A Man With One of those Faces by Caimh McDonnell

A Man With One of Those Faces - Caimh McDonnell

Another excellent read that was very different to anything else I’ve read recently and was all the better for it. I got a kindle unlimited trial (I refuse to give those guys any money) and when I saw this I remembered someone recommended it a few years ago, so finally got around to reading it. It was crime/comedy drama that’s part of a series that’s set in Dublin, a couple of hours away from me.

 

The book started with Paul, whose POV it’s written from, and he’s talking to someone who we think is a relation, in a nursing home. We quickly find out that the person isn’t a relative at all, but instead a resident with Alzheimer’s who thinks Paul is their grandson. It turns out that Paul has to do this in order to satisfy the terms of a will that his aunt made many years ago. It’s a little too convoluted to go into, so give it a read and find out the particulars of why exactly he does this. Anyway, while he’s there Nurse Bridgit Conroy speaks to him and asks him to chat with another resident who she feels sorry for. Again, she wants him to pretend to be a relative. Paul agrees and goes to speak with this resident who believes him to be a threatening force from his past. The resident then proceeds to stab Paul (this happens in the first chapter, so I‘m not spoiling anything) and when he gets home he discovers someone is now trying to kill him. Nurse Conroy (Bridgit) then turns up and they form an unlikely duo as they try to solve the case (which turns out to be infamous) and find out why someone is trying to kill Paul.

 

This book was hysterical and I mean really really funny. I’m sure you haven’t missed that point considering the amount of quotes I posted! Sorry for all that traffic, by the way. The main reason I kept doing it was because I was reading it on my mobile phone (as opposed to my Kobo) and it was so easy to just copy, paste, then post. Aside from that I was hoping people would love those quotes as much as me and possibly read the book on the back of them.

 

A Man With One of Those Faces had a little bit of everything, humour, drama, crime, complex relationships, diverse characters. The plot didn’t suffer because of the character development, but instead strengthened it. Those two elements played off each other very well.

 

When it comes to the characters Paul and Bridgit were fantastic. They worked really well together and Bunny McGarry, the maverick cop who has a long history with Paul, was excellent. Bunny was as funny as he was crass and I loved him. Think Begbie from Trainspotting. Bunny even has his own spin-off series of books! There’s 2 of them!

 

Yet again this worked in alternate chapters with some being from the perspective of the police officers endeavouring to solve the crime. While these chapters were good enough, I was always counting down the pages until I got back to Paul and Bridgit’s bits.

 

It was such a fun, light-hearted read that I went straight into the next in the series as soon as I’d finished and I’d be surprised if you didn’t feel the same way if you’d read it.