Mixed Pickles - the Book log 2012

OH, now THIS is a book to finish the year on. It starts on a high, turns it first big twist on page twelve and then keeps going all the way to the end.





Plot is relatively simple. Cuban policewoman seeks revenge for the killing of her father. Nothing easier, eh? Except that her father was a refugee from the Castro regime, hiding in the States, and she has just one week to sneak into the USA, find the killer, do the business, and get back home without the authorities in Havana noticing that she had been into the Forbidden Zone.

McKinty writes like a dream. An Irishman, apparently, but like John Connolly, he has the hard-bolied voice off perfectly. At the same time, he is capable of beautiful metaphors and almost poetic passages. Try this, the opening sentence for size, and if it doesn't make you want to grab the book and read on, then I'm a burrito.

"The frozen lake and the black vacuum sky and the dead man pleading for the return of his remaining days."

Genius.