The Sun is God
Based on true events, The Sun is God is dark, outrageous and hugely entertaining -- historical crime fiction at its very best. It is 1906 and Will Prior is in self-imposed exile on a remote South Pacific island, working a small, and failing, plantation. He should never have told anyone about his previous existence as a military foot policeman in the Boer War, but a man needs friends, even if they are as stuffy and, well, German, as Hauptmann Kessler, the local government representative.
So it is that Kessler approaches Will one hot afternoon, with a request for his help with a problem on a neighbouring island, inhabited by a reclusive, cultish group of European 'cocovores', who believe that sun worship and eating only coconuts will bring them eternal life. Unfortunately, one of their number has died in suspicious circumstances, and Kessler has been tasked with uncovering the real reason for his demise. So along with a 'lady traveller', Bessie Pullen-Burry, who is foisted on them by the archipelago's eccentric owner, they travel to the island of Kabakon, to find out what is really going on.
So it is that Kessler approaches Will one hot afternoon, with a request for his help with a problem on a neighbouring island, inhabited by a reclusive, cultish group of European 'cocovores', who believe that sun worship and eating only coconuts will bring them eternal life. Unfortunately, one of their number has died in suspicious circumstances, and Kessler has been tasked with uncovering the real reason for his demise. So along with a 'lady traveller', Bessie Pullen-Burry, who is foisted on them by the archipelago's eccentric owner, they travel to the island of Kabakon, to find out what is really going on.
'McKinty is one of Britain's great contemporary crime writers and the Sean Duffy books are his masterpiece.'
IAN RANKIN
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Adrian McKinty
Adrian McKinty writes crime fiction where the ordinary collides with the unforgiving, and the tension never lets go. Born in Belfast in 1968, he grew up amid the Troubles, a backdrop of political unrest and divided loyalties that quietly shaped his sense of morality and justice. Those early experiences of a society on edge became the heartbeat of his fiction, giving his novels a texture that’s both authentic and unsettling.
He first gained attention with the Sean Duffy series, beginning with The Cold Cold Ground, which follows a Catholic detective navigating the perilous landscape of 1980s Northern Ireland. McKinty’s work is defined by its moral complexity, unflinching realism, and darkly intelligent humor. He doesn’t just tell crime stories; he immerses readers in the pressures of a world where every choice carries weight and consequences are inevitable.
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