Islandbridge

Islandbridge is one of seven Matt Minogue crime fiction books written by John Brady. The book begins with an Irish Guard officer named Declan Kelly witnessing a double murder outside a Dublin nightclub in the 1980's. He is then abducted by crime kingpin Jimmy Rynn and his hotheaded son. Rynn offers Declan his life, but is very cryptic about what he wants in return. Several months later, Declan receives a large sum of money from Rynn, who asks for nothing in return. Another month or two after that, Rynn's son is shot and killed. Declan goes to the funeral, and later receives a call from Rynn, who's angry that he showed up at the funeral. Rynn then asks Declan to find the phone number and address of a woman named Lorraine Smith. Declan then meets Rynn and refuses to do his dirty work for him. Rynn then threatens Declan's new wife and unborn child, and storms out of the bar. Declan hurries out to warn his wife, but he is killed by a car driven by one of Rynn's hired guns. The story then fast-forwards to 2005, where we find Garda detective Matt Minogue and his partner Tommy Malone investigating the suspicious death of a guard officer named Emmett Codon from a suspected drug overdose. Malone manages to revive the cold case when he finds an former drug addict nicknamed Frank Lawless who has new information on the case. Lawless tells Minogue and Malone that Codon was in fact giving inside information about the Irish Guards to criminals in exchange for money. Several days later, Lawless is found murdered in his apartment. Malone becomes determined to find Codon's killer, and begins to seek out a girl that he believes was affiliated with Codon. This leads them to a foreign man known only as George. George escapes from Minogue and Malone and later attempts to gun down Malone on a busy Dublin street. During these events the story is switching between Minogue and Declan Kelly's widow, Eimear, who has now changed her name to Maura and has married Minogue's boss, James Kilmartin. She is also working as an informant to Rynn, who still dominates the criminal underworld in Ireland. Near the end of the novel, Minogue is called over to Kilmartin's house, where Kilmartin reveals that his wife told him that she had been working for Rynn for several years. Kilmartin also shows Minogue photos of George, who was killed by Rynn. The novel ends with Rynn and Maura's arrest, and Minogue taking a well-deserved vacation.


John Brady does a good job of capturing the emotions of the several main characters in Islandbridge. The first part of the book, which covers the story from Declan Kelly's perspective, is especially well written. John Brady really succeeds in creating a sense of fear and suspence when Declan is abducted by Rynn. However, after Declan's death, the writing begins to go downhill. The plot is not exactly linear, with time periods switching from the 1990s to the present day, often suddenly and without warning. Character motives are also difficult to follow. For example, it is clear that Maura is working for Rynn, but her motives for working for him are never revealed. In reality, it would seem more plausible that she should hate him for the death of her first husband. There are also large gaps in time between the chapters.This also contributes to the confusion of the reader regarding the storyline. Finally, the rapid conclusion makes the ending quite weak. All of the novel's events can be summed up in the final thirty pages.

One quotation that appealed to me in this novel was when Minogue and Malone were questioning a waitress at a bar about a man they were looking for. The waitress was not of much help and sent them away, even though she had hinted that she knew more than she was letting on. Minogue reflected on this afterwards. "I meant how a citizen can say that to a Guard, she might help. If it suits her." This quotation piqued my interest and got me thinking about how the respect for police has decreased greatly over the years. Another was a line that Rynn told Maura after he had dropped off one of her payments for information. "Whatever else you can say about me, I keep my word, don't I." This quotation also got me thinking about the twisted sense of honour that Rynn has. He fancies himself a businessman, but in reality he's only a common criminal.