The wisdom goes that you should write about what you know for your debut novel. As a former investigative journalist for Hot Press and Magill turned criminal lawyer (he became a senior counsel in 2000), Michael O’Higgins is intimately familiar with the criminal underworld, the police force and the Irish courts system.
Gritty, authentic and shocking, Snapshots is set in inner-city Dublin in 1981 against the backdrop of the IRA hunger strikes and the abortion referendum. The main strands of this crime thriller focus on musically talented teenager Wayne Clarke, his criminal father Christy who is prone to General-like acts of violence, the detective whose mission is to put Christy behind the bars of Mountjoy, and the local curate who is sexually abusing Wayne when he’s not publicly campaigning against abortion. O’Higgins has skilfully weaved all of these characters’ stories together to create a truly gripping, raw and emotionally charged page-turner. Recommended.