An entertaining read which is hard to categorize, it isn't really a crime novel or a thriller. It has a vein of black Irish humour running through it and captures a sense of place and time well (it is set mainly in the mid-90s Ireland). Inishowen is a place in North-West Ireland which draws two characters for very different reasons, Inspector Martin Aitken, a disillusioned, divorced Gardai cop in trouble with his superiors and Ellen, an American woman seeking her Irish roots, but with a secret. Recommended. ( )

A definate page turner. The early - middle part of the book works well and the end seems a little weak. The main story takes place over a few days around Chistmas, however there are many "flash backs" that make the time span seem large. ( )