Friday 7 October 2022

LIAM SWEENY - MOONLIGHTING AT THE BODY DUMP (2022 - MAYBE, MAYBE NOT)


Synopsis/blurb ...

None as yet. 

I got a sneak peek at an unpublished manuscript which depending on the author's thoughts/muse/inspiration may get a tweak or two and eventually get published. Or may not depending on how he prioritises his current WIPs. 

Thoughts then mainly for my own amusement and to satisfy my own OCD tendencies.

I read it through and really liked it.

We have a main character, who works at illegal body disposal for criminals usually, though anyone if they have the money and the discretion to accompany it. He's in the criminal life, though prefers to operate on the fringes, kind of semi-independently. His links to organised crime go back to his youth.

He likes the girl at the grocery store, but is too shy to do anything about, preferring to imagine the 'what could be scenario' in his head. She takes up with a guy, who he thinks is bad news. 

The plot thickens with the murder of his best friend and a threat to 'supermarket girl', by some big hitters running some child trafficking ring for nefarious purposes. Our guy (name escapes me) hooks up with another dude to get to the bottom of things. Things go a bit pear-shaped before our man ends up in total conflict with his former childhood friends.

Oh and just to add some more intrigue to the shenanigans, his aged Granny, God Bless Her, was a Russian sniper in the war and a dab hand at taking out Nazis. Time has not diminished her feistiness and attitude.

To be fair, the script needs a bit of a polish, (probably not as much as these garbled, twisted thoughts of a review). I enjoyed the story, there's a certain quirkiness to the tale. I can't recall reading about a main character with our man's speciality. The characters and relationship dynamics are interesting, particularly in regards to the object of his affections. Eventually he does make a move in the direction of romantic fulfillment, which was a result. Shit or get off the pot as my mum used to say. (She didn't actually.)   

4 from 5

Liam Sweeny has been read and enjoyed before - Street Whispers, last year. I'll be reading him again in the future.



Read - September, 2022
Published - not yet, maybe never
Page count - 284
Source - uncorrected manuscript from author
Format - PDF read on laptop




4 comments:

  1. Liam's a terrific writer!

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  2. Now, that's an interesting premise, Col! And it sounds as though there are some well-developed characters here, which always gets points from me. As I'm thinking about it, I don't think I've ever read about a main character in that line of work, either. that's sort of interesting in and of itself.

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    1. Definitely top mrks for an interesting protagonist with an unusual career, Margot. The set-up offers plenty of scope for things to go sideways.

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