A Man With One of Those Faces: The gripping, darkly comedic Irish crime series that's sold over a million copies (The Dublin Trilogy Book 1)

What a fun book! Exciting action, wonderful characters, funny dialogue – I’m so excited to know that this author has written more, and I will be reading them immediately!

I found this book a bit difficult to start, but after the 1st few chapters, & I began putting a few things together, I could hardly wait for the next shoe to drop! This book is a series of shoes dropping! One after another, after the other! To get the negative over 1st, I didn't care for the foul language. I'm just old-fashioned about that. That's all for negative remarks. Otherwise, this quirky story is full of quirky characters with quirky lives! It's funny, it's adventurous, it's zany, almost as messed up as the Pink Panther movies! All beginning with a man with one of those faces! Oh, sorry, I lied...there is one other negative I need to tell you. I'm not happy with the ending. Unless this is part of a series, & I don't remember if it is or not, too much was left hanging. A lot of the sub-stories didn't feel completed. So I hope this is the start of a series! I recommend this book to anyone who likes comedic crime stories, especially if you don't have a problem with profanity. I was able to substitute other words for the most part, but I'd prefer to not need to quite so often!

If you look at his other books you are about to see that I'm about to place eight reviews in a row copied and pasted, with maybe a few tweaks per book, because I've read through eight of these in the span of six weeks! I don't remember if I ever reviewed a book before (much less a series), but I am enjoying Caimh McDonnell's writings so much that I feel the need to just add some 5-star reviews on each of the books I've read. I've even started buying signed copies of many of his books from his website after having read all of these on Kindle. So I haven't read much recently, and I don't even remember how I came across this first book to even start, but once I did I just wanted to keep going non-stop! I have really enjoyed each book immensely. I just love the characters and the humor throughout the whole series. I'm one of those people that usually fall asleep while reading, but not with these. I can (and have) read these books for hours on end. I can't recommend these enough for anyone. Just really that enjoyable. This is the first book in the series in the order it was written, and I recommend starting here as it's a great introduction to the whole series, but you will realize that there are a lot of prequels in the 7-book "trilogy". It is the first book written, but I think 5th if you read in chronological order, so it is up to you how you would want to get into the series. I still recommend this as the first book to read. I read them in this order: 1, 2, 3,...5, 6, 7,...4. It's kind of a hybrid way of reading the "Dublin Trilogy" series that worked pretty well for me.

McDonnell is a funny person and writes quite well, but he is undisciplined, which might well be a consequence of his being a comedian. He likes ass jokes (including shit) way too much, but that is a minor quibble. The worst part is two of his major characters are unappealing. Paul, the "hero," (despite McDonnell suggesting that he is a genius) is a whining hypersensitive loser who thinks of women as objects, stumbles through life and and constantly flails, making him irritating and distinctly not funny. In fact, he is so dumb it is a miracle he lives through the experience, and no thanks to anything he does. And there is nothing funny, charming, or appealing in the drunken monster of a policeman prone to random violence Bunny McGarry. Birgit, on the other hand, is a fascinating character, fully fleshed and fun, living in the real world viewed through the lens of crime novels and cop movies and TV shows. And the pair of Garda detectives, one days away from retirement and the other fresh off the boat, make appealing buddies (a series based on them would be interesting).I laughed very hard in a few places where McDonnell used his sly wit to full effect. But overall, the novel, while readable, was disappointing, and I am not going to read any "further adventures."

One co-hero is 28 year old Paul, socially inept, damaged goods from being brought up in various foster care programs. He is stuck in a dead end life style fulfilling the terms of a much hated aunt's will in order to continue qualifying for the monthly stipend that allows him to continue living in abject poverty. His saving grace is that he is good hearted, intelligent and used to be a heck of a hurler(ancient Irish version of lawn hockey). Our other lead is Brigit, a nurse at a hospital where Paul is a service volunteer keeping lonely old people company(conveniently fulfilling one of the requirements of his aunt's rather strict will). Paul does a favor for Brigit, and in turn the patient she asks him to visit tries to kill him. Paul defends himself and in the melee the patient dies. Things start to move quickly as one thing piles on another, before you know it Paul and Brigit are on the run, dodging multiple assassination attempts and trying to figure out how the heck to survive the next few days and get clear of the whole mess. Caimh McDonnell, the author is/was a stand up comic and uses his expertise in wise cracking to craft a story that you can take seriously but with frequent, well done humor woven throughout the plot. Add in skillful writing and likable characters done in an inventive and refreshing manner and I have found a new author to follow. I have already purchased and downloaded book two, The Day That Never Comes, and look forward to another relaxing without being boring read.

I enjoyed the Irish Witt from this author. Will buy more of his books.

das Buch hat mir richtig Spaß gemacht, der Autor hat einen wunderbaren Stil, die Figuren sind originell, der Plot ist spannend - habe direkt die nächsten Bücher in der Reihe bestellt

A wonderfully paced comedic crime romp reminiscent of early Christopher Brookmyre. Thoroughly enjoyable from first page to last. Can’t wait to get cracking on the rest of the trilogy

This is my first “humour thriller’ read!Thoroughly enjoyed it!Great character sketching!Found myself flipping back pages re-reading and re-laughing at many points!Strongly recommended.

Read the second book in the trilogy first because it was only 99 cents and sounded interesting. Well, let me tell you, I was hooked! Line and sinker included! Upon finishing the first read I immediately bought (at regular price) the remaining books in the series AND read them cover to cover that week. The characters are great, story line flows smoothly, and the action is non-stop! Believe me, You'll love this author!