Ratlined

First in the Inspector O'Leary Series

Fiction - Crime
307 Pages
Reviewed on 09/12/2018
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Shane McCartney was born in Paignton, Devonshire, England in 1957, just a few miles from Torquay, where the famous mystery writer Agatha Christa was born, a writer who has given this author great inspiration, insight and humility.
Immigrating to Toronto, Canada in 1976, Shane has since resided with his partner Alberto Rojas. The author has since worked on the King of Kensington TV series as Al Waxman’s dresser and has travelled extensively in Latin American working as a travel representative for a Canadian travel company for several years while enjoying other cultures and people.
Shane is a writer and entrepreneur, but his full-time job is devoted firstly in assisting people in overcoming their limitations, working with developmentally challenged children, maximizing their real potential and caring for those living with dementia.
He currently enjoys writing as a freelance author, where he continues writing mystery novels and other literature, in particular, his Inspector O'Leary series.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

Ratlined is the first book in the Inspector O’Leary Series by Shane McCartney, a gripping crime novel with historical underpinnings and a setting in the period following the fall of Germany. We are introduced to a clandestine network of criminals from the fallen Nazis, running a powerful crime syndicate across multiple countries. This is a narrative that explores a crime syndicate constructed around the philosophy of the Aryan race, a tale that explores the sordid activities of members of the Nazis and fascists struggling to perpetrate their crimes beyond WWII. With an international setting featuring Berlin infested with allied forces, Argentina where a dying Nazi asks the one person he has left, his son, to prove his allegiance to the pure bloods before getting his inheritance which sends him on a perilous mission, and England where a powerful drama takes place. The reader is pulled into a web of crime, intrigue, covert activities, and glaring inhumanity. When Chief Inspector Sean O’Leary is summoned early one morning to a strange case of a body found in a rose garden, can he unravel the mystery and solve the case?

Shane McCartney leaves the reader in no doubt that this novel is well researched, presenting intriguing facts and creating a setting with interesting historical links. The story will entice fans of WWII literature, especially those interested in the activities of the Nazis. The author has a gift for plot, and the structure is unique, with a conflict that is phenomenal and well integrated into character development. The conflict moves the plot forward in a decisive way. Readers will enjoy the compelling cast of characters, the realism infused into the narrative, and the author’s fidelity in representing the callousness and evil of the villains of the story. Ratlined is transporting, hugely engaging, and evocative of a period that has haunted millions of people. It is deft and balanced and a work that will definitely find great appreciation as a motion picture.