Black Irish: A Novel
*Starred Review* Detective Absalom Kearny of the Buffalo (NY) PD is caring for her aged, adoptive father, John, a legendary, former detective himself. Smart and driven, Abbie is seen by fellow cops as a rising star. But she may be too driven, and the savage torture-murder of Jimmy Ryan, a resident of the city’s clannish Irish enclave, “the County,” drives her toward obsession. More grisly murders occur, and even though Abbie grew up in the County, no one will talk with her, even though many know what is happening; the County avenges its own. Talty, author of several lauded nonfiction books (Agent Garbo, 2012), has produced a suspenseful debut novel with a circuitous plot. Abbie is a wonderfully complex and conflicted character, but it is the County—which may exist in Buffalo and certainly exists in other northeastern cities—that shines brightest. It’s a place where a boy whose people came from Mayo isn’t allowed to date a Kilkenny girl, and its residents share an “ancestral memory of being oppressed in a country they’d never been to.” Economically ravaged Buffalo is portrayed in broader brushstrokes, but the sense of place is palpably evocative. Black Irish is simply a riveting read. --Thomas Gaughan