Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel (Sean Duffy Series, Book 6)

McKinty's continued use of Tom Waits lyrics for Sean Duffy book titles is a selling point for me. However, these characters are alive, the action is tense, and this book is a "must buy" even without the lyrical title! Without spoiling the plot I will simply state that this is another taut thriller from Adrian McKinty. I have been following his career for years now and have read most everything he's put out. It's tough not to sound like a McKinty eulogist after so many years but after you read this latest Sean Duffy novel you will too. I am glad to see Sean Duffy continue into a sixth book and I hope there are many more to come!

I wanted to like this book so much. I’ve been a fan from the first book in the series, a series I completely fell into by accident. Duffy was endearing to me from the start and he’s evolved over the years. There were some bid changes going on in his world when this book takes place. I was worried the author wouldn’t be able to pull off such a huge shift from Duffy in book one to the current Duffy – the practically married dad.I shouldn’t have been worried. For starters, as always, I found McKinty’s writing to be excellent. I’ve never been to Ireland but when I read this series, I feel like I have been. It’s real to me. The people are real, the places are. I see them and I feel the weather.Duffy is still Duffy. He still has his admirable qualities. He still makes some choices that make me want to throttle him, but that’s some of what I like about him. It makes him human and believable.I finished the book in one sitting. My heart raced for a good portion of it. This whole family thing adds a whole new wrinkle to things. It was done exceptionally well I think. He still has his flaws, but he’s also growing up and making an effort to be a better man. No, maybe that isn’t the right word because I happen to think he is at the core, a good and decent human being. Smarter maybe? Knowing when to take risks and when to rethink things seems to be developing more. He’s always been a smart detective, but he hasn’t always thought things out as fully as he could have. He’s getting better about that sort of thing.This has been one of my favorite series of all time. I loved this book. I would really like to see what happens next.

Another great read, though this one starts a little slower. Sean Duffy is a complex multi layered character, and there has always been personal pathos, and the opening of this book dwells a little long on his home life and interpersonal dilemmas, but it quickly picks up pace and turns into a very satisfying mystery, as usual, and also a great cop shop noir. This has the usual elements of a Mckinty novel with Irish characters and a background steeped in the paramilitary troubles of the 1970s and 80s. I love mysteries the transport you to a time and place that you could never experience without the book. This one does that in spades. Mckinty paints the backdrop with such deft strokes that you never notice it. Couple that with a cast of good guys and bad guys tat are multilayered anc deeply intriguing and you have one of the best mystery series going. I love these books I can't wait for the next one.

Adrian McKinty’s latest POLICE AT THE STATION AND THEY DON’T LOOK FRIENDLY is the 6th title in his Detective Sean Duffy series.The scene is Northern Ireland 1988. A man is dead at his front door - shot by a crossbow. His wife is hysterical and a goat from next door is nibbling on his jacket. The crime scene couldn’t be more compromised or more puzzling.The plot is a complex one, full of twists and turns and surprises.The main character is the weather and the human characters are just as grim and unpredictable. Our Sean is his own worst enemy most of the time. Lawson and Crabbie are intelligent, loyal and excellent policemen in their own right. They might make excellent main characters in the future.The prologue is frightening. It upset me very much with its brutality and senseless violence.Drugs, the IRA, the RUC, Carrickfergus, shady policemen, snitches, very complex and conflicted characters, moments of deep reflection, classical music, poetry, nasty weapons - shotguns, crossbows, guns, guns and more guns (did I mention all the guns?), terrorizing raids in the middle of the night, grim hopeless brutality, whiskey - a true noir.Noir is a genre of crime fiction or film characterized by cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. This Sean Duffy series has true noir ‘in spades’. I read a quote which said, “ noir is whiskey neat.” I couldn’t agree more.I have read all of the titles in this series and find them frightening, thrilling and grim and I love them.

I'm a long-time Adrian McKinty fan - I cannot think of a book character I enjoy as much as Sean Duffy. I find that although there's a lot of heavy stuff happening in McKinty's books ie murders, knee-cappings, and tortures ... because the story is written with such warmth and is so tongue-in-cheek, rather than being a sombre, gruesome and miserable read, it's all rather a fun-filled hoot.I think Sean Duffy is such a multi-faceted character; he comes alive in the pages of this book (and other McKinty books) so vividly that I feel as though I know him. With a heart as big as Texas, Duffy's considerable flaws only add to his charm and authenticity. I love the 'Irishness' of McKinty's stories; the descriptions, the language, and all those very short, sharp sentences McKinty does so well. It's as though he's bottling thoughts with his words.I find the author's writing such an absolute breath of fresh air... it's entertainment to the enth degree.Why on earth the Sean Duffy series has not been made into a TV series or even a film is beyond me?

Adrian McKinty is my favorite crime fiction author and he did not fail my high expectations on this 6th novel in the Sean Duffy series.We get a bit of family background of Duffy in this book which nicely rounds off the picture and adds colour. He is no longer only a renegade, a chain-smoking, drinking and drug-abusing while brilliant and dedicated cop, but has developed into a husband (in all but name) and a father - "Duffy, who has Swedish Vodka and listens to Estonian classical music" and who shows a streak of romantic in his descriptions of rural Antrim. All of Duffy's fans will agree that he deserves a bit of happiness.This books case starts unobtrusively with the quite ordinary murder of a drug dealer. Only the murder weapon is unusual - a crossbow. But soon the story develops into a bog of intrigues and dangerous hidden agendas.Developments within Carrick CID threaten to make Duffy's life more and more difficult, they literally "don't look friendly", to make matters even worse, family problems add to that, but Duffy finds support from unlikely sides.Here is what I love about Police at the station:- the hero: Duffy, with all his troubles and contradictions, you just have to like him, fear for him and wish that his luck never ever runs out!- the sidekicks: Crabbie and Lawson, these two and Duffy have become an awesome team!- the language: gripping and fast but also poetic, with an idiosyncratic sometimes telegraphic style, this is literature, far beyond and above suspense- the story: slow to start, building up suspense and hooking you until the last page - and even beyond. We get all the information needed to solve the case, but still the outcome always surprises and leaves me like "why haven't I seen this?"The setting and the atmosphere: Northern Ireland during the Troubles is an extraordinarily interesting place, and as always, Duffy's story is immersed and connected to temporary events. However, placing the story in this cold, rainy, politically instable place and period does not meen its atmosphere is depressing. There is lightness and humor to balance the darkness.I definitely want to hear more from Duffy!

Several years ago I chanced upon "Dead I Well May Be" by Adrian McKinty, a novel about a Belfast ex-pat, Michael Forsythe, becoming embroiled in New York gangland, a slice of violent noir, with wonderful dialogue, with the action punctuated with poetic, almost mystical passages. The book and the author quickly became favourites. I read the complete "Dead" trilogy and the rest of McKinty's work and, five years ago, began to follow his new trilogy set in 1980s Belfast. "The Cold, Cold Ground" introduced Sean Duffy, a Roman Catholic in a predominantly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary. The books are all five-star, the series uniformly excellent, McKinty one of the best crime-writers currently writing. But nothing has usurped "Dead I Well May Be" - until now..."Police at the Station...", the sixth in the Duffy trilogy (take that "Hitchhikers..."), may be the best novel Adrian McKinty has written to date and it deserves to be widely read. Duffy, a little older, perhaps slightly wiser, has undergone some life-altering changes since the end of the last novel and is struggling to get used to being a father and nearly-husband. Meanwhile somebody is murdering drug dealers with a crossbow.....As with McKinty's previous work, the story is filled with snappy, authentic dialogue and the investigation brings Duffy, and his loyal team, McCrabban and Lawson, into contact with real-life 'Troubles" in Belfast, in this case the terrible aftermath of the March 1988 SAS shooting of an IRA team in Gibraltar which led to rioting in Northern Ireland, Michael Stone's attack on the IRA funerals and the televised lynching of two British Army corporals. But, again as usual, there is also a lot of humour in the book as well as Duffy's love of literature and music - he is listening to a lot of 20th Century classical this time around and at one point memorably, and correctly, characterises the 1980s pop-music as “anodyne, conformist, radio-friendly bollocks, lacking in soul, grace, intelligence or joy.”Adrian McKinty is a literate and intelligent writer of clever and exciting crime thrillers and, despite being completely wrong about Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival" and putting the irritating "I'd of.." in Duffy's mouth twice in this novel, should be on any self-respecting crime fan's to-read list well ahead of any amount of Scandi-bollocks and James Patterson's weekly output.

Loved this. I have read most of the Sean Duffy series and they've all been excellent. Set in Northern Ireland in the late 80s when the paramilitaries had an uneasy truce. The police had long given up on any attempt to solve a murder committed by the para militaries as no one, out of loyalty or fear, we're prepared to give evidence against them. Sean Duffy and his team were the only ones prepared to give it a go. It highlights the ludicrous nature of law and order in those days but it does so with great charm, wonderful dialogue and great wit. It appears from the ending that this fantastic series may be coming to a conclusion and will be greatly missed if this happens. However I'm sure whatever comes next from Mr McKinty will be equally good.

I would give this more than five stars if I could. And for why?Well after a couple of books where detective Duffy tries his hand at Agatha Christie plots, this is McKinty back at his very best.He may live in Oz these days but his memory for The Troubles is not fading. Like the best recipes the ingredients are simple.A wonderful ensemble in which Duffy, his family, Crabbie and Lawson are just perfect, a tie in with an exact period of ghastly Ulster history (here the murder of an IRA active service unit in Gibralter- roundly approved by most UK citizens), beautiful writing, lots of humour and plenty of recommendations of good music.At the end there is a hint that the series might come to an end as the whole of Ulster , including McKinty, tries to GET OUT! But this can not happen (a)Because McKinty cannot allow it and (b) because the books show that any plan in Northern Ireland turns to sh@#$ and usually sooner rather than later.

A man is killed with a crossbow and another unfathomable crime lands in the hands of Carrickfergus' finest, Detective Sean Duffy. Was it a punishment killing, a revenge killing, or a domestic? No one is talking and every lead is a dead end, but Duffy is nothing if not stubborn and he continues to dig until he almost ends up digging his own grave. This is another excellent novel in the series, with the usual authentic atmosphere of the time and the place, and a great bunch of characters. Duffy is a true maverick who falls out with just about everyone and manages to find trouble at every turn. These novels are much more than detective novels, they are crazy adventures on Duffy's shoulder that never let up from beginning to end. I found a couple of set ups a bit convenient, but not enough to spoil the great ride. If you enjoyed the previous books in the series, this is more of the same.