Bloodland by Alan Glynn, a Mysterious Review.

Review: A young investigative journalist takes on an assignment to write about the tragic death of a celebrity aboard a helicopter that accidentally crashed off the northeastern coast of Ireland three years ago, only to learn that it might not have been an accident after all, in Bloodland, a stand-alone thriller by Alan Glynn.

Susie Monaghan was as much a tabloid star as a television star. Her death, together with five others who were accompanying her, is now several years old but a publisher believes the time is right to revive interest in her. Jimmy Gilroy is paid a handsome sum to write a book about Susie Monaghan, and begins by investigating her traveling companions. Susie had texted her sister the day before she died that she feared someone who would be on the flight with her. Jimmy has barely started his work when his old friend and mentor, Phil Sweeney, offers him an even larger advance if he'll stop writing about Susie, and instead do a political memoir about Larry Bolger, a former Irish Prime Minister. Jimmy reluctantly agrees, but it may be too late to stop a sequence of events he initiated by asking questions about what really happened the day Susie Monaghan died.

What seems to start as a local interest story expands in scope to become an international tale of greed, corruption and murder in Bloodland. Jimmy Gilroy is a strong and convincing lead character, but equally compelling are the immoral men he seeks the truth about. The twist-filled, tautly written plot takes a number of unexpected turns that keep the reader alert for what might happen next. This is a very good thriller, one with simmering tension that threatens to boil over at any point.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Bloodland.

Graveland
Picador (Trade Paperback), May 2013
ISBN-13: 9780312621292; ISBN-10: 0312621299