11 July 2024
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Mercier Press presents Cork Noir at its finest with the third in the Detective Tim Collins series. Fresh from a harrowing abduction case linked to Kerry drug gangs, Detective Tim Collins returns to Cork City to discover that lurking in its fabled lanes lies a shadowy world he’s unprepared for. Experience his brutal and blood-soaked work in the third instalment of this riveting series. Filled with unforeseen twists, this book promises a visceral journey that will hold you in suspense from beginning to end.
Coakley delivers another hard-hitting assured thriller’ — Catherine Kirwan.
It builds very skillfully on the character of Detective Tim Collins, the Na Piarsaigh and Cork hurler, and affords the reader an opportunity to appreciate further the character of the young man who would, despite his parent’s misgivings, eventually join the Garda Síochána. As a Corkonian myself I am very familiar with all of the locations mentioned in the text including the streets, restaurants, cafes, pubs etc. That helps me in no small way to visualise with great clarity and appreciate more the various aspects of this thriller as it evolves. I am there with Tim Collins in the Oval, in the Long Valley with Peadar, in the Roundy etc. It is very obvious that Coakley also has a fierce grá for Kerry and once again while these Kerry locations are quite central to the plot, they are also areas of breathtaking natural beauty in their own right, painting an impressive contrast to the “Dark Streets” of Cork city.
Coakley builds his thriller at a gradual and entertaining pace. The stories central to the book, both present and past, are seamlessly stitched together. The storyline also gives the reader quite a detailed appreciation of how the Garda Síochána conduct their business internally and how they might actually approach the stories as contained in the book. I’m certain the reader will find them very informative and interesting. Goodreads review June ’24
Mercier Press presents Cork Noir at its finest with Detective Tim Collins.
A series of harrowing crimes—neglected by the Gardaí, the very police force sworn to protect—has the city’s most vulnerable on edge. As Collins digs deeper, the line between justice and revenge blurs. Trust becomes a luxury he can’t afford; it slips away as allies become adversaries. The streets he once knew now hold secrets that challenge everything he knows, forcing him to confront the demons of his haunted past—a past rooted in formative years at University College Cork, making him question the nature of justice and the path he has chosen in its pursuit. As the story unfolds, Tim must decide how far he will go to uncover the truth and whether redemption lies at the end of the road. The question remains: Can one man make a difference?
https://www.mercierpress.ie/books/dark-streets/Award-winning author, Tadhg Coakley’s debut novel, The First Sunday in September, was shortlisted for the Mercier Fiction Prize. Part 1 of this series, the crime novel Whatever It Takes, was chosen as the 2020 Cork, One City One Book. The author continued to endear Collins to readers through the intriguing second part, Before He Kills Again.
