Book Log 2021 #20: In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty

Sean Duffy is enjoying retirement from the RUC, if by enjoying you mean" drunkenly existing after a dodgy termination." But he's put back into action not by his former employer but by MI5, who want his help in tracking down a IRA bombmaker who has escaped from prison. The bombmaker also happens to be an old friend, one who talked Duffy out of joining the IRA.

He picks up the case, but in order to solve it he will have to solve another case in a quid pro quo - if he can figure out who killed a woman in a locked pub, her mother will give Duffy information as to the bombmaker's whereabouts. And all of this may wind up having national and international implications, if the bombmaker is able to assist the IRA with an audacious plan.

I always get a little nervous when the main character in a series gets involved with higher powers, but Duffy holds his own here, even as his pursuit of the IRA man puts him at further odds with both communities (other Catholics who don't want him working for the British, and Protestants who don't fully trust Catholics). It's another strong outing, and if you haven't read the other books you should go start at the beginning.