Monday, May 06, 2024

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Other Plans by Caimh McDonnell


I read Other Plans (McFori Ink, 2023) by Caimh McDonnell last year and added it to my favorite books of the year list (https://happinessisabook.com/best-reads-of-2023/). What with one thing and another, and another and another, I did not get around to writing about it. Having quelled a few of the alligators gnawing on my ankles, I had a bit of breathing room last weekend and re-read this fourth book about former Garda Bunny McGarry’s adventures in the United States. His life in Ireland is chronicled in the intriguingly named Dublin Trilogy which consists so far of 7 books, a novella, and several short stories.

McGarry has come to the United States in search of a former girlfriend. He has determined that Sister Bernadette of the Sisters of the Saint has information about her location. Unfortunately Sister Bernadette and Sister Assumpta have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom. The required payment is Carlos Breida, a tall neurodivergent young man whose simplicity of manner conceals a brilliant mind that holds information important to multiple criminal organizations. So with an admirable single-mindedness, McGarry enlists two of his friends in breaking Carlos out of a high-security prison and driving him to a delivery point for exchange with the two sisters.

All of this activity takes place in earlier books, creating many questions. Like, how did McGarry learn of all this?  Why was Carlos in prison? Why were the sisters kidnapped? And which saint are they the sisters of? (Once you know more about the sisters, you will have the same question.) While normally reading books out of sequence does not pose much of an issue for me, as I pick up enough of the back story to fill in the important missing pieces, I cannot recommend that approach for this series. McGarry leads such an event-filled life that reading the books in order and taking careful notes seems to be called for.

Anyway, the book opens with McGarry and his friends taking evasive maneuvers to avoid the recapture of Carlos by the Ratenda Cartel, who objected fervently to his removal from the prison. They are in Oregon in a desolate area and make a short pit stop at a small bar. They quickly learn that the Huntsman’s Lodge is the headquarters of a white supremacist faction and motorcycle gang, where strangers are definitely not welcome. Moreover, the heretofore inconsequential group is about to hit the big time, as they have taken delivery of a large arms shipment they expect to hand off the day after our hapless crew wanders into their lair.

Tensions are high, IQs are at an all-time low, and common sense is conspicuous by its absence. The resulting mayhem is amazingly violent, screamingly funny, and colorfully narrated, which pretty much sums up the rest of the book. I found it just as hilarious on the second read as I did on the first.

McDonnell has a strikingly original mind. If he had been around in the 1970s, I would assume that he had experimented liberally with pharmaceuticals but I see that he is too young for that freewheeling time. Whatever its genesis, his startling creativity results in inventive characters and unexpected action-filled scenarios that would film well. He has a razor-keen sense of comedic timing and his writing is crisp and flowing. I sincerely hope he is hard at work on another installment of McGarry Stateside, as I am eager to know what happens next.

The most entertaining book I have read in months. I loved it. Highly recommended.

 

·         Publisher: McFori Ink (October 13, 2023)

·         Language: English

·         Paperback: 328 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1912897512

·         ISBN-13: 978-1912897513

 


Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3wp7INt

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

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