Cork author publishes second crime novel

AWARD-winning Mallow writer Tadhg Coakley enjoyed a highly successful 2022. His memoir The Game: A Journey Into The Heart of Sport was a bestseller and appeared in many lists of critics’ and reviewers’ books of the year. It was also shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards.

Now he returns to fiction, with the publication of his second crime novel – Before He Kills Again. This is the follow up to the award-winning Whatever it Takes, which first introduced readers to former inter-county hurler Tim Collins.

A garda working in Cork city, Collins is a detective in the classic crime fiction mould, guided by his own moral code in the battle between right and wrong and frequently in conflict with his superiors in the force.

But while Collins shares attributes with detectives from the annals of crime, he is operating in a thoroughly modern, and at times thoroughly unpleasant, world.

Before He Kills Again opens with the rape and murder of a woman in Blackrock in Cork city.

Assigned to the case, Collins and new partner Deirdre Donnelly find themselves delving into a dark and depressing world of online misogyny, where self-declared ‘incels’ are making plans to attack, dominate and kill women.

Collins is filled with fury by brutality against women, wherever he encounters it, and he and his partner are soon on the hunt to take down a number of men they believe to be dangerous to women.

But Collins is an experienced detective, with a long history of chasing some of Ireland’s most notorious criminals. So when one former adversary turns up in West Cork, old sparring partner Superintendent Buckley insists the Corkman move case.

Although keen to follow the city murder case to its conclusion, Collins accepts the transfer and finds himself plunged into more violence in the world of drug manufacturing and dealing.

When the West Cork investigation leads to a brutal killing, the reader sees another side of Collins, a ruthlessness. As the story reaches its climax, the question is how far he will go.

Before He Kills Again grabs the reader’s attention from the opening pages, and the mid-novel move to another case doesn’t detract from the pace. As Collins is rapidly drawn into the backstory of some of the West Cork men involved, so is the reader. Crime fans who haven’t read Whatever it Takes will have no trouble picking up here, while those already with Collins will enjoy seeing his character develop further here.

Like The Game last year, I would not be surprised to see Before He Kills Again appear on best-of lists of Irish crime fiction at the end of the year. A gripping read.

Before He Kills Again, by Tadhg Coakley, published by Mercier Press. Available now.

Tadhg Coakley will be in Waterstones on Patrick Street at 3pm on Saturday, signing copies of his new novel.