Gallows Lane

Inspector Devlin #2

by Brian McGilloway

Taking its title from the name of the road down which condemned Donegal criminals were once led, 'Gallows Lane' follows Inspector Benedict Devlin as he investigates a series of gruesome murders in and around the Irish borderlands. When a young woman is found beaten to death on a building site, in what appears to be a sexually-motivated killing, Devlin's enquiries soon point to a local body-builder and steroid addict. But days later, born-again ex-con James Kelly is found nailed to a tree--crucified--having been released from prison and returned to his hometown to spread the word of God. Increasingly torn between his young family and his job, Devlin is determined to apprehend those responsible for the murders before they strike again.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Ireland, Fiction, Irish Literature, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Brian McGilloway is an author hailing from Derry, Northern Ireland. He studied English at Queens University Belfast, where he was very active in student theatre, winning a prestigious national Irish Student Drama Association award for theatrical lighting design in 1996. He is currently Head of English at St. Columb's College, Derry. McGilloway's debut novel was a crime thriller called Borderlands. Borderlands was shortlisted for a Crime Writers' Association Dagger award for a debut novel.

Reviews

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up for 25p, this was very much a punt based on a vague recollection of having heard of the author, and the back cover blurb suggesting something interesting and Irish. It exceeded small presuppositions and expectations - 'because of', as opposed to 'in spite of', its relatively straight, ordinary and relatable protagonist. This made it a pleasant contrast from the likes of Stuart Neville where the hero comes over as having nine lives and the strength and foresight of a superhero. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of darkness and violence (several rapes, a high body count, cops and criminals both getting done over), but the overall effect was to render this more comparable to a strong police procedural than a gripping action thriller. I'll keep an eye out for more, the characters have held my interest and the author writes well.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Benedict "Ben" Devlin has a babysitting assignment in GALLOWS LANE. James Kerr has been released from jail and Devlin's superintendent, Costello, wants Kerr to stay in Northern Ireland. Devlin's job is to convince him to do so. However, Kerr has a mission. He needs to see "a man" to get something "off his chest." Then he'll be gone, he assures Devlin. But shortly thereafter people start dying unnaturally. Kerr is the prime suspect until he is crucified on Gallows Lane. Devlin is determined to stop the carnage, especially when his family is in danger.

GALLOWS LANE is a complex police procedural that has equal parts psychological action and physical action. Devlin battles internally with what is right and what is wrong as his wife challenges his loyalty to their family. She believes he selfishly puts their family in harms way for the glory of his job. While Devlin struggles with this internally, externally he's faced with knowledge of a corrupt colleague vying for promotion as well as his own unlawful act performed in an effort to secure justice.

McGilloway's style is magnetic. His sharp, crisp dialogue flows naturally and often accompanied by dry humor. The development of the characters is superb. Devlin is in many ways the classic crime fiction detective and in other ways uniquely McGilloway's creation.

GALLOWS LANE doesn't move like a thriller novel, instead the reader moves along more like the convicts who once walked the road: slowly, analyzing each step of their lives and how those steps brought them to this point. As readers experience Devlin's psychological struggles, they will likely find it difficult not to question what their own decisions would be and then realize they would struggle no less than Devlin. Beware of GALLOWS LANE, McGilloway may very well get inside your head and start moving around those "truths" you've held locked inside.

GALLOWS LANE is the second book in the Inspector Devlin series. I look forward to more from McGilloway and his troubled inspector.

[Bruce Hatton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another worthy addition to this excellent series set in the troubled borderlands between Donegal, Ireland and Derry, Northern Ireland. Once again, the shadows of past crimes hang heavily over more recent ones. The brutal murder of a young woman, a violent assault on another, a hanging, a shooting, even a crucifixion; all seemed linked to an armed robbery from a decade before.
Once again, I found myself liking immensely Inspector Benedict Devlin; a devoted husband and father and someone always anxious to do their best. I could even sympathise with him when, on one occasion, he uncharacteristically "bends" the rules a little. An action which has almost disastrous consequences and leaves him wracked by guilt and panic attacks.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Benedict Devlin, Garda inspector
SETTING: Ireland
SERIES: #2
RATING: 4.0
WHY: Benedict Devlin is a Garda inspector. He is assigned to dissuade newly released convict James Kelly from settling down in the area. Just at that time, there is a murder and Kelly is in the frame. He claims to have found religion, and a skeptical Devlin tends to believe him which puts him at odds with his boss. Devlin finds himself in the middle of various Irish factions and things get very dodgy. McGilloway writes well. The real strength of the book is the character of Devlin and his humanity.

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young woman is found beaten to death, an ex-con returns to the community, Devlin is up for promotion, there’s a lot that Ben Devlin has to worry about and it may not end there, it could also include his life.

There’s a lot going on in this Ben Devlin novel, which in a way sometimes leaves you wondering where we are in the plot. An enjoyable read though and I quite like this series.

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. On the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Inspector Ben Devlin is confronted by a series of murders that may be linked to a long-ago robbery. The brutality leaves Ben wondering whether he could have done things differently as the death toll mounts. I thoroughly enjoy this series.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Sentence: James Kerr returned to Lifford on a blustery morning in May, shuffling under the heavy clouds that scudded across the sky towards the North.

DI Benedict Devlin has a lot to deal with. He as been asked to keep an eye on recent parole James Kerr and encourage him to leave the area.. Kerr claims here’s not there to commit crimes but first to talk to someone. But people Kerr knew start to die and Kerr, himself, if found murdered. Two girls have been drugged and beaten; and one died. Devlin want to find the killer before he strikes again.

How nice to read a police procedural where there is more than one case that needs to be solved. How nice, too, when the protagonist is a married man with children and without great angst or addictions, other than the stresses of the job. That doesn’t mean he is perfect. In fact, McGilloway has made Devlin a classically flawed human.

The story is set in the Borderland of Ireland, where a concern is felons escaping either way over the border to the North or South. Again, it’s a nice chance to have the story not set in a large city. The political aspects add to the veracity and interest to the story.

The plot is well done with lots of threads and relationships. The story was never predictable and I certainly never guessed the primary killer.

There were a couple little problems. McGilloway loves portents, which did make me crazy. I occasionally felt lost in the story and had some problems keeping the characters straight. .

One rather amusing thing was that my copy was clearly a first state, first printing. Each chapter heading is a date. Unfortunately someone missed that the first state copy went from Sunday May 28, Monday May 31, Tuesday Jun1, Wednesday June 2, Thursday June 1…and didn’t get on track until page 66 and Friday June 4th. It was definitely disconcerting.

Even so, McGilloway has a wonderful style and I look forward to his third book.

GALLOWS LANE (Pol. Proc-Benedict Devlin-Ireland-Cont) – G+
McGilloway, Brian – 2nd in series
Macmillan, 2008, UK Hardcover- ISBN: 9780230700611

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a little while to get into Gallows Lane. The first 100 pages or so seemed ponderous, and somehow lacking, and I wasn’t sure about some of the police organisation and procedural elements. Slowly, however, I was drawn ever further into the book, all the careful groundwork laid out in the early stages gaining its significance as the various threads are pulled ever tighter. McGilloway’s skill is in the plotting and sense of place. He weaves several subplots in and through each other, although as with Borderlands some of the story is a little over the top, some situations are clearly plot devices, and I had difficulty believing the resolution of two strands. The result is a slow burner that shifts through the gears into a real page turner. He also does a good job of setting the reader in small town Ireland and the landscape along the Donegal/Derry border. Where the book struggles a little, I feel, is with characterisation. Devlin is well drawn and an interesting enough character – a committed family man that seems vulnerable to temptation, prepared to cut corners, occasionally hot tempered and prone to panic attacks. Many of the other characters, however, are underdeveloped. For example, we get little sense of Devlin’s wife, or the principal victims or perpetrators, or some of his colleagues, with little in the way of back stories and motivations. This is partly due to the large cast and partly due to the pacing, where characters are getting little ‘page time’. Comparisons are often made to Rankin and Dexter, but I think Robinson and Booth are probably nearer the mark.

[Michael Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Gallows Lane' is Brian McGilloway's 2nd in his Inspector Devlin series and the last I'll read. It's a decent procedural (although with some glaring dumb spots) and not a bad book, but ultimately the writing is just too bland. It's the Irish equivalent of Sgt. Joe Friday narrating a Dragnet episode in book form.

Borderlands, McGilloway's first, was marginally more interesting in that it was more 'Irish' and had a bit more rogue-ish behavior on Devlin's part. In Gallow's Lane, he has a few 'outside-the-lines' efforts that are mostly just dumb (ie. planting evidence at a rich guy's house which, almost anyone would guess, has video surveillance) and some chaste interaction with his female partner, but that's about the extent of it. The procedural aspects of the plot are fine, but the writing just doesn't cut it.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in the Inspector Devlin series. As all detectives we love, Devlin breaks rules and is determined to get evidence and get the guilty parties put away. In this book, he is still partners with the female colleague who gets into trouble in Book 4. Working on the Donegal border with Northern Ireland, criminals easily move back and forth during peacetime creating even more headaches for Devlin. The past is never far removed in this series, especially the legacy of The Troubles. Devlin is on the line after multiple murders, a brutal assault on a 15-year-old girl, and a burglary. He is convinced they are linked but has a hard time convincing his superiors.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is murder and police work among the backdrop of Ireland. Not my favorite. I'll let McGilloway alone.

[Janice Staines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forgiveness or Retribution?

I’ve previously read THE LAST CROSSING and BORDERLANDS by the same author and enjoyed them so much, I thought I would seek out and read book two in the Ben Devlin series.

The body of a young girl is found, badly beaten to death There is an unused condom discarded by the body .

Inspector Ben Devlin is assigned the case and he and his colleagues are tasked with finding out who killed her and bringing them to justice.

As the investigation continues, more bodies turn up and links to an historical armed robbery become apparent. Devlin and his team have to work ‘cross border’ to unravel how the threads come together in order to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.

The characters the author has created are well drawn and believable as are their interactions within the story. Devlin is no saintly cop, and he is not above planting evidence in order to bring a suspect to justice, and neither are other colleagues of his who we meet along the way. But things get serious when Devlin receives death threats against him and, worse, his family.

There are lots of twists and turns to hold the reader’s interest as the death toll keeps rising and there is also plenty of fast-moving action and a satisfying conclusion as the story reaches its climax.

I shall now be seeking out the other Ben Devlin books to add to my pile of ‘must reads’. I want to see how his life and career progress.

A thrilling and fascinating read!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Brian McGilloway is now one of my favorite mystery writers. This was a second great book in his Ben Devlin series. The way that he evokes a sense of place reminds me of Peter May. I do think he toes the line on the number of characters he involves—I was just barely able to keep them all straight in this book. But I’m loving this series.

PS: I noticed that I felt quite dark after reading this, and then realized that this one story covers SEVEN violent crimes and one burglary. Most (cozy) mysteries I read have about one violent crime and that one crime often isn’t discussed in tons of explicit detail. I wouldn’t say this book over-sensationalizes the crimes, but the routine discussion of the facts still was fairly dark. And then do that seven times in 300 pages. That makes this book darker than I’m really looking for. I’m interested to see if the next books have as much darkness in them… (In hindsight, Book 1 also had more violent crimes than just the initial murder, too, but I forget exactly how many more. It was more than one, but I’m sure it was less than seven!)

[Steve Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Gallows Lane, when parolee James Kerr returns home claiming to have found ‘religion’, a wave of crime seemingly follows in his wake. A young girl is found badly beaten to death, a cache of weapons and drugs is found, and Devlin’s life is turned upside down. This is a solid procedural, with a complex, character driven storyline, thoughtful in its execution and beautifully written. Devlin’s life is the center of it, different in that he is a family man, balancing what that means to him while trying to do what’s right in his work. It’s a refreshing portrayal- someone with few vices, but with the doubts and fears and questions we all have on a daily basis, save for the outlier that at times in Devlin’s world it’s a matter of life and death. But isn’t that what draws us into reading crime. I loved this book and gave it a 5.

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because Inspector Devlin seems very human. He is a flawed individual who deals more in the gray zone, rather than just black and white. He has a family who he dearly loves; I liked that his wife shows that she doesn't always agree with him. This seems to be a realistic relationship. Many of the other characters were also flawed, including the police and not only the criminals. One negative for me is that there were some oddly-structured sentences. I didn't know if that's just the way an Irishman writes or if it is a result of poor editing. The Irish slang also proved to be a distraction to this American. I had to stop and look up many unfamiliar words.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this series. The detective is determined, if hasty at times, driven sometimes to the point of ignoring personal relationships, but empathetic to the victims and a supporter of the law even to the point of clashing with his superiors. The plot is very believable but of course complicated; the likeliest suspects of the initial crime often turn out to be victims--sometimes hurt, sometimes dead--and politics of the Garda force and localities do get in the way of solution. The secondary characters are as clearly drawn as the primary and also totally believable.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second in the series featuring Inspector Devlin, a flawed yet religious man operating on the Irish border.

I had similar feelings about this episode as the last. Gritty, even gruesome plotlines and characters yet fascinating fulsome characters. In both books I did not enjoy the opening third of the book. By then the story had gained legs and pace and I gobbled it up.

Following the recent death of Robbie Coltrane, it made me think that (as "Cracker") he would have fired up the narrative for me.

Mixed feelings

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read by this Author, who was recommended by a friend at work

Although I've jumped into this Series at Book #2, I didn't feel I'd missed out ..
Benedict Devlin is a strong character having to put up with a number of 'issues' in his working life - inc a Boss who's hoping between retirement & staying in the job ..

The crime development is clever & gritty with a well researched procedural side & a brilliantly woven cat & mouse chase to uncover our perp(s) .. a satisfactory conclusion added the bow

Will definitely be reading more in this Series

[Jelena Milašinović · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly compared to the 1st book in the series it was OK, nothing really spectacular. The cliché with the evidence planting was really unnecessary though. Devlin's character is the same as in the last book, I didn't see his growth or change. I liked how the author describes life at the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland and the cooperation of the 2 police forces. I'll see how the rest of the series progressed, but so far I like the series purely for the setting, the main character is OK.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really feel this is a 3.5 book for me. I have not read the first book in the series. Maybe that would have made a difference. The main character is fully developed, but I did not have the background of his previous personal and work experiences. The story is a little slow and became a little Agatha Christie as it went along. I am not a fan of convoluted plots. I might read the first book because I did find Devlin believable. I would have enjoyed more insights into life in Ireland.

[Terry Slaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sophomore outing in the Ben Devlin series of novels by this author is a step in the right direction, in my opinion. The plot fits the checkmarks for plausibility, the characterizations are solid, and the writing is clear and cogent. I’m a bit put off by the size and level of disharmony in this Garda posting, but perhaps that will straighten out in the next book of the series (although I’m not counting on it).

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read of a Brian McGilloway crime fiction. Not as riveting as the title suggests though may read more in this series…
Published in 2008 so accepting this could well be a little out of date with modern methods. Eg placing a knife covered in the victims blood in an evidence bag and not walking from the scene holding the weapon in between finger & thumb so as to ‘reduce contamination of prints’….

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

These aren’t quite as good as I want them to be, but some aspect of the storytelling interests me. The main character isn’t that likable to me, but, worse perhaps in a mystery, isn’t all that good at detecting either. Highly conveniently someone will volunteer pertinent information he didn’t ask for or something and he’ll be off on another lead. So the case does get solved of course. But the process getting there feels a bit lackluster.

[Abdelrhman Abdallah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story it kept me wandering who’s the man behind all of these murders until the last chapter.
a little disappointed about the end, it wasn’t
Well written, he was just stating facts regarding all the mysteries we found throughout the progress of the story, as if the writer want to say “thats enough pages for this book, i have to finish it now”

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Devlin is a new favorite detective who struggles with balancing being husband and father with the pressures of a Garda police inspector whose colleagues are challenging and the crimes are troubling and cross the border.
I won't go into the plot but it had me turning the pages and satisfied throughout. On to the next in the series as soon as possible.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Not bad.
I’m not really a fan of any of the characters and it was kinda hard to keep up with all the names.
Some parts of the story a bit far fetched, especially towards the end.
Also some fairly obvious clues/connections missed for very long time and then suddenly remembered to help solve the crime…

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another well written novel with an interesting plot. But the plot is staged and presented in the same manner as the first novel. The characters are all interesting and you learn more about the politics within the police department itself.

[Shauna Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book from start to finish not my usual genere of book but was amazed and surprised that it was based in around the area where i live which made it all the more enjoyable with lots of twists and turn i was geioped right up until the last page i cant wait to read the rest of them now

[Glyn Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good follow up to the first book in the series, inspector devlin is developing in an interesting character. The police procedural is quite good and quite an entertaining read, so just go out and BUY this book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying this series. Main DI character is a complex character with a lot of issues. I enjoy the north/south of the border additional complications the author adds into the novels. Some references to the first in the series (Borderlands) in this second book, so probably helpful to read in order.