The One You Least Suspect

Three estranged brothers - Michael, a priest, David, a policeman, and James, a career criminal - are brought suddenly face to face once more in a town on the Inishowen peninsula when Amir, a Syrian refugee, robs a restaurant and then claims sanctuary in the local church. In offering the man refuge, Michael, the parish priest, enflames tensions in a town already febrile over the opening of a Direct Provision centre housing asylum seekers. Things become complicated when David, alongside Garda Maria Da Gama, discovers that Amir is a unwitting pawn in a much larger conspiracy and the restaurant he robbed was laundering stolen money for an organised crime gang led by David's brother. Then Amir goes missing from the church just as the O'Kane brothers are called to their dying father's bedside. As protestors take to the streets and tempers rise, David must race against time to find Amir even as a long buried family secret which bound the three brothers in blood boils to the surface and forces each of them to face the consequences of the choices they have made. Praise for Brian McGilloway 'A compulsive police procedural, but it's so much more than that: thought-provoking, compassionate and beautifully-written. McGilloway is one of the finest crime-writers working today' Ann Cleeves 'Blood Ties is one of those rare gems; a beautifully written crime novel that's also brilliantly paced, skillfully plotted and utterly absorbing. Brian McGilloway is, quite simply, a master of his art. Bravo' Jo Spain 'Brian McGilloway's police procedurals are a masterclass in crime fictions' Andrea Carter 'A clever, engaging and beautifully crafted police procedural' Irish Independent 'Some of the very best crime fiction being written today' Lee Child on Bad Blood 'This dazzling, labyrinthine debut impresses not only for the authentic depiction of a troubled community and the conflicts of a fallible detective, but also for the intense portrait of the borderlands themselves; as beautiful and terrible as the secrets they keep' Guardian 'McGilloway's Borderlands was one of last years most impressive debuts. Does Gallows Lane pass the feared second-novel test? Easily.' The Times 'McGilloway skilfully handles the tangled threads of a conspiracy surrounding an old crime, to make a satisfying mystery with an attractive central character.' Sunday Telegraph