ALAN Glynn is set to do for Ireland what crime writers Ian Rankin and Val McDiarmid have done for Scotland. Winterland (�12.99, Faber) is his second novel, a gripping tale of greed, corruption and murder that is virtually impossible to put down. Set in a

ALAN Glynn is set to do for Ireland what crime writers Ian Rankin and Val McDiarmid have done for Scotland.

Winterland (�12.99, Faber) is his second novel, a gripping tale of greed, corruption and murder that is virtually impossible to put down.

Set in a dark, modern-day Dublin being transformed by wealth almost overnight, the worlds of business, politics and crime collide when two men with the same name die on the same night.

Young Noel Rafferty, an underworld thug, is shot dead in a pub garden. His uncle, a fine, upstanding and successful civil engineer, is killed when his car crashes.

It seems obvious that young Noel was killed over some gangland falling-out, while his older namesake was the victim of a tragic accident.

But Gina - aunt and sister of the men - refuses to accept her brother was drink-driving. When she starts looking into his death, she begins to suspect her nephew's murder wasn't all it appeared to be either, and the deaths may be linked to a tragic road accident 30 years earlier.

As she digs deeper, she embarks on a path that will push some people to their limits.

Full of twists and turns, this is a blistering novel that keeps the reader on their toes and demands concentration.

Some of the characters are a bit one-dimensional, like the scheming property developer addicted to painkillers, but Glynn, who studied English literature at Trinity College, Dublin, has an ear for dialogue and an understanding of what his city has become.

The warehouse torture scene could have come straight of Taggart's Glasgow or Rankin's Edinburgh.

- LINDSAY JONES