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Two men are taken into the woods. Forced to dig their own graves. But one of them survives the gunshot…
The two men travelled from Ireland to America with another man, now missing, presumed guilty. His name is Valentine Teague. Petty criminal, bare-knuckle fighter – and DS Aector McAvoy’s brother in law.
Back home, Val’s being held responsible for the blood spilt in the snowy woods of upstate New York. If McAvoy doesn’t find out the truth, all hell will break loose, putting his own family in the crossfire.
Investigating proves harder than he could have imagined. New York City is a different world, with different rules. Soon, he finds himself up against squabbling cops, mafias old and new, and the culmination of a crime forty years in the making.
All McAvoy can do is the right thing. Even if it kills him…
The two men travelled from Ireland to America with another man, now missing, presumed guilty. His name is Valentine Teague. Petty criminal, bare-knuckle fighter – and DS Aector McAvoy’s brother in law.
Back home, Val’s being held responsible for the blood spilt in the snowy woods of upstate New York. If McAvoy doesn’t find out the truth, all hell will break loose, putting his own family in the crossfire.
Investigating proves harder than he could have imagined. New York City is a different world, with different rules. Soon, he finds himself up against squabbling cops, mafias old and new, and the culmination of a crime forty years in the making.
All McAvoy can do is the right thing. Even if it kills him…
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Reviews
Highly entertaining
A brilliant read.
David Mark has created a true hero for an age of dark deeds and dirty cops. The violence is righteous and the collars hard-won for DS Aector McAvoy, and as his luminous humanity and blazing courage take on the worst Hull can chuck at him, we follow him willingly down the meanest of streets.
Compelling and harrowing
To call Mark's novels police procedurals is like calling the Mona Lisa a pretty painting. Beautifully crafted, filled with flashbacks, horror, angst, and chilling detail, this one is his most complex and best yet.
Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order
David Mark takes McAvoy to the US on a rollercoaster ride into darkness. Brilliantly written and compelling.
Praise for David Mark and DEAD PRETTY
Aficionados of the grittiest, most trenchant fare love Mark's copper Aector McAvoy, who customarily moves in a darkly realised Hull.
In McAvoy, David Mark has created a big hero with a huge heart. His skill at weaving threads of light through the darkest fabric has rightly won him a legion of fans who like their crime fiction to be real and compassionate.
As with previous books, there are plenty of grim events to balance the warmth which surrounds the leading character.
McAvoy must be one of the most fascinating fictional detectives out there - a true original. This is an intoxicating brew - Catholicism, travellers, underground fight scenes, the mob - and rumbling through it all like a bear with a blush is DS Aector McAvoy. Superb writing. A truly fantastic read.
More twists and turns than a corkscrew through the eyeball
Effortlessly blends the brutal and the tender, the dark and the light. Aector McAvoy is a true original. So is David Mark.
