ALL SOULS

Painful glimpses of past tragedies emerge when Dublin's Inspector Minogue (Kaddish in Dublin, etc.) returns to County Clare on holiday and is sandbagged into investigating the murder of Jane Clark, a crime from a dozen years back that led to the incarceration of Jamesy Burke. Recently freed, the now demented Jamesy is himself soon killed, and Minogue and his suicidally inclined aide, the despondent Hoey, are soon awash in tales and subterfuges plotted by a lawyer who specializes in IRA defenses; a weak politician ruled by testosterone and his vengeful wife; and locals—including members of the Guarda—deeply suspicious of men from Dublin. While Minogue keeps a watchful eye on the near-to- shattering Hoey and nicks away at past alibis and relationships, his own equilibrium badly falters in a violent bloodletting that not only unravels Jane Clark's last moments—and some current gun- running schemes—but unleashes Minogue's long-suppressed memories of the death of his infant son Eamonn. Excruciatingly intense study of men at the breaking point. If you can bear the emotional upheaval of the dark Irish soul put under this strong a microscope: a knockout.