The Wrong Kind of Blood

by: Declan Hughes

Published by: William Morrow

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

Private Investigator Ed Loy has returned home to Dublin after twenty years. The purpose of his trip is not to visit. He's there to bury his mother, and then he intends to return to the United States where he left a former wife and the little girl they buried together.

At the height of Loy's grief, Linda Dawson, an old classmate, pleads (while tongue kissing him) with him to find her four-day missing husband, Peter. Loy agrees to investigate Peter's disappearance, and it leads him to secrets better left secret, organized crime, the IRA, numerous corpses (including one in the town hall's foundation) and drug deals.

The Wrong Kind of Blood is Irish theater director and playwright, Declan Hughes' debut novel. A number of subplots contribute to the feeling that Hughes had a lot of ideas and wanted to include them all in his first novel. That said, it is a fast-paced, exciting and suspenseful first novel with richly flawed characters, believable dialogue and a touch of Dublin thrown in for good measure.

Armchair Interviews recommends The Wrong Kind of Blood. Declan Hughes is worth watching as we suspect he will only mature as a writer. His next thriller is due out in 2007, so watch for it.