It was repeating a shrill C sharp at four-second intervals which meant - for those of us who had bothered to read the manual - that it was a Class 1 emergency. "The beeper began to whine at 4.27pm on Wednesday, 25 September 1983. It also doesn't hurt that IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE opens with one of those openings we've come to expect: It's a multi-layered environment drawn out elegantly by some clever, atmospheric and pointed story telling. That idea of the cop as the ultimate outsider's nothing new, but there's something about the way that McKinty has built this scenario - within the framework of the Troubles - with the complications of religion, and ethnicity muddied further by cops versus crims, and the branches of the cops versus each other. Not only is he not beholden, he sees everything in a slightly different manner. An outsider in his own country and his own community, it's that viewpoint that makes him such an effective policeman. Part of the appeal is obviously the central character Sean Duffy. Especially when, from book number one, this series cemented itself as a big part of January's expectations. For this reader it's a very bitter sweet experience. From the outside you can see that it could be quite a challenge to build a character's life and explore events in a proscribed number of books. The structure of trilogies must have some appeal for McKinty, not just because he has previous form.
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