Gun Street Girl

Detective Sean Duffy, Book 4

By: Adrian McKinty

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Belfast, 1985. Amid the Troubles, Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, struggles with burnout as he investigates a brutal double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point-blank range and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note points to this conclusion, but Duffy suspects even more sinister circumstances. He soon discovers that Kelly was present at a decadent Oxford party where a cabinet minister's daughter died of a heroin overdose, which may or may not have something to do with Kelly's subsequent death.

New evidence leads elsewhere: gun runners, arms dealers, the British government, and a rogue American agent with a fake identity. Duffy thinks he's getting somewhere when agents from MI5 show up at his doorstep and try to recruit him, thus taking him off the investigation.

Duffy is in it up to his neck, doggedly pursuing a case that may finally prove to be his undoing.

©2015 Adrian McKinty (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Shortlisted for the 2016 Audie Award (Best Mystery) and the 2016 Edgar Award (Best Pbk Original)

"When it comes to Northern Irish crime fiction, Adrian McKinty forged the path the rest of us follow. The Sean Duffy series is the culmination of a career spent examining our darkest moments, and McKinty is the only crime writer who can do justice to our singular history." (Stuart Neville, author of The Final Silence)

"Series fans will appreciate the further insight into the fallout from tragic cases, department politics, and war. As usual, there's plenty of entertaining territorial battling between the dizzying array of law-enforcement agencies acting in Belfast, and Duffy's investigative skills seem somehow sharpened by his lost hope." (Booklist)

"Gerard Doyle gives a stunning narration of the fourth installment of McKinty's Detective Sean Duffy series.... From the subtle changes in dialect to McKinty's distinct writing cadence and dark humor, Doyle hones in on the details that make this procedural a joy to listen to." (AudioFile)

Typical Sean Duffy

Good read, entertaining. Gerard Doyle is a brilliant narrator. Duffy is classic good cop/bad cop in one character.
Love the series!

Detective Duffy is worn down, but McKinty is not

What I love about Adrian McKinty & his writing: his cultural references, his knowledge of diverse musical genres, his hatred of lame pop music (these take place in the 80's, and for his sake, I hope to heaven Duffy never makes it to the present day), his characters, in particular Sergeant McCrabban, his historical tie-ins, and the education he gives us on The Troubles (which I should have paid more attention to while they were happening). Sean Duffy is a seriously flawed but admirable character who is being worn down by the Irish situation, his job, and his failure to maintain a long-term relationship. The writing in Gun Street Girl perfectly reflects his exhaustion, as he occasionally pares his narration down to single-word sentences: "Home. Paraffin heater. Vodka gimlet. Badlands on the stereo."

As usual, it's a good plot, and as usual, Duffy gets beaten up to warn him off the case, makes some seriously flawed decisions as to women, and works outside the system as much as possible. This is book 4, and it's beginning to feel formulaic, but what the heck, it's a good mystery with good writing, great characters, and interesting history.

I can't imagine anyone but Gerard Doyle narrating these. It's a perfect pairing of material and narrator. He does justice to every single character and catches every nuance.

I do have to say that I find it less than believable that anyone could ingest as much alcohol, not to mention the occasional drugs, as Sean Duffy does, and still function capably! And drive! And solve crimes! My limit is two beers!

The fifth Sean Duffy has just been published, so clearly I'm going to have to get that one too . . . keep writing 'em, Adrian!

Really enjoyed this one

I have to make a confession first. I enjoy McKinty's writing and Doyle's narration. So the combination of the two is always something I will listen to.
This one is another of the "Duffy" series. Each book of the series works as a standalone but the central character of Sean Duffy is an engaging one and this carries through the series. I'm not going to give away the plot but "Gun Street Girl" is well worth a listen. It's a combination police/detective novel set in Northern Ireland but done with a fair amount of irony and humour. Almost a black comic mystery.

Police procedural par excellence

What made the experience of listening to Gun Street Girl the most enjoyable?

Intriguingly different. Not because of some gimmick but because of the setting.
The protagonist is a homicide cop in the chaotic, terror ridden Belfast 1985.

He's having to operate in a society where policemen are the enemy..,,living under threat
just to walk out the front door of his house.

He's also greatly portrayed as committed, human, a little flawed, persistent yet not annoyingly noble, even funny sometimes.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sean Duffy
Homicide detective who happens to be Catholic on the police force in northern Ireland in the mid ''80s
Thus an outsider.

Have you listened to any of Gerard Doyle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven'tlistened to any of his performances before but I will sure do so now.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me want to drop everything and continue listiening.

Dark story

Very well written but dark story. The bad and hopeless situation gets to the reader as well. Depressing kind of book.

Brilliant

A masterful blend of the personal, the professional, and the spirit of the age. Highly recommended McKinty

This series is so intoxicatingly gripping, I have binged listened to the 1st 4 books

As ever, the narration is profoundly important and captures the entire mood and tone. Indeed, the series is so intoxicatingly gripping, I have binged listened to the 1st 4 books.

I am now onto the next one!

My favorite thus far...

I laughed out loud, teared up, felt my Irish bones sigh in remembrance of all the our quirky heroes of legend with the smell of the sea and the drumming wind all around.

I've like this whole series so far

The author is has made these books so interesting. The have historical content, as well as seeing how life and specifically life as a police detective is in Ireland particularly during the period of the IRA. Detective Sean Duffy is smart, but very under appreciated bc he doesn't always follow typical procedure.s. He is funny too in his observations. I'm ready to read the last book in this series.

Gerard Doyle is awesome. another great McKinty

Adrian McKinty is probably my favorite Audible author. This is an entertaining fourth of the Duffy trilogy