McKinty persisted with the series. The books didn’t sell well but received good reviews. Some readers of this column might recall me praising them. In 2016 I did a radio show with Adrian to discuss the fifth Duffy book “Rain Dogs.” Little did I know as we talked that day his very existence as a novelist had become perilous.
The novelist Don Winslow heard about McKinty’s plight. Late one evening McKinty was arriving home exhausted when his phone rang. The eager fellow calling him was Winslow’s agent, Shane Salerno. Winslow had sent him some of Adrian’s work.
McKinty was bushed. He hung up on Salerno. The agent called right back. Adrian was so tired, he hung up again. Shane Salerno did not relent. He called again and that’s when the two of them agreed Adrian would sit down then and write the beginning of a novel to send off to Salerno.
Winslow’s intervention salvaged McKinty’s literary career. That next book, “The Chain,” became a blockbuster. He followed it with another best-selling thriller, “The Island.” It just came out in paperback. The author told me the creepy plot was inspired by a weird experience he had with his family in Australia.
“The Island” opens as a family from Seattle is vacationing in Australia. They visit a small coastal island and quickly become trapped by the sinister family that lives there. The story is a non-stop terror ride as the family tries to hide from the frightening people who are now hunting them down like prey.
Now that McKinty has gotten back on solid ground as a writer he has been able to refocus on his Sean Duffy series. The first books are getting reissued with more on the way. On Aug. 8, he’ll be publishing the seventh book, ‘The Detective Up Late” (Blackstone, 343 pages, $26.99).
We’ll find Detective Inspector Sean Duffy keeps moving through time. It is now the 1990s, he’s still one of the only Catholics serving in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He’s in a committed relationship-they have a child. The press release asks: “Can he survive one last case before getting himself and his family out over the water?”
Adrian McKinty lived through “The Troubles.” We sense authentic, paralyzing tension within his prose.
Vick Mickunas of Yellow Springs interviews authors every Saturday at 7 a.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO-FM (91.3). For more information, visit www.wyso.org/programs/book-nook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com.
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