidence? America is a huge land mass and in the absence of c.21st century computers and databases, the search for the escaped suspect rather too easily found its quarry.
Also a bit too convenient was the co-opting of a young, untrained relative to conduct inside reconnaissance for the police.

Historical & Literary context

The novel is a fictionalised account of the events leading to, and aftermath of “The Manchester Martyrs”.
Police Sergeant Charles Brett was shot during an escape by Thomas Kelly and Timothy Deasy (two probable inspirations for the character of Doyle). The Irish Republican Brotherhood which they were developing in England had been founded nine years earlier, on 17 March 1858, with the aim of establishing an independent democratic republic in Ireland.

Author background & Reviews

Ian McGuire was Man Booker Prize long listed in 2016, and this is where I came across him with “The North Water” . McGuire seems to specialise in c.19th century settings and graphically blood - letting stories.
It’s no surprise that the Manchester Martyrs have attracted his interest since he has worked as a lecturer in American Literature at the University of Manchester since 1996

Recommend

I don’t read too many thrillers. I really enjoyed this for its c.19th Manchester setting and for the duel between its two protagonists. The Abstainer reads like an episode from the British TV drama series “Peaky Blinders”, set in Birmingham. I will certainly recommend this book to friends and family.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another thoroughly enjoyable historical novel by Ian McGuire. Well researched, and gripping all the way through, the characters and historical period well written and imagined. This is not the usual police procedural, but much more. It deals with prejudice, ideology, and obsession, brilliantly, and somehow the ending is perfectly imagined, not expected, which is also to its credit.

[Keith Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natural Selection

Manchester 1867 and three Irish Fenians are executed for killing a policeman. This execution triggers a cycle of violence. McBride, an Irish American veteran of the Civil War, is recruited to stage a high profile assassination in retaliation. O’Connor, a Dublin policeman and reformed alcoholic, runs a network of Irish informers to undermine the Fenian plots.

The first half of the novel is a cat and mouse contest between the two men, fought out in the streets of Manchester. So far, a familiar narrative of police procedural and violent thriller – but exciting and compulsive as the personalities, flaws and tensions of both men begin to fray and McBride’s planned atrocity nears fruition.

McGuire has drawn the reader into his Nineteenth Century world. We care about O’Connor with his tragic past and his attempts to do the decent thing. We learn also about McBride and the events which have shaped and brutalised him. But then the story takes a very unexpected turn: the Irish have always been convenient scapegoats in English history and this story is no exception, and if the guilty Irishman is unavailable, the nearest one will do.

The need for retribution takes O’Connor to America and to one of the most unexpected, shocking and bleak endings I have experienced in fiction. Yet there is a realistic truth in the ending, however upsetting. The intention to do the correct thing for all the right reasons has only limited force in a random, impersonal and cruel world. Where ultimately is justice?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well . . . that was frustrating.

You'll notice I gave the book four stars, though. I suspect most people who read Ian McGuire novels for the period detail, which was fascinating in "The North Water" and positively riveting here, as an Irish-born detective in 1867 Manchester tries to infiltrate a secret network of "Fenians" (Irish nationalists) and foil a terrorist plot.

Sound exciting, doesn't it?

But "The Abstainer" isn't a crime or a spy novel, it's historical fiction, and Mr. McGuire's protagonist Jimmy O'Connor, a recovering alcoholic i.e. an "abstainer," is weak-willed and not exceedingly bright. He's believable, but his flaws make him more pitiable than sympathetic, plus, he's such a lousy detective, which leads to a sprawling, non-linear narrative in which the reader has time to learn the granular details of Victorian-era tanning and lead mining. Which would be absolutely fine if it weren't for Stephen Doyle, the villain of the piece and a charismatic agent of chaos. It would be fun and scary to hopscotch around the slums of Manchester and Glasgow with such an engaging sociopath, but we don't spend much time with him.

So, what can you say about a good book that can't decide whether or not it wants to be great?

Four stars. (Eye roll.)

[Louis Muñoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating this 2 stars, though it could be close to a 2.5, "I sort-of liked it." Unfortunately, I couldn't care enough about the two main characters, and I found both of them to make some rather stupid and not very convincing mistakes, especially the detective. Thus, I stopped reading at page 220, more than 2/3s in, because I ultimately decided the book wasn't going to really "pay off" for me, and life is too short with thousands of other books waiting for me. Having said all that, I can see this book being rewarding for many others, and in a different time frame, maybe for me as well. (Note: This review is going to show as January 2024, when I made a slight update, but the review is actually from January 2021. In fact, I'm seeing that I started the book exactly 3 years ago today!!)

[Chakib Miraoui · Rating 4 out of 5]

an elegant crime and detective story

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

1867 scheitert in Manchester ein Aufstand der irischstämmigen Fenier (aus denen später die IRA entstehen sollte) gegen die englische Herrschaft. Die Hinrichtung der "Märtyrer von Manchester" wird als öffentliches Spektakel inszeniert und schafft der Widerstandsbewegung neue Märtyrer. In dieser aufgeheizten Situation wird der Polizist James O’Connor aus Dublin nach Manchester versetzt, um Informationen über die Stimmung im Volk zu sammeln. Dass die Volksseele nach der Hinrichtung kocht, war vorauszusehen. O’Connors Informanten jedoch leben gefährlich, wenn sie für wenige Penny riskieren, als Verräter an „der guten Sache“ von den Fenians exekutiert zu werden. Als im Hafen von Liverpool der ehemals aus Irland in die USA eingewanderte Veteran des Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieges Stephen Doyle eintrifft, bewegen sich mit O’Connor und Doyle zwei einsame Wölfe in einem erbitterten Kampf aufeinander zu. Doyle war als verwaistes Kind von einem Verwandten aufgenommen worden, der ihn gegen Essen und Unterkunft allein einen Wald roden ließ. Dass Doyle später in der Nordstaaten-Armee diente, verraten in der Gegenwart die Narben seiner Kriegsverletzungen. Der Veteran plant im Auftrag des amerikanischen Flügels der Fenier in Manchester einen großen Coup, um den Konflikt mit den Briten weiter anzuheizen.

O’Connor war nach dem Tod seiner Frau zum Alkoholiker geworden und hat gerade erst dem Trinken abgeschworen. Mit seiner irischen Herkunft bietet er den Sticheleien der Kollegen in Manchester breite Angriffsfläche; denn ein Ire kann doch nur mit den Fenians sympathisieren. Als es O’Connor gelingt, seinen Spitzel direkt in die Führungsebene der Fenier zu platzieren, fordert er damit in einem gefährlichen Spiel seinen Gegner Doyle heraus. O’Connors Mann kann zwar alle seine Großtanten und -onkel nennen, um den Feniern seine Identität zu beweisen, doch seine Zielpersonen können das auch - und werden in seiner Legende jede falsche Masche entdecken. Die Frage, wie Doyle und O'Connor es mit der Gewalt halten, muss jedoch erst aus einem neuen Blickwinkel betrachtet werden, ehe die Geschichte des Kampfs zwischen dem Veteranen und dem irisch-stämmigen Polizisten zu ihrem überraschenden Ende kommt.

Ian McGuire schickt zwei Einzelgänger in einen gnadenlosen Kampf, die beide als Kinder in Armut und Gewalt aufgewachsen sind. Vor dem historischen Hintergrund des Aufstandes von 1867 und der Todesurteile gegen drei Männer schildert McGuire die trostlosen Lebensbedingungen im Irland des 19. Jahrhunderts in eindringlichen Bildern. Für jede Seite des Kampfes zwischen Fenians und der Polizei der verhassten Briten zeichnet McGuire stellvertretend eine Figur mit guten und bösen, weichen und harten Zügen. Auf welcher Seite des Konflikts sie stehen, scheint außerhalb ihres Einflusses zu liegen. Beide Männer können nicht anders handeln, beide könnte man als Opfer von Armut und Gewalt sehen. Ihre Schicksale konfrontieren einen als Leser mit der Grundstruktur von ethnischen Konflikten und Bürgerkriegen. Wenn beide Seiten materielle Interessen am Fortdauern eines Konflikts haben, wenn ein Bürgerkrieg einzige Einnahmequelle der Beteiligten zu sein scheint, kann und will sich irgendwann niemand mehr ein Ende ausmalen.