But many people do not know the backdrop to Mike Herron's wonderful cannon of Slow Horses, and still manage to inveigle their way into that mysterious world and find the gold therein. The residents are full of life, with characters ranging from a corrupt local politician, and a retired Garda who coaches GAA. Each of the principal characters reaches an accommodation with the real world, and a kind of elegiac acceptance of it.

I look forward to reading more from this author with a surprisingly ( to those who only know the tv characters) literary talent. A clue to the mystery is hidden in a graphic novel created by Dove, who was a talented artist and Sandra’s wannabe boyfriend. The plot is almost the same as many you’ve read before but the writing is forced, it’s trying far too hard to be clever and as a result it comes across as more pretentious than whimsical.

I found the latter stages of the book to be much more interesting but overall, it was a bit of a slog and a disappointment. Now his best friend Sharkey is home asking awkward questions about Dove’s death, about the strange graphic novel he left behind, and, most of all, about Sandra. Young people often leave Tullyanna in pursuit of adventure, so Sandra becomes no more than a puzzling memory.

Ah, if only one could "put on" - like a favourite t-shirt - the background knowledge required to get this wonderful book up and running! I love getting signed copies of the new books, although it doesn’t always happen, but when it does, and its from someone you admire, its even better. I got about 140 pages into it, and then jumped to the last 5 chapters to find out what happened, but all in all just felt disappointing and kind of lack the oomph or the excitement for me to really get stuck in.This was a struggle from the beginning up to the point where I collapsed from exhaustion and skipped to the end. Showing a shocking assertiveness for possibly the first time in his life, and the last, says you, Dove blew the lid off the whole town.

It shows what an acute eye for detail the author has and an inane ability to read the human character, developed from years of putting together great stand-up routines. In so doing, poor Dove had spread panic amongst the townspeople, raising all sorts of ugly questions, reviving all sorts of rumours, and inviting all sorts of unwelcome attention upon them. But these musings help build the story and are often where the dark humour comes from, adding depth to the characters. Accept there isn’t much mystery on account of the murderer being the IRA guy introduced in the first chapter (and this is obvious throughout the book). Having the gift of the gab, also allows the country to produce is fair share of comedians, without the ability to prattle on for ages in front of an audience, you’d be like a certain French clown.

The sentence construction seemed odd at times, mainly because he has the habit of letting his brain wander off. His follow-up has taken nearly a quarter of a century to appear, and unfortunately the boldness of his original debut has been replaced by a jarring mixture of whimsy and brutality.