It’s not often I get a nice review in Booklist (no link, sadly – subscription only), so if it’s okay with all of you I’m going to go ahead and broadcast this review of SLAUGHTER’S HOUND in full. To wit: Slaughter’s Hound. By Declan Burke. Mar. 2013. 384p. Dufour/Liberties, paper, $24.95 (9781907593499).Incidentally, if there’s anyone out there who would like to receive an e-friendly review copy of SLAUGHTER’S HOUND or its predecessor EIGHTBALL BOOGIE, please feel free to drop me a line at dbrodb[at]gmail.com. And if the spirit moves you to click the Twitter or Facebook link below, I would be very grateful indeed.
Honest jobs are hard to come by when you’re released from a mental institution after killing your brother. So Harry Rigby gets by driving a cab and delivering drugs in the Irish town of Sligo. One of his best customers is former cellmate Finn Hamilton--until the night Finn drops onto Harry’s cab from his ninth-story balcony. The police are very interested in what Harry saw that night, as are Finn’s pregnant girlfriend, patrician (and terrifying) mother, and his possibly insane teenage sister. A master of situational ethics, Harry initially has no problem getting paid to retrieve certain items from Finn’s apartment. It turns out, though, that Harry’s not the only one nosing around. He tries to keep his ex-wife and son out of the investigation, but his two worlds can’t help bleeding into one another. Burke (Absolute Zero Cool, 2012) has always been known for black humor, and he has found a wonderful new outlet for it in Harry Rigby. -- Karen Keefe
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