The Rage

Kerrigan is an award-winning Irish journalist (Round Up The Usual Suspects) whose crime fiction (A Midnight Choir; Little Criminals) has an authenticity born of a socialist worldview, great writing, and a feel for the criminal and paramilitary gangs operating in urban Dublin. He deals here with "tiger kidnappings," the post-Celtic Tiger miasma of ruin, the recently published reports on clerical abuse, police collaboration with politicians, etc. The protagonist is Detective Tidey, a complex, flawed, but humane individual. Tidey is dealing with a surfeit of domestic and work pressures while pursuing his investigations, using unorthodox measures if required, including perjury. The novel centers around his attempt to solve the murder of a high-flying banker, which eventually links to an Ordinary Decent Criminal (ODC) operation that goes awry. The rage that follows is visceral and lethal. It is also a metaphor for the suppressed rage of many Irish from years of abuse, exploitation, greed, and negligence of bankers, speculators, and politicians.