Paddy Keeps Rolling! - 4 Stars Paddy Meehan is one of the most entertaining characters I have encountered in a long time. On one hand, she is a little overweight and is self conscious while on the other she is spunky, quick witted and quick tempered. She is the only unbeliever in a staunchly catholic home and she is convinced her unbelief will drag her whole family to hell with her. The entertainment provided by Paddy is worth the read. Plot summary Paddy is faced with a moral dilemma. She attends at a police call in progress where there is an apparent domestic situation occurring. After the police have spoken with the parties and have failed to make any arrests, she seeks a comment from the parties. Inside, she sees a young woman who is clearly hurt and with blood running down her face. The man at the door gives her fifty pounds and asks her to keep it out of the papers. The next day, Paddy learns that the woman in the house was found dead. Should she turn in the 50 pound note and risk losing her job or should she keep it to help her down on the luck family. It is after another body is pulled out of the river that Paddy believes there is a bigger story going on and the police seem to be obscuring the facts. Will she get the story of her career or will the bribe come to obscure her credibility. The Good Improvements! The story formatting was my biggest complaint with the first book. While the various "chapters" and "parts" remain, it is much easier to follow in this installment. As in the first, there is a parallel storyline, but it is in the present and is coherent. Instead of detracting from the book, the parallel storyline adds to overall feel. Setting, Characters and more Setting As in the first installment, Denise Mina expertly develops characters and places them in a believable near historical setting. I did not visit Scotland in the mid 80's but I feel as if I was there. The depressed economy and the rise of an urban drug culture play prominently in the story and well developed. The Bad A Few Stumbles While the formatting is much improved, it suffers with some pacing issues. I enjoyed the writing and the character of Paddy Meehan so much, that I felt as if it could have been a favorite book but jarring pacing ultimately (although mildly) reduce my opinion. Can this Book Stand Alone If you really want it to. While this story is self contained, it is part of a trilogy. This second book does not borrow heavily from the first and you would not be lost if you picked up this one first. Final Thoughts This and first in the trilogy has left me wanting to read more by Denise Mina. She has a sharp eye for setting and character and I look forward to finish the trilogy. That said, I am quite disappointed there are only three book as Paddy is such a great and relatable character. Audiobook Notes Content Advisories It is difficult to find commentary on the sex/violence/language content of book if you are interested. I make an effort to give you the information so you can make an informed decision before reading. *Disclaimer* I do not take note or count the occurrences of adult language as I read. I am simply giving approximations. When reviewing language, mild obscenities are words like, shit, hell or damn. Religious exclamations are words such as Christ or Jesus when used as profanity.Scale 1 - Lowest 5 - Highest Sex - 3 There is a bit more sex in this installment than the last. There is a moderately graphic sex scene in the book and several less graphic ones. As Paddy is aging, the content is become a bit more "adult". Language - 1 There are about 45 mild obscenities, 70 uses of the f-word and 3 religious exclamations. Violence - 3 There is also more violence in the background of this novel. There are several mildly graphic descriptions of death and several scenes where characters are beaten. The author tends to avoid the gory description.
Investigative journalist Patricia 'Paddy' Meehan had always thought that she would be further along on her career path after spending three years in her chosen field. Yet, even three years after breaking a big story, Paddy is still working the perpetual night shift with her newspaper - The Scottish Daily News. She's still chasing police calls for that one story which will finally promote her out of the solitary, twilight existence that makes mountains of candy bars and multiple cups of coffee practically a medical necessity. With her father and brothers chronically unemployed and her family perilously short of money, Paddy desperately needs the work.Responding with the police to a particular late-night call, Paddy arrives at an elegant villa. The loud noise complaint called into the police seems to be fairly run-of-the-mill to her; especially when the domestic dispute that prompted such a call seems to be calming down. As a matter of fact, a domestic disturbance in such a wealthy Scottish suburb doesn't seem all that unusual an occurrence to Paddy - at first. The police officers actually don't seem all that concerned by the situation before them; letting the man who answers the door off with just a warning to keep the noise down.Paddy can see that the elegant blonde woman standing in the shadows of the doorway is bleeding from an apparent head injury. But the woman also clearly doesn't want any help; and the well-dressed, ingratiating man at the front door assures Paddy that everything is just fine and that she should leave. Paddy wonders how the police were so easily convinced to leave the area after issuing just a warning. She soon has her answer when the man slips a significant amount of cash into her hand; asking her to make sure that she keeps any mention of the incident, whatever it is, out of the press. Then he firmly closes the door in her face.The next morning Paddy happens to see a television news report. The lead news story is absolutely horrific: the blonde woman's body has been discovered. She was murdered; brutally beaten, tortured and left to die. Far from being the spoiled trophy wife Paddy had assumed her to be, the victim turns out to be a prosecution lawyer with a social conscience.Bewildered as to why the woman wouldn't accept any help and leave the house when she could, Paddy begins to make connections that no one else can see. When she witnesses the body of a suicide victim being pulled from the river shortly afterwards, Paddy suspects that the two deaths are linked in some way. Paddy is determined to follow her reporter's instincts all the way with this particular story; it's exactly the type of story that will make her or break her...or kill her.Denise Mina is a new author for me, and this is the first book that I've ever read by her. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, I found myself really connecting with the main character, Paddy. She was a feisty, capable person, a hardworking woman in a man's world who doesn't suffer fools kindly. She's not afraid to call things as she sees them; and she is quite willing to go head to head with whomever it is that she suspects is in the wrong. She is also vulnerable, fallible, and she makes mistakes; yet she also does her utmost to fix those mistakes to the best of her ability.In my opinion, this was a fast-paced and very involved mystery. I found that I really had to concentrate while reading because with all the intricate twists and turns in the plot, this book really kept me on my toes with regards to potential suspects. Overall, I would give this book a definite A! and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
What do You think about The Dead Hour (2006)?
The Dead Hour, by Denise Mina. B-plusDownloaded from audible.comThis is the second book in the new series, involving Paddy Meehan, who started out as a copy boy (girl) and then, based on the good work done in the first book, Field of Blood, she is promoted to reporter. In this book she is now on the crime beat and rides around following the police to calls at night writing up summaries of what happened for the next morning’s paper. So, she was with the police the night they were called for a domestic incident at a villa in the wealthy part of town. The neighbors had complained of noise. The police went to the door. A handsome well-spoken young man came out and spoke with them telling them things would be fine. Paddy glimpsed a blond woman behind him in the house who looked very bloody and scared. Paddy raised her eyebrows at the woman to see if she wanted help, but the woman shook her head and stepped back. The man handed Paddy some money with the idea that she would “forget this”, and she surmised he paid off the police as well. Paddy kept the money at first but felt badly about it later when the woman turned up dead. She wrote the story anyway and ultimately turned the money over to the police to see if there were prints. This put her in the cross-hairs of the two policemen who took the call that night and who were in the habit of taking bribes. Paddy must use her wits to keep her job, not get killed. Paddy also finds herself involved with a married man-something her very Catholic family would not be able to countenance. I actually read the abridged version. I had trouble getting the unabridged version, which does actually exist. Also, the unabridged versions of these books are read by a narrator whose accent is so thickthat it's hard to understand her. The abridged version was read by Heather O'Neal. These books are aggressive and come up with solutions which may be against the law but which feel right. A wonderful book.
—Kathleen Hagen
My daughter recommended Denise Mina a few years ago, and I'd heard good things about her work. I liked this book, but not as much as the Kate Atkinson's I'd just plowed through over the summer. Not fair to compare, because they're styles are different. The protagonist, a chubby 23 year old named Paddy, is the sole support of her extended family and takes a bribe from a man who turns out to have killed his wife. Paddy is a reporter and is afraid of losing her job. She seems under-motivated, a tad depressed and doesn't spring to life until the end of the novel. I'd like to read more of Mina, and will withhold judgment about the rest of her work. I like her enough to keep going.
—Kate Cone
Denise Mina is just an amazing writer, let alone crime writer. This story sucks you in from the beginning which is the probably the only time things are on an even keel. The story barrages you from all sides, constantly complicating itself and unsettling you. Mina has created a world where truly anything can happen up to the last sentence--literally. The integrity and complexity of the main character--indeed all of the characters--keep the whole thing together and keep you thoroughly on board. I loved it! Usually I wait a while and switch around among authors particularly if I really like someone so that I don't read all their stuff at once and it all runs together in my head Also, it gives me something of the author's to constantly look forward to. However, I was so taken with FIELD OF BLOOD, I grabbed this one about 2 weeks later. I may not even wait 2 weeks to read the next one. Awesome.
—Mark
