The Purty Dozen

Gerard Brennan over at CSNI gave us the first look at Stuart Neville’s cover for THE TWELVE this week (rather fetching artwork, right), and also Stuart’s depressing reasons for why the previously monikered THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST will be called THE TWELVE for it’s UK release. Buggery, scooped again. Oi, Neville – that’s you and me finito, squire.
  Anyhoo, the reason I bring up THE TWELVE is that John Connolly was among those great-n-good the Irish Times asked for their ‘Books of the Year’ selections for 2008, the full list of which was published yesterday. Quoth JC:

“Meanwhile, this was a good year for Irish crime fiction, with strong additions from Declan Hughes, Tana French, Paul Charles and Brian McGilloway, among others. I suspect, though, that one of the crime novels of the year in 2009 will be Stuart Neville’s stunning debut, THE TWELVE (Harvill Secker, £12.99), which is, I think, the best mystery to have emerged so far from the aftermath of the Troubles. I read it in a single sitting, and it marks a major step forward for the genre in this country.”

  So there you have it. Stuart Neville. THE TWELVE. Remember, folks, you heard it here second.

The Neville Will Find Work For Idle Hands To Do, Part II

There’s been some mouthwatering blurbs scribbled about Irish novels of late – Kevin Power’s debut, BAD DAY IN BLACKROCK, for example, was heralded as a blend of IN COLD BLOOD, THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – but Stuart Neville (right) is rapidly becoming the name to watch for in 2009, with his debut offering, GHOSTS OF BELFAST, exciting some heavyweight names. James Ellroy described it as “The best first novel I’ve read in years ... It’s a flat out terror trip,” which was enough to get me wondering who the hell Stuart Neville was way back when, but now – courtesy of CSNI – comes John Connolly’s big-up, the gist of which runneth thusly:

“GHOSTS OF BELFAST is not only one of the finest thriller debuts of the last ten years, but is also one of the best Irish novels, in any genre, of recent times. It grips from the first page to the last, and heralds the arrival of a major new voice in Irish writing. I don’t know how Stuart Neville is going to improve upon such an exceptional first novel, but I can’t wait to find out …”

  Mmmmm, nice. For an excerpt, clickety-click on this little yokeybus right here. It’s a hell of a start …