River of Bodies Blog Tour

Today I'm pleased to bring to you "River of Bodies" by Kevin Doyle.  I was provided a copy of the sequel of "Keep the Birds Singing" from Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: River of Bodies

AUTHOR: Kevin Doyle

PUBLISHER: Blackstaff Press

PUBLISHING DATE: June 20, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: In this sequel to his impressive debut novel To Keep A Bird Singing, Kevin Doyle delves further into the murky world of the powerful Donnelly family and their association with the Catholic church and the security forces. The clock is ticking as Noelie and his friends try to uncover the network of corruption and deception that the family have used to protect themselves and their operations. But Albert Donnelly is onto Noelie and there's nothing he won't do to stop him. Edgy, dark and sharp, Kevin Doyle's A River of Bodies is a cracking political thriller - restless, brilliantly plotted and topical. 

MY THOUGHTS:  When Fall and cooler temps come around, I find myself automatically gravitating more to horror and thrillers and this noir novel is one I can definitely recommend if you, like me, are craving some darker reads.  I don't want to give too much away since this is a sequel, but I will say this series is best read in order.  Noelie Sullivan is an basically an unemployed community activist and when he stumbles across his old punk record collection which had previously been stolen, he ends up not only buying them back but buying trouble.  This book is very politically charged and touches the IRA and even the Catholic church.  While I admit I am a little out of my comfort zone with this series, I enjoyed this, and the previous title, nonetheless. 

Once I fell into the rhythm of Doyle's writing, I was anxious to see how all the plot intracacies played out.  And I will warn, don't get too attached to characters because you may just find yourself mourning a few of them.  "A River of Bodies" is full of twists and all I can say is the reader needs to hold on.  Bring on the third book!

RATING: 4 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Doyle is from Cork and works as a writer and creative writing teacher. He has been published in many literary journals, including Stinging Fly, The Cork Review, Southwords and The Cúirt Journal. He is the winner of a string of awards, including the Tipperary Short Story Award (1998) – first; Over The Edge New Writer Of The Year – shortlist; Hennessy Literary Awards (2011) – shortlist; Seán Ó Faoláin Prize (2013) – runner-up; Michael McLaverty Short Story Award (2016) – winner. In 2018, he published his first novel, To Keep A Bird Singing. He lives in Cork.