Book Review - "The Final Game" by Caimh McDonnell
Bunny McGarry is a national treasure. He’s a larger than life character whose presence dominates Caimh McDonnell’s comedic crime novels in which he appears. Thus it was with some trepidation that I approached McDonnell’s latest novel, “The Final Game”, as Bunny isn’t in it. In fact, he’s dead. At least to the characters in the novel (it’s complicated). Instead the book takes us back to Dublin where the central characters are Paul and Brigit, operators of MCM Investigations. My trepidation wasn’t just because Bunny is dead but also because I found Paul slightly annoying in previous novels. He was somewhat needy and seemed intent on pushing away those who loved him most. As it turns out McDonnell had a reason for writing Paul in that way and I am delighted to say that Paul progresses as a fictional person and as a character in the plot. Brigit remains admirably feisty, Maggie is just as fiercely loyal and smelly, and several characters from previous stories...