BIG BIG Borderlands

I attended the Big Big Reading Group discussion at Lisburn City Library last night. The subject was Borderlands by Brian McGilloway, and the debonair Mister McGilloway was there in person to give us an insight into his debut novel. Not many people attended, which quite surprised me, but on the bright side, it made for a more intimate evening and meant that no question went unanswered. And boy, when a question was asked did McGilloway give his audience value for money? Aye, he did. (The night was free actually, if you want to get technical. But then, to be even more technical, time = money, and we spent a good hour and a half listening to him.)

He spoke at length of the reasons behind his choice to write crime fiction. It seems David Torrans of No Alibis has a lot to answer for. He was the man who recommended Ian Rankin and Colin Dexter to a young bright-eyed McGilloway, fresh out of Queen’s University with a head full of literary tomes and looking for something a little lighter. He soon realised that crime fiction did not necessarily mean a lighter, easier read, but by then he was hooked on the genre.

Six years ago, McGilloway’s wife was expecting their first child. Big, big life-changing stuff. And at that time all his favourite crime fiction characters seemed to be on their way out. Morse was dead, Rankin close to retirement, James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux was coming to terms with his mortality, and so were his fans. Did McGilloway cry himself to sleep? Well, maybe once, but then he got up, dried his eyes and decided he didn’t need Dexter, Rankin or Burke. He’d write his own character! And so, Inspector Benedict Devlin was born.

This we found out in the first ten minutes of the discussion. We also learned of how McGilloway decided Devlin should be a family man first and a cop second, unlike the work-obsessed crime fiction protagonists that came before him. How Devlin did the things that McGilloway no longer could, like smoking or walking a Basset Hound. But also, Devlin shared a lot of McGilloway’s concerns for the society he was bringing his family up in.

And we learned so much more, but at this stage, I’d abandoned the notebook and concentrated on listening to the man.

The evening was capped with a glass of wine and a sneak preview reading from the latest McGilloway novel, Bleed a River Deep. And those guys at the Lisburn City Library know how to make you feel at home. Lovely place, by the way. It was my first time there, and I was very impressed. And you know, I had a pretty wild youth, saw a lot of libraries, so I know what I’m talking about!

Also, I had the pleasure of grabbing a few minute’s of Mister McGilloway’s time. We had a good aul natter about writing and the not-so-easy task of fitting it into a hectic family life. A real gentleman. I look forward to meeting him again.