Belfast Noir

By: Adrian McKinty - editor, Stuart Neville - editor

Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies, Gerard Doyle, John Keating, Terry Donnelly

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... You can see Belfast's bloodstains up close and personal. This is the city that gave the world its worst ever maritime disaster, and turned it into a tourist attraction; similarly, we are perversely proud of our thousands of murders, our wounds constantly on display. You want noir? How about a painting the size of a house, a portrait of a man known to have murdered at least a dozen human beings in cold blood? Or a similar house-sized gable painting of a zombie marching across a post-apocalyptic wasteland with an AK-47 over the legend UVF: Prepared for Peace - Ready for War. As Lee Child has said, Belfast is still 'the most noir place on earth.'"

©2014 Akashic Books (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Some stories and narriations better than others

I absolutely loved some of the stories and most of the narrators but couldn't give it five stars all around due to a few that fell short of the quality of the others. I suppose in an anthology that's to be expected.

Interesting

An interesting read if you're interested in Belfast but needlessly edgy at times and graphic. It seems like its trying to be dark by way of over compensation

Excellent stories

I enjoyed these well written and great narrators of these stories. The dog story was the hardest for me to listen to as I am a door loved and I almost didn't continue to the end. But I did. Great selection of stories would definitely purchase another like this.

Great tales amazing narration

Makes you feel like you were there! Only one story was kind of not so good, but all were very Irish.

Teriffic!

Superb, inventive and varied collection of place-and-time themed noir short fiction. Expertly read by the four narrators.

Warning: Chapter 15 is about dogfighting

I couldn't listen to this chapter once I realized what it was about. Absolutely horrifying!

dark glimpses

great narration of high quality. short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed them. I highly recommend this audio book.

It should

Be no surprise that this collection had a very high variance. Several stories were 5 star worthy. But a few were 1-2 Star

Still if you are a fan of the Irish you could do worse

Great readers!

They really add extra to these terrific stories. Enjoyed every story except the dogfighting story.

Not what I expected

I thought it was going to be all about the troubles( not the place) but actually there are different stories mostly crime but there are modern stories about Belfast. I really liked the one by Lee Childs that put an American spin on it. I also enjoyed the one by Garvin Downey How to Kill a Rat. It was about a journalist and it showed his process of uncovering stories. And a twist ending. Plus half of the stories are narrated by Gerard Doyle who could read the phone book while the listener goes through a whole range of emotions.