What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder in the Monto : A tense thriller set in the aftermath of the 1916 Irish rebellion
A SERIAL KILLER STALKS DUBLIN’S RED-LIGHT DISTRICT IN 1916
Fans of Sebastian Barry and Pat Barker will enjoy this mix of politics, espionage, and murder against the backdrop of global and national conflict.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Chilling, intelligent and scarily prophetic – unputdownable. An extraordinary new talent'
In the days following the 1916 Dublin Rising, Christopher Flinter, a young Dubliner, deserts from the British army and returns home from Flanders to avenge the death of his younger brother. Caught in the act of revenge, he is imprisoned in Dublin Castle. There he meets Major Jonathan Byatt, a British secret service agent who gives him two be shot for desertion or work undercover for the British.
Christopher’s mission is to infiltrate the Monto, the biggest red-light district in Europe, and locate an American agent. The agent, code-named Janus, has a darker side. He is also a depraved serial killer who roams the alleyways of the Monto, terrorising the prostitutes who ply their trade there.
Christopher then meets Nell, a spirited young woman who supports the rebels’ cause, and their feelings for each other grow. He, with comrades fighting and dying in the trenches in Flanders, finds his loyalties divided.
Intent on honouring his promise to Byatt, he wanders blindly through the dark heart of the Monto, searching for clues, aware that he himself may be the next target of the faceless and brilliant assassin he seeks.
Fans of Sebastian Barry and Pat Barker will enjoy this mix of politics, espionage, and murder against the backdrop of global and national conflict.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Chilling, intelligent and scarily prophetic – unputdownable. An extraordinary new talent'
In the days following the 1916 Dublin Rising, Christopher Flinter, a young Dubliner, deserts from the British army and returns home from Flanders to avenge the death of his younger brother. Caught in the act of revenge, he is imprisoned in Dublin Castle. There he meets Major Jonathan Byatt, a British secret service agent who gives him two be shot for desertion or work undercover for the British.
Christopher’s mission is to infiltrate the Monto, the biggest red-light district in Europe, and locate an American agent. The agent, code-named Janus, has a darker side. He is also a depraved serial killer who roams the alleyways of the Monto, terrorising the prostitutes who ply their trade there.
Christopher then meets Nell, a spirited young woman who supports the rebels’ cause, and their feelings for each other grow. He, with comrades fighting and dying in the trenches in Flanders, finds his loyalties divided.
Intent on honouring his promise to Byatt, he wanders blindly through the dark heart of the Monto, searching for clues, aware that he himself may be the next target of the faceless and brilliant assassin he seeks.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 8, 2022
9 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 21, 2024
Murder in the Monto is now dead and buried (by that I mean, "finished, digested, and resting in its treasured spot on my heaving bookshelves of Irish Crime Fiction"). After a very promising start, I have to report that Tony O'Reilly's debut novel left me disappointed.
No spoilers! Just explaining my gripes. The anonymous serial-killing baddie hiding in Europe's largest red light district, in a half-destroyed city reeling from the chaos of its Easter Rising, was handed up on a silver platter that also offered more ham, lobster and roast beef than our main character had ever seen. The setting, characters and premise itself held a lot of promise, but there wasn't a new perspective to engage or excite readers who were already familiar with that time and place. (Hope this does not sound unkind- the bar for 1916 has been set very high between Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry and Kevin McCarthy's Peeler and Irregulars).
The most baffling thing that put me off, though, was an editing error I can't believe was let through by a publisher like Poolbeg. The main character's name changes in two chapters. OK, there was a lot of confusion with all the bullets and shells being chucked around and distracting courtesans dancing to music from the victrola, but after the Love Interest started calling our This-is-my-first-day-as-a-detective-but-I'd-rather-give-it-a-go-than-get-blasted-to-gory-wee-bits-by-firing-squad protagonist by the wrong name, and neither he nor anyone else in the proofreading department raised an eyebrow... it was impossible to get back into the story. Were these chapters swapped in at the last minute, after Undercover Joe had dropped his fake identity and admitted who he really was? Or...? That was the real mystery. I spent the rest of the novel on the hunt for clues. I spotted typos (a bizarre one where "race" and "face" spoiled a moment) but no solution to what the hell happened.
My fave parts: an authentic reaction to the first time an impoverished Irish boy from the Liberties ever encountered a food as foreign as spaghetti, and the fact that at least one of the colorful Monto characters was a real historical figure. There were also two good twists in the final chapters (including one I should have seen coming, but didn't).
Sorry, but I can't recommend this novel in its current form. Looking forward to Tony O'Reilly's future works!
No spoilers! Just explaining my gripes. The anonymous serial-killing baddie hiding in Europe's largest red light district, in a half-destroyed city reeling from the chaos of its Easter Rising, was handed up on a silver platter that also offered more ham, lobster and roast beef than our main character had ever seen. The setting, characters and premise itself held a lot of promise, but there wasn't a new perspective to engage or excite readers who were already familiar with that time and place. (Hope this does not sound unkind- the bar for 1916 has been set very high between Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry and Kevin McCarthy's Peeler and Irregulars).
The most baffling thing that put me off, though, was an editing error I can't believe was let through by a publisher like Poolbeg. The main character's name changes in two chapters. OK, there was a lot of confusion with all the bullets and shells being chucked around and distracting courtesans dancing to music from the victrola, but after the Love Interest started calling our This-is-my-first-day-as-a-detective-but-I'd-rather-give-it-a-go-than-get-blasted-to-gory-wee-bits-by-firing-squad protagonist by the wrong name, and neither he nor anyone else in the proofreading department raised an eyebrow... it was impossible to get back into the story. Were these chapters swapped in at the last minute, after Undercover Joe had dropped his fake identity and admitted who he really was? Or...? That was the real mystery. I spent the rest of the novel on the hunt for clues. I spotted typos (a bizarre one where "race" and "face" spoiled a moment) but no solution to what the hell happened.
My fave parts: an authentic reaction to the first time an impoverished Irish boy from the Liberties ever encountered a food as foreign as spaghetti, and the fact that at least one of the colorful Monto characters was a real historical figure. There were also two good twists in the final chapters (including one I should have seen coming, but didn't).
Sorry, but I can't recommend this novel in its current form. Looking forward to Tony O'Reilly's future works!
August 31, 2022
On one level I enjoyed this book but I have a few issues. Firstly, despite the billing, it is not a thriller and at no point did I find it tense. While the murderer is an interesting character and the sense of evil around him is well drawn, our hero never came close to stopping him. He was bungling around aimlessly and finally got lucky. My second issue is that the main focus of the story is the relationship between our hero and Nell which results in this feeling like a love story. I don't mind love stories and enjoyed the building relationship but the balance between this and the hunt for the killer wasn't right for me.
The setting in Dublin worked well and the author describes the attitude of Dubliners to the Rising and the effect of the executions of the leaders on that attitude really well. The description of the Monto and the people living and working in it was really good, you could almost smell it!
Overall a lot to like about this book but I just wanted it to be more substantial on the thriller part. I would read more by this author.
Just a footnote... there were a lot of typos in this book, almost like it had not been properly proof read. I found this distracting, not least because it is very unusual.
The setting in Dublin worked well and the author describes the attitude of Dubliners to the Rising and the effect of the executions of the leaders on that attitude really well. The description of the Monto and the people living and working in it was really good, you could almost smell it!
Overall a lot to like about this book but I just wanted it to be more substantial on the thriller part. I would read more by this author.
Just a footnote... there were a lot of typos in this book, almost like it had not been properly proof read. I found this distracting, not least because it is very unusual.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2022
Christopher Flinter deserts from the British army and finds himself in Dublin Castle facing court martial but an English officer, Major Byatt, saves his life and enlists him to go undercover into the Monto (a red light district) to find a spy/double agent killing prostitutes and responsible for the death of many on the Luisitania. At times it may seem far fetched but I enjoyed the historical references and learning about a part of Dublin I never knew existed.
A very good debut novel
A very good debut novel
August 3, 2024
Not bad for a first novel. The novelty for me was the historical period, the 1916 Rebellion.
February 12, 2023
OK so its really a four star book. The reason I gave it five stars was that it was a solid thriller and a good holiday read. I looked over some of the other reviews and thought they were a bit ott on the negative side so I compensated. Although I agree if you bought this thinking you were getting something like a Barry book you would be disappointed. Up side, it fairly cracked along. Down side, a lot of missed errors, but I suppose covid had something to do with that.
June 29, 2023
Ireland was a place of upheaval during this period. No one could be trusted as loyalties shifted and everyone was out to saved themselves. The author was descriptive in his portrayal of events during this time and his characters were quite unique. There was just a darkness to this book that made it a gloomy read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews