Dark Dawn

Belfast. January 2005.

Acting Detective Sergeant John O'Neill stands over the body of a dead teenager. The corpse was discovered on the building site of a luxury development overlooking the River Lagan. Kneecapped then killed, the body bears the hallmarks of a punishment beating. But this is the new Northern Ireland - the Celtic Tiger purrs, the Troubles are over, the paramilitaries are gone. So who is the boy? Why was he killed?

O'Neill quickly realises that no one cares who the kid is - his colleagues, the politicians, the press - making this case one of the toughest yet. And he needs to crack this one, his first job as Principle Investigator, or he risks ending up back in uniform. Disliked by the Chief Inspector and with his current rank yet to be ratified, O'Neill is in a precarious position.

With acute insight, Matt McGuire's cracking debut exposes the hidden underbelly of the new Northern Ireland, a world of drug dealing, financial corruption and vigilante justice.

“A debut of exceptional accomplishment and power. "Dark Dawn" takes us on a visceral journey through post-Troubles Belfast and announces a major new talent. This is crime writing of the highest order.'”

Set against the backdrop of post-Troubles Northern Ireland, where no criminal investigation is straightforward and history still informs every move the characters make, Dark Dawn is an efficient, atmospheric and engaging debut.

Ambitious, multi-layered, a cracking debut.

I enjoyed this riveting police procedural immensely and believe this new writer has tackled a tough subject with a deftness of touch unexpected in a debut novel. Its seamless plotting compelled me to keep reading and I look forward to reading more stories of equal intensity from Matt McGuire. - Eurocrime

You are never going to escape the past in a place like Belfast. When a dead teenager turns up kneecapped near a new luxutry development, no one but Acting DS John O'Neill seems particularly

bothered. O'Neill has a lot to prove and McGuire handles it brilliantly. - Daily Mirror

A crime book with brains. I loved it. - The Irish Examiner

Originally from Belfast, Matt is thirty-two and has worked as a barman, an encyclopaedia salesman, and since 2006, a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of a number of non-fiction books, including Contemporary Scottish Literature (Macmillan, 2009) and editor of The Everyman Book of Irish Poems (Random House, 2011).

Belfast. January 2005.Acting Detective Sergeant John O'Neill stands over the body of a dead teenager. The corpse was discovered on the building site of a luxury development overlooking the River Lagan. Kneecapped then killed, the body bears the hallmarks of a punishment beating. But this is the new Northern Ireland - the Celtic Tiger purrs, the Troubles are over, the paramilitaries are gone. So who is the boy? Why was he killed?O'Neill quickly realises that no one cares who the kid is - his colleagues, the politicians, the press - making this case one of the toughest yet. And he needs to crack this one, his first job as Principle Investigator, or he risks ending up back in uniform. Disliked by the Chief Inspector and with his current rank yet to be ratified, O'Neill is in a precarious position.With acute insight, Matt McGuire's cracking debut exposes the hidden underbelly of the new Northern Ireland, a world of drug dealing, financial corruption and vigilante justice.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.