I love the character Trick Molloy and I wish there was a whole series of books based on him. I read a short story with him in it in another collection of short stories by various authors, and I enjoyed it so much that I searched for more and found this. The stories are good, but it only makes me wish there were more.

I really like the worldbuilding and how magic is acquired. People who are born with a talent might not even know it. And even if they are born talented, they have to find their "trigger"... what makes their magic strong and powerful. For Trick it's Irish whiskey. The better the booze, the better the power. And those with power have different access to certain elements like fire or water. The tidbits about his background and his family, especially his brother Harry, are so fascinating and they are perfect antagonists. Also love Trick's relationship and banter with his mother, which is snarky and sarcastic and hilarious. He is clearly the black sheep and the child she wishes she could forget.

And Trick's grandmother comes up in some of the stories and is especially interesting in the ways she uses her magic and her love and relationship with Trick. Would love to know more about her background and life... heck, she'd be a thick book on her own I imagine.

And to add to the list of fascinating characters, some of Trick's cousins have stories begging to be told as well, especially his cousin Loki, whose trigger is pain, and who is so powerful that the lust for pain and destruction can take him over in a way that can be extremely dangerous, both to friends and foe, and to his own mind as well. Trick seems one of the very few people who can manage to help him regain his control, but it's clear that it may not always be the case.

So many cool ideas and people and stories still waiting to be told. Like I said... I wish the author would write a series and expand on these short glimpses into the cool dark and gritty world of crime and magic he's created around this charcter. ( )

Excellent collection of short stories all featuring one talented Trick Molloy. Irish ancestry, but currently working in the City (unspecified) as a bouncer at a skin club, after being booted off the force for bribery. He claims he was set-up, but that story doesn't feature here. The talent is his ability to channel life force in a variety of ways - providing he's suitable loaded on his trigger - in this case Irish Whiskey.Having this explained in each story becomes repetitive, but I suspect the stories were first written separately rather than as an anthology. Other people have other channels, and other triggers and most have none at all. Unsurprisingly all the people Trick ends up dealing with a talented to some degree.

There's a degree of consistency between the stories with some exploiting favours mentioned in previous events, and a few re-occurring characters, but at times there are also people and events thrown in that aren't mentioned again, and this detracts from the appeal as an anthology, although they work well as individual stories. He does seem to be able to craft a great deal more with magic than any other character he meets, with little explanation for how he is so skilled and the other's merely powerful. The sense of grade inflation along the story lines is also a bit annoying.

Trick's an interesting character, mostly a hero of course, but not too good with plenty of rough edges, and used to dealing with various shady characters in their own worlds. Trick has very few male acquaintances, merely antagonists which is odd. But the variety of accomplished female friends he associates with does give the characters some chemistry and the author writes the dialogues well. The stories all have their own pace and work well as individual tales, balanced in pace and power. None of them leave you thoughtful, but they are all enjoyable.

I'd be very interesting in reading a trilogy of novels on Trick's lifestyle, as the author has created a fascinating world - just needs a little bit more attention paying to the consistency. ( )