The Convictions of John Delahunt

Historian Hughes (Lives Less Ordinary) puts his knowledge of mid-19th-century Ireland to masterly use in his chilling first novel. John Delahunt, who’s in a Dublin prison awaiting execution for an unnamed crime, decides to write his story, beginning two years earlier, when he was a lackluster student at Trinity College. After seeing a friend injure a policeman, he receives a visit from shadowy police official Thomas Sibthorpe, who persuades him to testify against the wrong—but to the authorities’ minds, more convenient—“offender.” The Dublin police pay informants to report on illegalities both actual and potential; the worse the offense, the higher the fee. Before long, the impoverished Delahunt is seeking scapegoats for crimes he himself commits. As he slides into moral darkness, his battle of wits with his corrupt employers ends with a series of startling but entirely convincing plot twists. This beautifully written tale of cruelty and redemption is as unforgettable as it is harrowing. [em]Agent: Sam Copeland, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.). (June) [/em]