A homeless man is beaten to death in a park. In today's crisis-ridden, Darwinian Ireland, does no-one care?
The miracle of Celtic Tiger Ireland has imploded but something stirs in the rubble and seizes the attention of a weary public: Pádraig Larkin, a homeless, mentally ill alcoholic, is beaten to death in a park. Public indignation rises as the case remains unsolved. Is there no justice for an outcast in today’s Ireland ? Minogue and the volatile Tommy Malone are put on the case. Neither copper is happy: this move is insider influence at work. Sister Immaculata, the well-known and outspoken nun, has complained to the Garda Commissioner that this unsolved murder case is an insult to the victim, an indictment of Irish society. Was Pádraig Larkin simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of feral youths? A furious reaction to voyeurism? Witness to a drug deal? And one of his fellow down-and-outs is delusional and prone to violence... Minogue soon senses that Larkin’s past is gaining on the present. Their collision will come with all the force of truths held back so bitterly and for so long.
'Particularly powerful stuff – genius.’ - Toronto Star
'Eerily prescient, with an up-to-the-minute view of Ireland’s financial meltdown. One of Brady’s best plots, along with his always-fine characters and stellar Dublin setting. Not to be missed.’ - Globe and Mail (Canada)