Chuck Bowie’s newest addition to his crime fiction series, Her Irish Boyfriend Donovan: Thief for Hire, takes us to the underworld of Dublin and York, and into the lives of lost girls, clever cops, violent gangs and late-night eateries while enjoying the seat of the pants adventures of a professional thief.
There is a tongue-in-cheekiness to much of Donovan’s misadventures, but the mechanics of his life of crime make for good settings and a narrative that spins you from place to place at high speed. Chuck Bowie is no stranger to Donovan and the chase, this being the fifth such book in the series, and his curiosity of these characters and the world they inhabit leads to finding narrative treasures behind closed doors.
Our man Donovan, a professional thief for hire and a rather neutral ne’er-do-well has been lounging in his winery in Canada, when he responds to a call for help from a friend. It seems his friend Gemma, a London Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector, has some suspicions regarding her Irish boyfriend, of titular standing, that are not easily asked from her own department. So, across the pond Donovan goes to repay an old debt, his trusty set of skills and handy lack of respect for the rule of law in hand.
A clever con game in Dublin airport turns up a witness which leads, of course, to a larger scale operation, involving human trafficking, and we are off to the races. Donovan moves through both the criminal underworld and the halls of museums and libraries with equal skill, and his own follies and personal wreckage make the journey all the more interesting. He may be damaged goods, but his thief’s eye is constantly running across sparkling and historical treasures that could be his next heist, which makes him and his investigation wildly fun with just enough bad guy to make you love him.
Bowie keeps the pace quick, stopping along the way to enjoy some of Dublin and York’s more interesting locations, and never missing an opportunity to stage a fight in a strange room or stairwell, even employing a pestle while taking on some gangster toughs in a hallway. One of Bowie’s trademarks is Donovan’s use of creative and available weaponry. Never have I seen hot peppers used to such effect while escaping bad guys. The world is truly his arsenal. In fact, Bowie writes action scenes very well, keeping things light but with the proper menace for the well-loved characters. You are pretty sure they will survive the encounter, but then, maybe they won’t?
Donovan’s shenanigans do piece together well, and the shady bits open up for the reader with satisfying complexity that whets the tongue for more, but never leaves the reader scratching their head.
The book has its cracks; on more than one occasion your reviewer found himself tsk-tsking a technical detail that was not researched to the depth required of a writer of mystery or crime fiction, but I suspect keen-eyed readers will make the author aware of these misses (and they are not fatal) soon enough. The meat of the story, the pace and energy Bowie brings to the page, is excellent. You find yourself rooting for Donovan and his partners in crime, while also expecting a wrench to the head at any second. It is a tug of war that is deeply satisfying and will thrill readers who want international and smart adventure, while not necessarily risking the world in nuclear war or chemical armageddon. Bowie gets the balance right, and the reader benefits from his deft handling of action and plot, mixed with a cheeky wink every now and then to remind you to breathe, it will be ok.
I intentionally did not illuminate much of the plot here, as I want readers to discover the bits and pieces of Bowie’s puzzles on their own. I would strongly suggest starting with his first book in the series, but no reader would be left out in the cold by jumping in feet first with Her Irish Boyfriend. You will be well rewarded either way, and you will come away with a new group of friends to follow into dark alleys and wild car chases soon enough.
Chuck Bowie’s Her Irish Boyfriend: Donovan: Thief for Hire is published by Muse It Up Publishing.