O/T Two Comedians by Edward Hopper

Yesterday I visited the Hopper exhibition at the Thyssen Museum. Although Two Comedians is not one of my favourite Hopper paintings, I liked this story around it and the song by Frank Sinatra.

In 1965 Hopper painted what would be his last work, Two Comedians. “Hopper’s intuition that there was a parallel between himself and Pierrot reflects his awareness of the solitude that he shared with clowns and other artists in their roles as outsiders.” The painting belonged for many years to Frank Sinatra who, in his song Send in the Clowns, tells the story of an ageing couple that seems to refer to this painting. (Hopper biography)

Frank Sinatra – Send in the Clowns – You Tube

My previous post on this exhibition is HERE.

Hopper microsite Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Virtual visit)

Review: The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

Esta entrada es bilingüe para ver la versión en castellano desplazarse hacia abajo

Serpent’s Tail, 2012. Kindle edition. 605 KB. eISBN: 978 1 84765 795 4. ASIN: B006U1C5K6. (Detective Sean Duffy 1)

Now don’t be a cry baby when there’s wood in the shed
There’s a bird in the chimney and a stone in my bed,
When the road’s washed out they pass the bottle around
And wait in the arms of the cold cold ground. (Tom Waits, 1987)

This is the first instalment in a new trilogy featuring Sean Duffy, a Catholic detective in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC, which is mostly Protestant. The action takes place in 1981. Bobby Sands has died in The Maze, after sixty-six days hunger strike. The Catholic areas of the city have erupted spontaneously in anger and frustration. A week after dies the second of the strikers, Frankie Hughes, but the riots for his death seem now somewhat  …orchestrated.

“Chief Inspector Tom Brennan was my boss, the man in charge of the entire police station in Carrickgfergus…..I, a buck sergeant with two months’ seniority, was in fact the fourth most senior officer in the place. But it was a safe posting and in my fortnight here I’d been impressed by the collegiate atmosphere, if not always with the professionalism of my colleagues.”

Sergeant Duffy is called to investigate what appears to be an ordinary execution of a police informer but it soon becomes clear that this is not an ordinary case. The victim was homosexual and when another homosexual is killed it looks like the Ulster police are dealing with their first serial killer ever. Police resources are stretched thin by endemic rioting and the case is further complicated by the fact that in 1981 homosexuality was illegal in Northern Ireland and was punishable by up to five years in prison.

Adrian McKinty takes us to one of the most difficult times in Northern Ireland, his native country, with an extremely interesting and well developed plot that starts as a police procedural to turn into a spy novel. A gripping tale that accurately recreates the atmosphere of that time. It is narrated in the first person with a certain amount of humour and has a main character that I have found very attractive. I look forward to the next instalment of what promises to be a superb trilogy. An excellent stuff, I have enjoyed its reading and it’s highly recommended.

My rating: 5/5.

Adrian McKinty was born in Belsfast, Northern Ireland in 1968 and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. After attending university at Warwick and Oxford, he moved to New York in 1993, then to Denver in 2001. He worked in such diverse fields as security guard, barman, bookstore clerk, high school teacher, rugby coach, librarian, and door to door salesman before becoming a full time writer. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two children. He blogs at The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. The Cold Cold Ground is Adrian McKinty’s twelfth novel. His second instalment in The Sean Duffy trilogy, I Hear the Sirens in the Street, is expected in June, 2013.

The Cold Cold Ground has been reviewed by Rob at The View from the Blue House, Maxine at Petrona, Bernadette at Fair Dinkum Crime, Keishon at Yet Another Crime Fiction Blog, Declan at Crime Always Pays, Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise, Sarah at Crimepieces, among others. 

• The Story of My Book: Adrian McKinty on The Cold Cold Ground 
• Announcing Adrian McKinty’s new thriller, THE COLD COLD GROUND
• Serpent’s Tail

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The Cold Cold Ground de Adrian McKinty

No seas llorón ahora cuando hay leña en el cobertizo
Hay un pájaro en la chimenea y una piedra en mi cama,
Cuando el camino está inundado pasan la botella
Y esperan en brazos de la fría, fría tierra. (Tom Waits, 1987)

Esta es la primera entrega de una nueva trilogía protagonizada por Sean Duffy, un detective católico en la RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary, la Real Policía de Ulster) que es en su mayoría protestante. La acción tiene lugar en el año 1981. Booby Sands después de sesenta y seis días en huelga de hambre ha muerto en The Maze. Las zonas católicas de la ciudad han estallado de forma espontánea de ira y frustración. Una semana después muere el segundo de los huelgistas, Frankie Hughes, pero los disturbios por su muerte parecen ahora algo … orquestados.

“El inspector jefe Tom Brennan era mi jefe, el hombre a cargo de la comisaría de policía en todo Carrickgfergus ….. Yo, un sargento primero con una antigüedad de dos meses, era de hecho el cuarto oficial de más alto rango en el puesto. Pero era un sitio seguro y en dos semanas aquí estaba impresionado por la atmósfera de cuerpo, aunque no siempre por la profesionalidad de mis colegas.”

El sargento Duffy acude a investigar lo que parece ser una ejecución normal de un confidente de la policía, pero pronto queda claro que este no es un caso ordinario. La víctima era homosexual y cuando otro homosexual es asesinado, parece que la policía del Ulster está tratando con su primer asesino en serie. Los recursos de la policía no dan abasto por los disturbios endémicos y el caso se complica aún más por el hecho de que en 1981 la homosexualidad era ilegal en Irlanda del Norte y se castigaba con hasta cinco años de prisión.

Adrian McKinty nos traslada a uno de los momentos más difíciles de Irlanda del Norte, su país natal, con una trama muy interesante y bien desarrollada que se inicia como un procedimiento policial para convertirse en una novela de espías. Una apasionante historia que recrea con exactitud la atmósfera de la época. Está narrada en primera persona con una cierta dosis de humor y tiene un personaje principal que me ha resultado muy atractivo. Espero impaciente la próxima entrega de lo que promete ser una trilogía excepcional. Un excelente material, he disfrutado de su lectura y es muy recomendable.

Mi calificación: 5/5.

Adrian McKinty nació en Belsfast, Irlanda del Norte en 1968 y se crió en Victoria Council State, Carrickfergus, Condado de Antrim. Después de asistir a la universidad de Warwick y Oxford, se trasladó a Nueva York en 1993, y luego a Denver en 2001. Ha trabajado en campos tan diversos como guardia de seguridad, barman, vendedor en una librería, profesor de secundaria, entrenador de rugby, bibliotecario, y vendedor ambulante antes de convertirse en escritor a tiempo completo. Actualmente vive en Melbourne, Australia con su esposa y sus dos hijas. Escribe en su blog The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. The Cold Cold Ground es su duodécima novela. La segunda entrega en la trilogía de Sean Duffy, I Hear the Sirens in the Street, se espera para junio de 2013.