Monday, January 12, 2009

Borderlands by Brian McGilloway

Maps, people, maps! I am going to change the name of this blog to “give this woman a map.” Lots of the action in this book takes place in County Donegal, on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Action shifts back and forth among a few different towns, some of which are in the Republic (Lifford, Letterkenny), and others of which are in Northern Ireland (Derry, Strabane). It’s important to know what is where, because obviously in a police procedural the question of jurisdiction is important. But I had a lot of trouble keeping these places straight and more trouble keeping the characters sorted out. A map would have been so helpful!

Nevertheless this was an excellent read. Well paced, interesting characters, a certain amount of angst. At around 250 pages it was also the perfect length, something I can’t always say about some of the bloated mysteries I’ve been reading lately.

(Book 1, 2009)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This book so much needed a map! How true!

LINDA from Each Little World said...

It's like reading about garden design without the dimensions or home design without a floor plan — you're lost the whole time you're reading.

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