Jack O'Connell (1959–2024)

This is the weirdest of the 5 (so far) books in the Quinsigamond series and that is saying something. Sweeney is a man on the edge. Unable to cope with the guilt of not being there when his son Danny's accident occurred he will do anything to try and restore Danny from the coma he's been in ever since. That's all he lives for so when an opening appears at the renowned Peck clinic in Quinsigamond, Sweeney applies and is granted a place for his son amongst the patients. He is also taken on as a pharmacist within the clinic itself. Events don't transpire exactly as he's hoped and soon find Sweeney enmeshed with a biker group that's also made it's way to the rust-belt factory town who have plans of their own for Sweeney and Danny. Which way will Sweeney eventually lean? Who can he trust to do the right thing for his son?

Interjected within this story we are also treated to excerpts from Danny's favourite comic book, Limbo, which is about a troupe of freaks forced to flee from their circus home and follow the mystical instructions given to the chicken boy when he enters into Limbo while in the grip of a seizure. While fleeing a mad doctor they're trying to re-unite chicken boy with his long lost father believed to be on the far shores of Gehenna. I did mention that this book was weird, right?

The two narratives eventually join up to form a whole that speculates on consciousness and where we go when that is lost and the feelings of guilt and rage of those that get left behind. It also takes a look at how stories can have an effect on people's lives and not always for the betterment thereof. This book will not be everyone's cup of tea, the characters in the main are mostly unlikeable, there's quite a mishmash of elements in the storytelling linking gothic and noirish mystery that will not sit well with everyone. But for me, because I've enjoyed the previous work of the author it seems to have built nicely to this. I wouldn't recommend this as a first experience of his work though but I found it quite compelling.… (mais)

With Box Nine, author Jack O’Connell presents his colourful and highly original version of a noir thriller. Set in the fictional north-eastern American city of Quinsigamond. Once a thriving metropolis, now a dark, gritty place of hard times and even harder people. Violence and corruption seems to be the rule of the day.

The main character, Detective Lenore Thomas, is one of the most remarkable and interesting characters I’ve met in a book in a long time. To quote the back cover, “she’s addicted to speed, rough sex, heavy metal and her gun’. Lenore knows the streets and back alleys of Quinsigamond and works as a undercover narcotic officer. The city is on the verge of an all out drug war, and to make things even more volatile a new manufactured drug has appeared on the scene. This drug with the street name of Lingo offers an unusually potent high, along with heightened linguistic abilities, but with a downside of extreme violence and babbling insanity.

What sets this book apart from a straight forward noir thriller, are the many cultural references and the psychological and philosophical diatribes that many of the characters get involved in. Box Nine is not a book for everyone, with it’s crudeness and violence, but will be a book that stays with me and gives me much to ponder upon. I think Jack O’Connell is an amazing author, and I look forward to exploring more of his work in the future.… (mais)

Great hardboiled crime book. The story of twins Lenore and Ike. Lenore is an undercover narcotics officer, who has a speed habit and a love of danger. Ike is a USPS worker who is mild mannered and likes to read mysteries...the opposite of his sister. The two have grown apart and find it difficult to communicate even though they live next door. A new dangerous drug hits the streets, and while Lenore works the case her relationship with her brother becomes even more strained as she questions her own way of life. Some good twists keep things interesting. The characters are deep and troubled, very likeable.… (mais)