Dark Dawn

DS O'Neill #1

by Matt McGuire

Belfast. January 2005.Acting Detective Sergeant John O'Neill stands over the body of a dead teenager. The corpse was discovered on the building site of a luxury development overlooking the River Lagan. Kneecapped then killed, the body bears the hallmarks of a punishment beating. But this is the new Northern Ireland - the Celtic Tiger purrs, the Troubles are over, the paramilitaries are gone. So who is the boy? Why was he killed?O'Neill quickly realises that no one cares who the kid is - his colleagues, the politicians, the press - making this case one of the toughest yet. And he needs to crack this one, his first job as Principle Investigator, or he risks ending up back in uniform. Disliked by the Chief Inspector and with his current rank yet to be ratified, O'Neill is in a precarious position.With acute insight, Matt McGuire's cracking debut exposes the hidden underbelly of the new Northern Ireland, a world of drug dealing, financial corruption and vigilante justice.

Genres: Mystery

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2012

About the author

Matthew McGuire was born in Belfast and is a lecturer at the University of Glasgow. He has published widely on both Irish and Scottish literature.

Reviews

[Matt Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read crime fiction, in fact I don't think I've ever read a 'crime' novel in my life, so I didn't know what to expect when I decided to read 'Dark Dawn.' Irish expat and now English lecturer at the University of Western Sydney Matt McGuire has created a highly entertaining first novel set in the 'new' Northern Ireland. I found the language and detail of environment to be both convincing and gripping, and I would definitely read the next in the DS O'Neill series. The characters are likable and even the so called bad guys leave you wanting to know more, not less, which is always a good thing. Probably deserved more than 3 stars but I just can't bring myself to give a crime novel more than that.

[Adam Soldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best book i have ever read in my life, better than any shakespeare novel or anything else i've ever read in my life. The author must be very proud of himself. I was on the brink of suicide before I read dark dawn. Now I am a 8-figure entrepreneur who is a professional gambler. Dark dawn saved me and will definitely my top 3 favorite books which is not 3rd or 2nd but 1st. It was a thrilling story that had my toes curled throughout the whole story. Jack mcguire should be proud to have a intellectual father unlike himself, lots to improve for him to hold up the family name.

[Victor Borgeest · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a bad read

[Gerard Mcmahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good first book in a series - looking forward to reading number 2

[Isabella Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good pace and interesting characters, but there are quite a few continuity errors and there was too much going on.

[Josher71 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but the ending was a mess.

[Book Addict Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few months ago I was planning a trip to Belfast or Dublin and rather than seek our your traditional guidebook I went in search of crime fiction set in those cities. One book in particular stood out to me and it was Dark Dawn, upon seeing the cover and reading the blurb my first thought was "this is my kind of book". I immediately downloaded to my Kindle but it's only now that I'm posting the review ahead of my review for the second book, When Sorrows Come next week! I love nothing more than discovering a new author, especially in crime fiction so I'm happy to champion Matt in the hope that fellow crime fans can discover his work as well.

The book has one of the best openings I've read in a while. It immediately drew me in and I didn't move until I'd made a 25% dent in my Kindle. The book is set in 2005 Belfast, in the midst of its makeover McGuire paints a somewhat dark and gritty Belfast albeit probably a believable one, it's the Belfast the tourist board don't want you to see and it paints a pretty grim picture at times. DS O'Neill is called when the body of a teenager is found dumped on a building site for luxurious apartments. His DI Jack Ward puts him in charge of the case but he soon faces a few problems. Firstly it appears it might be a punishment beating which the police can never solve and secondly the Chief Inspector wants O'Neill gone, either back in uniform or out of the police altogether. With a Review Board meeting just days away O'Neill has just a week to catch a killer and save his career... It becomes even more difficult when the case is abandoned by everybody but O'Neill.

Immediately I liked the character of O'Neill. Not without his faults he is facing the obligatory problems that most police face, for example a marriage breakdown. He's one of those police officer who 'police', it might not always be by the book but it gets results and puts people behind bars. With his marriage breakdown he's also the dangerous sort of officer who perhaps doesn't value his life as all he has to live for is his job. This makes for some big developments towards the end of the book. In crime fiction it's easy to like the main character when their boss, in this case the Chief Inspector is a bit of an egomaniac and I found myself wanting O'Neill to solve this case to get one over on his superiors. The game of politics often bores me in crime fiction but that wasn't the case here at all. Along the way we are introduced to a number of unsavoury characters, drug dealers, criminals, it becomes a case of trying to work out how they are connected to the murder.

Rattling along at a nice pace this could just be your average crime novel but for me some fantastic characterisation, a gripping story and a brilliantly captured Belfast setting made this one of the most exciting crime debuts I've read in a while. I might be speaking too soon and should wait till I finish book two but I'd say Matt McGuire is definitely an author who could be sitting alongside some of the best in crime very soon and is definitely one to watch, this series has huge potential and I'm excited to see where it's going to go next. For crime fans looking for a new author I'd say you can't go wrong here.

Source: Bought.

[Belinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit guys, this book.

Coming off the back of reading The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith, I have to say that I preferred Dark Dawn. It was brutal and gritty, with plenty of layers. They aren’t similar in any way, other than that they’re both crime novels, but I preferred Matt’s style.

At first, I really wasn’t sure that I was going to like this book. Straight away, I noticed that the writing style is mainly short, choppy sentences, which I really didn’t like until I got used to them about a third of the way through. I also felt like the main crime really took a back seat, with nothing really happening until the last minute. Those are my only small criticisms for this novel, and they’re really not bad enough for me to lower my rating.

Set in Belfast, McGuire has captured the gritty side of the city and it’s people. I really love Belfast for exactly this grittiness, even though we’re 9 years on from when this novel is set. I know my way around Belfast well enough to be able to picture the scenes in this novel, which made the familiarity factor come into play for me. This helped to make me feel really unnerved by some of the events that take place in the novel, while simultaneously feeling comfortable within the setting.

What really got me to love this book is the characterisation. You come to feel for each of the characters, even those who are the “baddies”. You grow to care for O’Neill, as he tries to solve a murder with the bosses breathing down his neck and save his marriage. You feel for Lynch, the career criminal who really can’t work out how to have a normal life. You feel for the young kids, Marty and Petesy, as they begin to take risks in the criminal underworld of Belfast. You really want to see all of them sort their shit out and have some kind of happy ending, whatever that may be.

In this novel, you come to understand that each of the characters has so many layers that there’s no real good guys and bad guys. There’s not a huge amount of redemption, but there are glimmers of hope. Even O’Neill and Ward, the policemen, have layers of good and bad. Lynch was probably the most interesting character for me, as he definitely has varying shades of grey. I came to really like Petesy as well, and I really hope he ends up doing something good with his life.

I really enjoyed the scattered literary references throughout the book.

I ended up staying up till 3am to finish this book. I don’t give up my sleep easily, believe me, but I just had to find out what happened at the end. I was well rewarded for this, with the ending being brutal, yet satisfying. I wouldn’t change it, though I do hope we find out what happens to Petesy.

I’m definitely going to be getting my hands on the second book in this series, When Sorrows Come, as soon as humanly possible. If you like crime novels, definitely pick this one up. If you’re interested in Northern Ireland after The Troubles, give this one a go. If you’re after a really good read… you need this book.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Irish crime fiction scene continues to surprise and impress with the arrival of Matt McGuire's debut novel. Dark Dawn is the first to feature Detective Sergeant John O'Neill of Belfast and McGuire does two things extremely well. He produces a gallery of sharply drawn characters – police, villains, lowlifes and civilians – and evokes Belfast emerging from the Troubles so well that you feel as though you know the place personally.

DS O'Neill is 34 but you wouldn't put him a day under 40. We meet him on a rain-sodden building site standing over the body of a teenage lad, who appears to have been the victim of a punishment knee-capping. It looks as though this could be a messy one for O'Neill. Such beatings are supposed to be a thing of the past. Was this a violent lesson taken too far? And is there any significance in the crime scene being on the site for the new luxury Laganview apartments?

The novel pinpoints the culture clash between the detectives who get their hands dirty on the streets, and the careerists who push paper and discuss crime figures at meetings. O'Neill's boss, shrewd old hand DI Ward, recognises his sergeant as a copper's copper and takes a risk by assigning the murder to the younger man, his first opportunity to act as principal. It's make or break for O'Neill, an acting sergeant who is coming up for review and whose senior officer, Chief Inspector Wilson, has disliked O'Neill since he disagreed publicly with him.

Needless to say, the case is a ball-breaker – no ID for the victim, no suspects, and any forensics washed away in the rain…

The writing is very sharp, witty at times and fizzes with mood and character. O'Neill is locked in a nasty, attritional struggle with Wilson while also trying to revive his marriage to Catherine, who loves him but has had enough of being married to a dedicated peeler. This is a moving part of the story, but there are plenty of other fascinating angles to it, particularly the character of Lynch, the former paramilitary just out of prison and a wily and formidable operator for any detective, crime boss or even his psychologist to pin down.

Matt McGuire was born in Belfast and is now an English lecturer at the University of Western Australia. His diversion into fiction has got off to a terrific start with this absorbing, insightful crime story.

[Iwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much to like about this book and in the main I enjoyed it, the storyline has interest and is gritty enough to have an element of realism, there are some interesting characters in the book , namely Lynch and Ward , The main character O'Neill has the basis of a decent character but strangely he s not the most interesting in the book.

There are a couple of major flaws in the book for me , firstly O'Neill is portrayed as a cynical, emotionally drained and possibly damaged police officer , we are told that he has seen so much whilst working as a police officer that he is tired and world weary and yet he has only 6 years service and is an acting DS . It just doesn't ring true, you don't get to be an acting DS in 6 years if you don't have some zip about you. The length of service does not tally with his mentality , this affects the realism of the character and makes him a little bit of a cliche

The next flaw and the one that bugged me the most , is that O'Neill doesn't appear to do anything ! There is no investigation apparent by O'Neill until the very end, we are told that he has been doing plenty during the first half f the book , but there is no clue as to what that is, in fact it is his senior officer Ward who actually does more to progress the case.(Ward is a much more interesting character than O'Neill)
Despite O'Neill doing very little investigating we are expected to believe that a contract has been placed on his life because he has been getting too close to he truth

The flaws described affected the credibility of the book for me , however there was enough in the content for me to have another look at the Authors work when he publishes further

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt McGuire’s debut crime thriller is definitely worth seeking out, particularly if you like authors such as Stuart Neville or the style of Brian McGilloway. The focus of this tale is Belfast, as McGuire skilfully depicts a city playing catch-up in its regeneration (in comparison to say Liverpool or Newcastle), but just below the surface there lurks the shadow of the Troubles and the less salubrious world of drug dealers, financial corruption and vigilantism. From the opening image of a young man’s body lying on a desolate piece of wasteland, you know from the outset that this will be a grim tale of the sordid underbelly of a city dying to reinvent itself and McGuire captures this perfectly throughout. His central detective Acting DS John O’Neill is both credible and intriguing, as he is in the unenviable position of being saddled with a difficult murder investigation in order to prove his worth to his superiors, who have a derogatory view of him personally. As the investigation branches out, O’Neill finds himself in deeper trouble, threatening both him and the possibility of progressing in his career. I found little to fault in terms of location, characterisation and, most importantly, plotting and Dark Dawn held my attention throughout revealing itself as a solid police procedural that truly reflected the problems of Belfast society and the danger of disaffected youths looking to make a less than honest living, whilst always retaining a look backwards as to how these problems have developed. A great debut and an author to watch…

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

McGuire’s debut is slick and fast paced.

A police procedural told from several point-of-views, it shows not only the world DS O’Neill inhabits, but also that of the old and new generations and the changing face and frictions within the crime world.

The story grabbed me right from the opening chapter. O’Neill, a man with an unhappy past and a Chief Inspector out for his blood, is given the lead on a case which no one seems to care about, to solve the murder of a person who they can’t identify. With characteristic commitment to his job, O’Neill sets about solving the mystery, investigating leads that take him high into the political circles of the city and out into the criminal underworld, and in the process makes himself a target with a price on his head.

The stories of two young upstarts in the drug world – Marty and Petesy – and Lynch, recently released from prison and trying not to get drawn into the underworld, add to the gritty setting and show the tension on the streets. The way the different point-of-view characters’ stories weave together is artfully done and sets up a cracking finale.

Fast paced, and with plenty of twists and turns, I think this is a must-read for fans of police procedurals.

[Brian Stoddart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt McGuire teaches in Sydney but is from Ireland and, like fellow expat Adrian McKinty, captures from afar now the dark days of "The Troubles" and what followed.

With great skill he teases out the hollowness of life in the embattled society that is left, and his lead character deals with it in his own troubled way. A body leads to our man's first case as lead investigator, championed by one superior but targeted for oblivion by another. As time passes the pressure for results mounts, and a short handed cop becomes almost a lone investigator in a world of crime that becomes increasingly violent.

Matt McGuire writes all this very well and develops a good storyline as well as a compelling cop, and I am looking forward to reading the second in the series.

[Sk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solider Krimi. Klischeehafte Figuren: der Polizist mit Ehe- und Alkoholproblem, der väterliche Vorgesetzte, der Vorgesetzte des Vorgesetzten, der natürlich kein "echter" Polizist ist, sondern ein Bürokrat, der es aus irgendwelchen Gründen auf den Polizisten abgesehen hat.
Also gängige Kost, nicht besonders gut, nicht besonders schlecht. Interessant hingegen war das nordirische Setting in Belfast mit seinen Konsequenzen und politischen Fronten aus der Zeit der "Troubles". Auch gut: die Beschreibung des Lebens der jugendlichen Kleinkriminellen. Ob das authentisch ist, weiss ich nicht. Aber interessant war es allemal. Dafür 3,5 Sterne.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A crime thriller set in Belfast, with the legacy of the Troubles influencing events. Interesting plot, but it seemed to lose its way a bit

[Shaza]

Sometimes it is just too difficult and problematic to rate a book...this is clearly one of those times.

[Weebly]

A good first detective novel from the author. Set in Belfast in 2005. Quite dark in places.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good - especially on contemporary Belfast. Impressive debut.