Off the Record - Hardcover

Joyce, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393028291 ISBN 13: 9780393028294

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1990

Synopsis

Journalist Seamus Ryle sets out to revive his flagging career by investigating the bizarre death of an up-and-coming Irish politician, whose body washes up in Dublin harbor, and uncovers a high-level cover-up that could topple the Irish government

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

In his first novel, Dublin journalist Joyce leads readers through a modern political maze as Irish as the Harp beer consumed by his tale's professional pols, who themselves are as damply lugubrious as the climate. Seamus Ryle, a bored young reporter facing a divorce, sniffs out a career-saving story when an up-and-coming politician drowns in Dublin harbor. Following faint leads, Ryle, a reluctant hero, unwittingly shapes his story's development, setting up a series of events that involves local police, the Provos and international business interests, and that ultimately threaten to topple the government. The drowned man's mistress, possibly active in the IRA, gives Ryle documents, possibly forged, implicating the Dail, Ireland's parliament, in secret moves to negotiate Irish membership in NATO for unity. Joyce keeps in hand an extensive cast that includes a Dublin police sergeant always a step ahead of his superiors, a police commissioner who bows to political pressure, a detective inspector who doesn't, and a slick American uranium speculator whose crucial role in the outcome is established but not explained. Irishisms lend atmosphere to this dense tale which, while billed as a thriller, may seem quiet to American readers.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Early one winter morning a mysterious gunman kills a dog on a quay; hours later the drowned corpse of a prominent young politician is fished out of the harbor. A reporter, his marriage a wreck and his career a shambles, believe there's a connection between the two events. His investigations lead to revelations that shatter personal reputations and threaten to topple the government. This may sound like another concoction of formula American political suspense fiction, but actually it's refreshingly different. It is set in contemporary Ireland and peopled with sharply drawn characters ranging from parliamentarians to shady businessmen to IRA operatives. This is a dandy book, a fine blend of serious fiction and escapist reading.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0393028291
• ISBN 13: 9780393028294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 343