Book 136: Northern Ireland (English) – Border Angels (Anthony QUINN)

Then she ran in her bare feet. The snow felt soft at first, but soon the freezing cold bit into her feet like a steel trap. she was still only a short distance from the farmhouse, but instead she ran into the trees, sending clumps of snow bouncing from branches. her flight set the quiet forest astir, her numb legs toiling through snowdrifts, twigs whipping her face. She was used to running barefoot in forests. The only thing that could keep pace with her was the wintry eye of the moon, blinking through the shaking trees. She kept running, listening for the sound of footsteps behind her.

In the forbidding border zone between Northern Ireland and the Republic, a criminal is running a prostitution ring involving Croatian girls in slave-like conditions. One of them is planning to escape from her pimp’s car one night when it explodes and kills him – but her footprints are leading off into the snow. Where did she come from, and where did she go? It all becomes a deepening personal crusade for Police Inspector Celcius Daly. Like the physical location, the characters continuously seem on the borderline.
I felt Quinn could have made better use of the intriguing anti-racism officer. Naturally most of the tale is grim but it has its lighter moments, like the funny raid on the divorcing wife’s parrot.
I felt the plot weakened a bit towards the end but it still ended in a surprising reversal. There was lots of great atmosphere, fantastic writing and it was a very enjoyable read.


QUINN, Anthony (1971 – ), Border Angels, NY, MyseriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4804-3605-3