First published 2009
Ed Loy settles into his new flat in Dublin's city centre. He has walked away from his family and their complications. The move represents his attempt to escape the shadows that have followed him for years. He wants to exist in the present moment rather than remain trapped by what came before. His detective work refuses to cooperate with this plan. The people who hire him arrive carrying their own histories and unresolved conflicts. Their cases force him to dig into events he would rather forget. Each new client becomes another thread connecting him to the very past he tried to sever. The baggage his clients bring transforms his office into a portal that pulls him backward through time. Loy discovers that reinvention has its limits. The ghosts he thought he left behind in his old life find new ways to reach him through the desperate people who seek his help. His desire for a clean slate conflicts with the messy realities of human nature and the detective business.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: reinvention, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dublin
Hardcover · JOHN MURRAY