Author
Adrian McKinty
Associated Country
Ireland
Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish crime writer best known for his gripping, atmospheric thrillers. Born in Belfast, his early life during the Troubles has had a strong influence on his writing, particularly in the acclaimed Sean Duffy series, which follows a detective navigating political tension and violence in 1980s Northern Ireland.
Before achieving literary success, McKinty held a variety of jobs and lived in different countries, experiences that helped shape the global perspective found in some of his standalone novels. His breakthrough with a wider audience came with The Chain, a high-concept thriller that became an international bestseller.
McKinty’s work is known for its fast pace, sharp dialogue, and strong sense of place. He has received numerous awards for crime fiction, and is widely regarded as a major voice in contemporary thriller writing.
Before achieving literary success, McKinty held a variety of jobs and lived in different countries, experiences that helped shape the global perspective found in some of his standalone novels. His breakthrough with a wider audience came with The Chain, a high-concept thriller that became an international bestseller.
McKinty’s work is known for its fast pace, sharp dialogue, and strong sense of place. He has received numerous awards for crime fiction, and is widely regarded as a major voice in contemporary thriller writing.
Books
Sean Duffy, Book 8
Rain slicked streets, riots, murder, chaos. It's July 1992 and the Troubles in Northern Ireland are still grinding on after twenty-five apocalyptic years. Detective Inspector Sean Duffy got his family...
The Island 2023
After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring...
The Chain 2020
It's something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it's a woman on the...
The Cold Cold Ground 2019
Sean Duffy, Book 1
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface,...
Sean Duffy, Book 2
A torso in a suitcase looks like an impossible case, but Sean Duffy isn't easily deterred, especially when his floundering love life leaves him in need of a distraction. So with Detective Constables...
Sean Duffy, Book 3
It's the early 1980s in Belfast. Sean Duffy, a conflicted Catholic cop in the Protestant RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary), is recruited by MI5 to hunt down Dermot McCann, an IRA master bomber who has...
Gun Street Girl 2019
Sean Duffy, Book 4
Belfast, 1985. Amid the Troubles, Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary, struggles with burnout as he investigates a brutal double murder and suicide. Did...
Rain Dogs 2019
Sean Duffy, Book 5
When journalist Lily Bigelow is found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus Castle, it looks like a suicide. Yet there are a few things that bother Duffy just enough to keep the case file open, which...
Sean Duffy, Book 6
Belfast, 1988. A man is found dead, killed with a bolt from a crossbow in front of his house. This is no hunting accident. But uncovering who is responsible for the murder will take Detective Sean...
Sean Duffy, Book 7
Slamming the door on the hellscape of 1980s Belfast, Detective Inspector Sean Duffy hopes that the 1990s are going to be better for him and the people of Northern Ireland. As a Catholic cop in the...
The Sun Is God 2014
Colonial New Guinea, 1906. A small group of mostly German nudists live an extreme back-to-nature existence on the remote island of Kabakon. Eating only coconuts and bananas, they purport to worship...
The Bloomsday Dead 2013
Michael Forsythe, Book 3
Laying low in South America, Michael has been running security for the Miraflores Hilton in Lima, Peru, juggling temperamental tourists, irksome dignitaries, and the occasional lady of the night. But...
Falling Glass 2012
Killian makes a living enforcing other people’s laws, collecting debts, dealing out threats and finding people who do not wish to be found. Now regular McKinty hero Michael Forsythe sets Killian up...
The Dead Yard 2012
Michael Forsythe, Book 2
With the same poetic lilt and heart-stopping suspense that made Dead I Well May Be a critical favorite, the saga continues with The Dead Yard—a thriller in which Michael Forsythe must insinuate...
Dead I Well May Be 2010
Michael Forsythe, Book 1
“I didn't want to go to America, I didn’t want to work for Darkey White. I had my reasons. But I went.”
So admits Michael Forsythe, an illegal immigrant escaping the Troubles in Belfast. But young...
Fifty Grand 2010
A man is killed in a hit-and-run on a frozen mountain road in the town of Fairview, Colorado. He is an illegal immigrant in a rich Hollywood resort community not unlike Telluride.
No one is...
Hidden River 2004
Disgraced after succumbing to a drug addiction, former Northern Ireland detective Alexander Lawson learns that his high-school sweetheart has been murdered and finds himself on the run after...