The last third or so of the book felt a little bit contrived to me. It wasn't cliche, it just seemed like you could see McKinty's hands pulling the strings a bit more. A few things that were unlikely enough that it pulled me out of the story and left me thinking 'he's doing this simply to enable things to end up at point B' rather than feeling like events were all just unfolding organically. I'm constantly considering different facets when I take in media though, so it might not even be a blip on the radar for the average consumer. It wasn't a huge deal, just distracting in a way that McKinty's writing often isn't for me. Besides that, it was clever and poetic and all his usual strengths. ( )

Michael Forsythe infiltriert einen abtrünnigen IRA-Ableger. Das Resultat ist beeindruckend, die Gewaltszenen sind episch beschrieben. ( )

THE DEAD YARD by Adrian McKinty is Book 2 of The Michael Forsythe series.
It is the sequel to DEAD I WELL MAY BE and segues quite seamlessly from the 1st title into the 2nd, even though some years have passed and Michael is in the Witness Protection Program.
A little blackmail on the part of British Intelligence puts Michael in a dangerous operation, infiltrating a very dangerous Irish terrorist group in the Boston area.
Our Michael is very smart - full of philosophical musings, witty remarks and self-depracation. But it his street-smarts that count, and he puts his life on the line dealing with Touched, Gerry, Sonia, Jackie and Kit. A monstrous group.
The book is so violent, so full of vicious, sadistic and depraved acts of violence and torture, it is hard to read at times.
I don’t know if I can ever visit (or even drive through) northern Massachusetts after reading this book. It left me with such a sense of bleakness and depression.
I also live 20 miles from Belfast, Maine (where Gerry’s ‘cabin’ was) and I will never think of my house in rural Maine in quite same way again. ( )

Second book in the series.
Northern Irish fugitive in hiding under witness protection, because of his role in previous involvement in bringing down Irish mobsters, puts himself in a position where he is unable to refuse to be involved in infiltrating an Irish-American splinter IRA group.
Well-written, black humour and extremely violent. Gripping read. ( )

Adrian McKinty’s THE DEAD YARD is the second novel in the Dead Trilogy starring Michael Forsythe, an Irish mercenary.
Michael is trying to lie low in order to avoid being sent back to a Mexican prison he escaped from. Unfortunately, he gets picked up in Spain, where he is given a choice to either infiltrate an Irish terrorist cell in the United States, or go to Mexico. He chooses the U.S. assignment.
The story is told from Michael’s POV and he can be very funny in his comments (in between the torture/murders of the terrorists).
The pace is fast and I love the main character. Having read all three books in the series, I’m sad that Michael’s adventures have ended, but I’m looking forward to McKinty’s new book, FIFTY GRAND, coming out in April 2009.
~Stephanie ( )