The Abstainer

How much agency do we have in shaping the course of our lives, and how much are we shaped by the social, cultural and historical forces that play on us? This seems to be the central question underlying Ian McGuire’s well-crafted historical novel. The year is 1867. James O’Connor is an Irish policeman still recovering from the unexpected death of his beloved wife. He’s assigned to the police force in Manchester, England to help ferret out the Fenians, a radical Irish political group. After three Fenians are hanged for their crimes, the group hires an American, Stephen Doyle, to help them get revenge on the city’s police and politicians. The bulk of the novel describes the cat and mouse game between O’Connor and Doyle, interspersed with the early childhood traumas that shaped their bleak views of the world. O’Connor is a decent man struggling to overcome his doubts and insufficiencies (drink being a big one) as well as the prejudices of his English colleagues. Like the American realist novelist Theodore Dreiser, McGuire writes with great empathy about the larger forces that shape and direct individual destinies. He steeps us in the sights and smells and sounds of an English manufacturing center at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with many examples of the brute exploitation of labor so integral to this early stage of capitalism. The book’s ending is somewhat baffling. A minor character is introduced very late in the story, and this character is given the last word, which occurs well past the story\’s logical wrap-up point. Despite that, this is a compelling, well-written historical novel that raises questions about personal, political and economic justice that resonate down to this day.

This is a thriller-historical novel that I guarantee you cannot put down. The novel builds on an Irish cop in 1867 trying to track Fenians in Manchester England. He runs informants and he is soon faced with finding the Fenian top killer bent on revenge for the hanging of local Irish rebels. He is plagued with his own devils- the loss of his wife and a consequent drinking problem and the arrival of a wild nephew willing to take chances. Ian Mc Guire turns on the suspense with the personal decline of his hero and the intense rivalry between hero and villain. The product is a flawless story.

I would overall recommend this book, but I never got really invested in the characters. I can\’t quite put my finger on why that is. We did get back story, we got some emotion, certainly conflict. But something felt hollow. Sometimes that happens for me when there isn\’t a strong female character. As there wasn\’t here. And that ending. Really?

This novel about an Irish police officer on loan to the Brits to help quell pre-Irish Revolutionary terrorists in Manchester, England, works until 75% of the way through. Then the author runs out of energy and space and can\’t figure out how to wrap it up on the final 75 pages and just punts. You can hear the narrator\’s Irish brogue as you read the first couple chapters, but he loses his knack or the energy it takes to keep it up and the charm is lost.

Like his previous book, The North Water, Ian McGuire immerses the reader in his story. The writing is great and the characters are believable. The one problem is the ending. Frankly, it was a horrible and seemed rushed. Didn’t have much to do with the rest of the story either. Too bad. Otherwise a good book.

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