Under the Bridge – A Liverpool Mystery
by Jack Byrne
£8.99 – Northodox Press
Ritchie Hunter gives his coloured view of a murky thriller.
Isn’t it strange that lots of our memories seem to be in black and white? I have a clear achromatic image of going ‘Under the Bridge’ to the Blue Union* Club in the 1980s, past the massive gasometers and on down Window Lane, with its adjacent streets of terraced 2 up 2 downs. There were boarded up factories and houses, an indication of the decline of traditional industries that you could find all over Liverpool then. I was there with my Dad who was getting interviews for his book about dockers.
The history of this area of Garston, sandwiched between railway lines and the Mersey, is one of proud social identity forged by struggle. There was religious division, but also a unity of those living and working together in a place where workers’ homes were pushed up against polluting industries. A situation, that is not acceptable in modern times, but is actually happening again.
Under the Bridge centres around a body found in 2004, during the so-called “regeneration” of the area. It then moves back to 1955, tracing events leading up to this incident. It relates to the Irish immigration, as people were still escaping dire conditions in Ireland to find work in England.
As the story builds we meet a smuggling gang who, as well as clashing with trades unions in dispute, have their own internal feud. The dynamic of opposing forces is a mixture of fiction and actual events lending a tensionable interest to the story. It touches on political and industrial movements and undercover policing methods.
When the body is found Anne McCarthy, a cub reporter, and her friend Vinny Connolly, stumble across these hidden details. Their ‘digging’ riles old gang members and their helpers, who try to prevent the truth coming out.
The writing gets deeper as the story moves on and relationships develop and break.
There’s more to come from these characters (three more stand alone thrillers), which is good, as the end culminates quickly, leaving questions about Anne and Vinny’s personalities.
The author Jack Byrne grew up locally so knows the area, and anyone reading this will get a good sense of place as we travel past Liverpool landmarks.
It’s good to find a book from a writer with a working class background, as these voices become more difficult to get heard. Northodox Press, the publisher, should be praised for promoting northern writers in a “book market oversaturated with stories of a London-centric Britain or the cozy Cotswolds”.
* Not to be confused with the “Toffee” protest against the EFC board.
Under the Bridge – A Liverpool Mystery by Jack Byrne, can be bought at News From Nowhere, Bold Street.