Brian O'Hare, Author

ONLINE BOOK REVIEW of THE TRAFFICKING MURDERS

by Lunastella » 28 Oct 2021, 18:49

The discovery of the murdered body of a young woman on a wealthy homeowner's lawn sends Inspector Sheehan and his Serious Crimes Unit following an intricate thread of clues and red herrings. The investigation begins to unveil the harrowing realities of a human trafficking net in Northern Ireland, apparently led by a mysterious figure only known as “The Shadow”. How does this relate to Alina, a beautiful young Romanian woman who was recently offered a life-saving job opportunity in Belfast? Or to Lin Hui, a brilliant student at Queen’s University? Will the ominous threat “Cross The Shadow; become a shade” ring true? The Trafficking Murders by Brian O’Hare follows a Belfast detective team in their job to bring human traffickers to justice, as well as their persecution of different suspects, some of them seemingly respectable citizens, involved in this macabre network.


The stellar feature of this novel is how well it handles racial and cultural issues. The novel mainly deals with Romanian, Chinese and Irish cultures. While the author acknowledges racism, because this is a reality, and he even portrays some minor mistakes we could all make when engaging with people from other cultures, he never condones these behaviors. Moreover, he doesn’t label one culture as the “good guys” and the other ones as “the bad guys” as we often see in other novels. Every single nuance he added comes to show the reader that there’s good and evil in every culture and that it is our actions and not our race that unites us or separates us.


The psychological realities that a horrible crime like human trafficking entails are correctly portrayed, without drawing upon shock value, but without diminishing the diverse facets of suffering (blame, fear, learned helplessness) that victims experience. Likewise, Brian O’Hare explores other usually overlooked aspects of human trafficking, such as tricks and grooming.


Another exceptional feature of the novel is the diversity of the cast of characters. I especially love Sergeant Denise Stewart who is a strong and unstoppable woman, and Dr. Jones, who shows that men can be sensitive too. Mr. O’Hare creates such compelling characters that I still remembered most of them from a previous installment of The Inspector Sheehan Mysteries series, which I read in 2019.


Perfect pacing is the cherry on top of this brilliant novel. The book opens with a bang and keeps the reader on their toes, without a single boring moment or predictable incidents.


Brian O’Hare sheds a light on a grim reality with this perfectly executed thriller. The novel has unforgettable characters, heart-pounding pacing, and an unpredictable plot while keeping a balance between sensitivity and reality.


This is a perfect novel for anyone who enjoys mysteries and thrillers, who is interested in the realities of human trafficking, in the psychology of violence victims, or in learning the intricacies of police work. However, I would not recommend it to readers who lack the patience for a numerous cast of characters. This, and the many acronyms used, can be confusing at the beginning, even if the author kindly provided a list. Readers who prefer the “Sherlock Scan” trope where the lead detective solves everything just by superhuman observational skills could feel frustrated by the realities of the tiresome police job (multiple interviews, toxicology reports, and other minutiae) portrayed in this novel. Finally, readers who are especially sensitive to violence and rape might want to reconsider reading the novel, though these topics are not detailed explicitly.