Have loved Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books (especially when read by Nathaniel Parker), but now comes Eoin's hard-bitten crime series with Dan McEvoy "Plugged" and "Screwed".
In the first of the series "Plugged" we're introduced to Daniel McEvoy a scarred ex-Irish Army sergeant now a bouncer at 'Slotz' - a seedy small-time casino.Dan has a problem, his favourite hostess at Slotz and love-interest - Connie - has been murdered in the parking lot behind the club. And to complicate things Zeb - his dubious Lebonese plastic surgeon has disappeared.
In no time at all, Dan has half the New Jersey mobsters, some dirty cops and his man-crazy agoraphobic upstairs neighbour after him.
Bullets are flying, eveyone's on the take and McEvoy still doesn't have a clue what's happening.
By "Screwed", Dan is ready to say goodbye to New Jersy's lawless underground and concentrate on his new life as club owner and bona fide boyfriend...But when Dan is abducted by two bent cops and driven into the Hudson River by a vengefull crime boss, he realises that the New Jersey underworld isn't ready to say goodbye to him.
If Dan is to survive until the grand re-opening of his club, he will have to evade the bad guys on both sides of the law, and find his missing aunt.
Told with head-spinning plot twists and breakneck pacing this is a darker Eoin Colfer. I was reminded of Shane Moloney's Murray Whelan.
