A well researched historial fiction with some good twists
Returning from studying for a law degree in Dublin and investigative techniques from the Parisian police force, Justy Flanagan is a man with one goal; to find out who murdered his father and why.
The author has done his research into New York in the late 1700s and interestingly the concept for the book was intended for a factual book about the Panic of 1792. In places the descriptions were a little prosaic and I felt there was some explanations that were clearly written for an American audience (the author lives in LA and the book was published in the US a month and a half before the UK) but overall the concept was a good one and the story well written. As the book goes on you can tell the author really go into the rhythm of writing and becomes more confident in his story telling.
The use of Irish/American slang was a little hard to get to grips with to start with. There is a glossary at the back of the book but I tried not to use this. Most of the terminology was easy enough to work out and flipping back and forth every few pages would only have served to ruin the flow of the story.
There was a little repetition of words or descriptions that irritated me and Justy seemed to spend a good proportion of the book either blushing or feeling shameful (but still carrying on with the deed that made him feel shame!).
The plot has some good twists, but I felt that each chapter, at least for the first half of the book, ended too neatly. There was nothing in the way the chapter ended that made me want to continue reading right away to find out what happened.
I felt that a number of the characters were quite two dimensional which lead to some of the things that happened in the book being a little predictable.
On balance I think The Devil's Half Mile is very good debut novel and an interesting and enjoyable read for fans of historical fiction.
The author has done his research into New York in the late 1700s and interestingly the concept for the book was intended for a factual book about the Panic of 1792. In places the descriptions were a little prosaic and I felt there was some explanations that were clearly written for an American audience (the author lives in LA and the book was published in the US a month and a half before the UK) but overall the concept was a good one and the story well written. As the book goes on you can tell the author really go into the rhythm of writing and becomes more confident in his story telling.
The use of Irish/American slang was a little hard to get to grips with to start with. There is a glossary at the back of the book but I tried not to use this. Most of the terminology was easy enough to work out and flipping back and forth every few pages would only have served to ruin the flow of the story.
There was a little repetition of words or descriptions that irritated me and Justy seemed to spend a good proportion of the book either blushing or feeling shameful (but still carrying on with the deed that made him feel shame!).
The plot has some good twists, but I felt that each chapter, at least for the first half of the book, ended too neatly. There was nothing in the way the chapter ended that made me want to continue reading right away to find out what happened.
I felt that a number of the characters were quite two dimensional which lead to some of the things that happened in the book being a little predictable.
On balance I think The Devil's Half Mile is very good debut novel and an interesting and enjoyable read for fans of historical fiction.