Read Online A Man With One of Those Faces The Dublin Trilogy Caimh McDonnell 9780995507500 Books

Product details Series The Dublin Trilogy (Book 1) Paperback 360 pages Publisher McFori Ink (August 27, 2016) Language English ISBN-10 0995507503

A Man With One of Those Faces The Dublin Trilogy Caimh McDonnell 9780995507500 Books Reviews

• I am a 'Yank' and I find this to be a fresh look at the crime genre. We have had an abundance of other country's crime novels and this is the Irish one. I say 'Welcome.' Paul Mulchrane has 'one of those faces' in which anyone with aging eyes can find something of a relative or a friend. He has been 'gaming' a relative's will by doing community service, visiting lonely nursing home or hospice patients rather than finding a 'real job.' Each of his patients believes (or pretends to believe) he is someone from their past. This genuine service gets turned on its ear when a dying old man with someone to fear mistakes Paul for the nephew of a vicious Dublin crime lord, Gerry Fallon. The old man misses Paul's carotid artery with a knife he has kept hidden in his bedding, damaging his shoulder instead. Paul and his 'sudden' accomplice Bridget, the nurse who asked him to visit the old man, are launched into a world of peril not of their making. The world around them is hostile but the world around them also has unexpected allies. This story is amusing in parts and ironic in parts and it is full of action and danger just about until the end. Most of us will find this Gaelic adventure to be a 'good read.' I can well-recommend it because I have frankly enjoyed my time with this story.
• McDonnell is a funny person and writes quite well, but he is undisciplined, which might well be a consequence of his being a comedian. He likes ass jokes (including shit) way too much, but that is a minor quibble. The worst part is two of his major characters are unappealing. Paul, the "hero," (despite McDonnell suggesting that he is a genius) is a whining hypersensitive loser who thinks of women as objects, stumbles through life and and constantly flails, making him irritating and distinctly not funny. In fact, he is so dumb it is a miracle he lives through the experience, and no thanks to anything he does. And there is nothing funny, charming, or appealing in the drunken monster of a policeman prone to random violence Bunny McGarry. Birgit, on the other hand, is a fascinating character, fully fleshed and fun, living in the real world viewed through the lens of crime novels and cop movies and TV shows. And the pair of Garda detectives, one days away from retirement and the other fresh off the boat, make appealing buddies (a series based on them would be interesting).
  
  I laughed very hard in a few places where McDonnell used his sly wit to full effect. But overall, the novel, while readable, was disappointing, and I am not going to read any "further adventures."
• I started out enjoying this book because at times it is quite witty; however, the more I read the more I lost interest. The problem is there is, with one exception, no one to like in this book including the protagonist. Since I didn’t like the characters, I really couldn’t connect with them. Also at times the book was juvenile and silly which I found annoying. So after about a third of the way in, I decided to move on to something else.
• I gobble up books by the boatload (usually audiobook while I'm going about my day) so I'm always on the lookout for another good author, another good series. I came across this little gem during one of my many hunts for the next item to add to my "bookshelf." And, boy howdy (a nod to COLD SASSY TREE by Olive Ann Burns), am I GLAD I did! I don't know who this Caimh McDonnell is or where he's been hiding himself, but let me just say I can only HOPE he stays around for a long, LONG time.
  
  THE MAN WITH ONE OF THOSE FACES has all the qualities you can ask for in the perfect book
  
  1. It's FUNNY and CLEVER. I just all-around had a GREAT time reading it.
  
  2. The plot is brilliant. It's complex without being overly so, it's unique, and it's SMART.
  
  3. The characters are wonderfully drawn. They're fleshed out human beings - no cardboard figures here. The protagonists are likeable but not perfect; likewise, the antagonists are appropriately "villainous" without being comic book characters. Everyone SAYS and DOES things realistically - no clichèd conversations or comebacks, no Deus Ex Machina going on here.
  
  And to top it all off, it's full of delightful "Irish-isms," which I had a grand time highlighting and looking up so as to fully appreciate the native charm of my long lost ancestors. ;-)
  
  I can't recommend this book and this author highly enough. A definite 10 stars!
• Fans of comic suspense novels should read this book now. It is hilarious, will written, and features both great humor and solid suspense. Don't delay, since apparently a sequel is coming out soon, and you will want to be ready for that.
  
  Elmore Leonard, Donald Westlake, Ross Thomas, and Charles Willeford are all dead. Richard Hoyt has not been the same since the late 1980's. Thomas Perry and Dave Barry both wrote one comic suspense masterpiece and then went off to write other stuff. Carl Hiaasen has some good work. Almost everyone else who tries can't seem to get it quite right.
  
  Until now. Then along comes this Irish export who knows how it's done. Even the more parochial Irish jokes about hurling teams and city versus country prejudices work well because they are done in a way that has universal appeal. The author is a stand up comic, and knows how to do a joke.
  
  If you like "Metzger's Dog," "Get Shorty," "The Manna Enzyme," "Kahawa," "The Eighth Dwarf," "Double Whammy," and "Big Trouble," welcome home.
  
  A very welcome development indeed. Read it. Tell your friends. If you do, maybe this guy will write more.