One reviewer here called this book `poetic' and I wonder why. There is certainly nothing very poetic about this book: the prose is very stark and detached. Obviously McNamee is trying to capture the dark passages of a land torn by civil unrest and ridden in human bondage. I must admit, however, that the novel is certainly well written, almost brutal in its gripping descriptions of the murderous minds and violent manifestations that pervade the novel. One cannot come across a better book on serial killings, internecene war and human fragmentation than the `Resurrection Man.'

I am adding this to my wishlist although I remember the sense of discovery very vividly from first reading more than 2 years ago. One of the few authors, along with Brian Moore, to present a vision of life in the North, again Belfast here too. And his style is bril -- absolutely groundbreaking. Remember being mesmerized by the hypnotic pace, the phrasing, and complete innovation in style. I would be eager to read more of his work.

McNamee's Resurrection Man is a dark, poetic novel, the prose of which conveys emotions, and mental images of the people, places and deeds it describes, with a clarity unlike any other novel I have read. I found myself often rereading passages two and three times to fully immerse myself in their precise and poetic imagery. While I have never been to Belfast, and do not have intimate knowledge of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this book gave me a vivid sense of both, while capturing my attention and anticipation until the very last page. It is an important novel by an author who demonstrates a command of a unique and penetrating style of writing; a style I shall not soon forget. Well worth the read!

You're more likely to admire than enjoy Eoin McNamee's two novellas, "The Last of Deeds" and "Love in History." A thoughtful, oftentimes impressive writer, McNamee's considerable skills are in full display in these two stories, but the tone here is quite bleak, rather tough to take, and his storytelling skills sometimes fail him.

The Last of Deeds takes place in contemporary Belfast. The story unfolds through the eyes of a young, working-class "taig," who inhabits a grubby world of waterfront warehouses, disco halls, take-away joints, and, most threatening, unfriendly "prods." It's a grim existence, and the protagonist's mates (one of whom is named Deeds, hence the title) don't help matters. Hope arrives when a middle class Protestant girl befriends our storyteller. But this is Northern Ireland, and hope appears to be a rare commodity, at least for the likes of the young people who inhabit "The Last of Deeds."

McNamee has a real flair for metaphors, and he captures a sense of place that is both fascinating and deeply troubling. Yet the plotting in this relentlessly grim tale is often overtaken by an overabundance of metaphors. The result distances the reader from the characters, and the tale reamins not nearly as compelling as one would hope. Still, it's hard to be too critical of a story that concludes with the following: "...as far as I was concerned there were no beautiful strangers and the only ghosts in this town are the ones that are walking the streets."

True to form, the second of McNamee's novellas, "Love in History," is no more uplifting than the first. However, this tale, set close to VE Day near an army base in Belfast, is chock full of startling passages, unexpected twists, and an overall more satisfying effect.

"If you pulled down the top of Betty Grable's swimming costume, the breasts underneath would be white shaved cones with exact, graphite tips."

So begins "Love in History," a romance with dark undercurrents, including, racism, religious intolerance, and the too often unreported casualties of war - women. Betty Grable's presence is everywhere in this tale, and it's the women of "Love in History" who are treated like pin-up girls.

Telling the story of a US airman named Hooper, who has lost in love, and Adelene, who has spent too much time with over-sexed, over there airmen, "Love in History" sometimes suffers from overwriting, such as, "He watched her with such intensity that his eyes could have pierced immeasurable distances of war and desolation to reach the exact spot under the left breast where Betty Grable's monochrome heart pumped Pearl Harbor..." You get the point.

But usually McNamee's prose is right on target, in keeping with the book's overall theme. "Across the street (Adelene) could see Betty Grable in the coming attractions case. The glass was fly-specked and the edges of the paper were beginning to curl, but her hands were outstretched, palm upwards, as if to weigh the sorrow that a war deposits in the hearts of women."

Unlike the first novella, that sorrow resonates in "Love in History," and by story's end the reader is moved, much impressed with McNamee's bold take on some of WW2's forgotten casualties.