The Dead Yard

Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Chain comes the riveting sequel to his acclaimed debut, Dead I Well May Be, featuring mercenary bad boy Michael Forsythe—the hero "other writers can only aspire to create" (Ed McBain). With the same poetic lilt and heart-stopping suspense that made Dead I Well May Be a critical favorite, the saga continues with The Dead Yard—a thriller in which Michael Forsythe must insinuate himself into the good graces of a band of calculating political terrorists. As the novel opens, he's on vacation in Spain, but when a soccer riot between Irish and English fans escalates out of control, Michael is suddenly arrested and thrown into a Spanish prison. Enter Samantha, a British intelligence agent as cunning as she is voluptuous. She makes Michael an offer he cannot refuse: instead of being extradited to Mexico to serve time for a prison break, he can help her by infiltrating an IRA sleeper cell in the United States, and she'll see to it that the Spaniards and Mexicans forget all about him. Filled with apprehension about the dangers of the assignment, Michael reluctantly agrees. Within hours he is flown to New York City and thrust into the nightmare world of men known for their distinctive brands of torture and revenge. Michael crosses and double-crosses key players, escapes his own lies by a hairsbreadth, loses his only ally, and falls for the daughter of his enemy—a most inadvisable development. Boasting spot-on dialogue, crackling wit, and one of the most memorable heroes in all of crime fiction, Adrian McKinty's dazzling new novel confirms his reputation as a brilliant storyteller and writer on the rise.