Review Tour & #Giveaway for The Gun by Daithi Kavanagh

Welcome to my stop on the Review Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for The Gun by Daithi Kavanagh.  Please leave a comment or question for Daithi to let him know you stopped by.  You may enter his tour wide giveaway, where one (1) randomly chosen commenter will be awarded a $10 Amazon/BN GC, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You may follow all of the stops on the tour by clicking on the banner above, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.  Good Luck!

The Gun

By Daithi Kavanagh

The Tadgh Sullivan Series, Book 1

Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing

Release Date: November 30, 2014

Genre: Crime Thriller

Format: eBook

Length: 257 Pages

ISBN: 9781311474087

ASIN: B00NU8MDTA

Buy Links:  Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords

About the book:

Garda Detective Tadhg Sullivan leads a special unit that investigates politically
motivated crime. A man known only as The Deerstalker is a cancer who has infected
the Irish political system.

Sullivan teams up with journalist Helen Carty, and together they try tracking down
the mysterious killer. Carty adds to Sullivan’s problems, when he finds himself falling
in love with her. And further complicating things, he starts losing trust in his partner,
Detective Pat Carter, who appears to be on the side of the Garda Commissioner,
who Sullivan is rapidly falling out with.

Sullivan’s case is further thrown into confusion when a copycat killer, Tommy Walsh,
is shot dead by the CIA. When the CIA discovers that they've killed the wrong
person, the two agents involved--Simon, who has become disillusioned by his time
stationed in the Middle East, and Joey, a psychopath who confuses zealotry with
patriotism--are also in pursuit of The Deerstalker.

Sullivan finds himself in a race against time, if he is to arrest The Deerstalker before
the CIA take him out, and use his death as a pawn in a political game of chess.
Who will win out in the end?

EXCERPT

He stared at the gun lying on the bed.  It was in his possession for nearly half his life and he’d never known what to do with it.  The funny thing was, he’d always hated guns and yet, here he was.

He heard his wife moving around downstairs and knew that very soon she would call him for a cup of tea.  He had to get the gun back into its hiding place. 

He thought back to the first time he’d seen it.  A late night knock at the door and a man from down the street had handed the gun and ammunition to him, wrapped in fertiliser bags. 

“What the hell is this?” he’d blurted out.

         

“It’s a gun,” the man had said showing no expression.

“What are you giving it to me for?” he’d whispered, not wanting his family to hear them.”

“Because I trust you,” he’d replied.

“What the hell do you mean, you trust me? You hardly know me! And all I know about you is that you’re mixed up in the IRA.  I have a family and I don’t give a damn about the North.  Now please get away from my door and take that thing with you.”

 AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Daithi Kavanagh lives in Trinity, County Wexford with his wife and two teenage children.

He has worked for several years as a musician.

In the last couple of years, after taking up adult education, he began writing.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DAITHIKAVANAGHWRITER

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Daithik3

Blog:  http://www.daithikavanagh.blogspot.com/

Author Publisher Page: http://tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Kavanagh_Daithi/

A country split by religious and political tensions, a detective spiraling towards burn-out and 2 killers determined to help the “average working man” take center stage in Daithi Kavanagh’s The Gun, the first book in The Tadgh Sullivan series.  Set in contemporary Northern Ireland, Mr. Kavanagh’s story is full of lovely descriptions of the countryside and life in Ireland, while at the same time trying to give the reader a feel for the continuing struggles in the Northern Irish political landscape.  If you like political thrillers with multiple points of view then this might be the series for you.

Mr. Kavanagh does a good job establishing the different characters and introducing them via multiple points of view right from the start.  I quickly connected with the first killer, who remains virtually nameless throughout the story.  I understood what drove him emotionally and sympathized with his point of view; that the average politician only looks out for themselves and in the current economy only seems to be interested in helping large businesses and banks get wealthier at the expense of the working man.  While killing is never, ever, the right way to make or push for change, the character’s frustration came through brilliantly. 

I had a harder time connecting with main character Garda Detective Tadgh Sullivan; I didn’t find him very likeable and thought he was in the situation he was in at the beginning of the book through his own making.  I did like that he wasn’t willing to take the easy way out when it came to the investigation.  Instead of jumping on the “usual suspects”, something his clearly lazy and incompetent boss wanted him to do, Tadgh wanted to conduct a real investigation.  Unfortunately he was saddled with a partner who reasons of his own didn’t want to rock the boat and who had little faith in Tadgh as in investigator after watching Tadgh spiraling downward (excessive drinking, semi-insubordinate talk and personal sloppiness) for months. 

I thought Mr. Kavanagh did a pretty good job with the remaining secondary characters, I liked the first killer’s wife and really felt for her situation.  She reminded me of many older women who have worked hard all of their lives to raise their families and who suddenly find themselves overlooked once their children are gone.  I have to admit that I’m a bit ambivalent about Helen Carty, an investigative reporter, who becomes involved in Tadgh’s investigation and personal life; she’s an okay character but I felt that the “relationship” between them moved too quickly.  I also had questions or doubts about her motivation from the start.

The story’s pace is a little uneven in parts but the suspense is well developed.  The story takes several twists and turns and there is plenty of action from the get go.  I think adding a second killer, whose motivation was somewhat similar to the first killers, was a good move and I enjoyed getting his viewpoint too.  There are a lot of characters in the story but it’s pretty easy to keep them separate as the story develops and they added plenty of color, tension and angst. For a first book, I think Mr. Kavanagh’s voice comes through fine and will only strengthen as his skills and characters continue to develop.  I was disappointed with the editing of the book, which is not good, but didn’t deduct any points from my review since this book was not self-published and I hold the publisher responsible for the editing issues (which I have to admit surprised me because usually this publisher is very good).

Will Tadgh and the Garda discover who is behind the random political killings?  How many victims will the killer claim before he is caught?  And will Tadgh be able to keep his job and fix his personal life while investigating such a high profile case?  You’ll have to read The Gun to find out.  I enjoyed it and look forward to reading The Brotherhood, the next installment in the Tadgh Sullivan series.

My Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Crowns

a Rafflecopter giveaway FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review.  The review is solely my opinion of the reading material provided..