cover image The Bloomsday Dead

The Bloomsday Dead

Adrian McKinty, , read by Gerard Doyle. . Blackstone Audio, $26.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7861-6078-5

Blood, bullets and death are served up in ample portions in McKinty’s final entry to his Michael Forsythe trilogy. The past 12 years have found Irish tough Forsythe hiding out in Peru looking over his shoulder in anticipation of being found by crime boss Bridget Callaghan, who has spent the last decade looking for Forsythe with the intention of killing him to avenge the killing of her fiancé. But things change, and when she does locate Forsythe, it is to beg him to help find her kidnapped 11-year-old daughter, Siobhan. Doyle brings a clean, well-articulated Irish lilt to his reading that works especially well with the book’s multiple characters, each of whom he renders with distinct individual voices. One might argue that he could have brought a bit more emotional resonance to McKinty’s rich first-person narrative, but overall Dole’s skillful narration draws the listener deep into this dark side of the emerald isle. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 1). (Mar.)