In the novel, The Convictions of John Delahunt, author Andrew Hughes takes us deep in the mind of a serial killer. Based on a true story, John Delahunt was a man who was convicted and hanged for the murder of a very young boy in England in the year 1842. He slashed the young boys throat.
The story begins while John is in jail awaiting his execution. He is given an opportunity to write about his life and crimes. Through flashbacks, John reflects on his life and his crimes. Married and in love with Helen, a wealthy young woman whose family disowned her for marrying John. They live in poverty, where every day is an ordea. By chance, John becomes an informant and operative for the corrupt Dublin Castle, a semi-law enforcement agency with ruthless and evil tendencies, using extortion, and even murder to achieve their aspirations. As John becomes ever more dependent and involved in his machinations with Dublin Castle, he falls into a life of crime, and becomes a killer without remorse.
Although this is a very dark, sinister story about a violent and heartless killer, the character of John isn't completely hateful. His brutality is stark and ruthless, but sometimes he is a victim too, and there are moments when the reader will feel sympathy for the particular plight he finds himself in.
The story is not for the faint of heart, but for those who love being thrilled, gripped by an unputdownable book, and who loves reading about the dark side of life, then this is the book for them. This chilling novel is amazing and I loved every page. Simply fabulous.
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The Convictions of John Delahunt – A Novel Hardcover – 21 June 2017
by
Andrew Hughes
(Author)
Andrew Hughes
(Author)
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Product details
- Publisher : Pegasus; Reprint edition (21 June 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1605987948
- ISBN-13 : 978-1605987941
- Dimensions : 15.24 x 3.3 x 22.86 cm
- Customer Reviews:
Product description
Review
A remarkable first novel. At once a close character study and a sweeping panorama of 'dissectionists' who buy bodies for medical research and the 'resurrectionists' who dig them up, this fascinating book is a stirring work of fiction and a perceptive chapter in Ireland's social history.--Marilyn Stasio
An engrossing historical mystery. Gallows humor and Dickensian details permeate Hughes' debut, one that takes readers to the dark heart of a series of real crimes in Victorian Dublin.
Andrew Hughes has created an eerily authentic world where one's neighbors cannot be trusted and the authorities even less. John's rapid decline from aimless student to cold-blooded killer is not only chilling, but sophisticated in its telling. Superb.
Just about everything pays off in this engrossing 'Crime and Punishment' style tale. Fascinating. The novel is mean and wicked and really well done.
A quite exceptional novel. The world he creates has echoes of Kafka and Orwell. Totally convincing. It draws you in like a trap.--C. J. Sansom, author of Dissolution and Winter in Madrid
A Kafkaesque study of an amoral weakling consumed by an unrestrained bureaucracy.
Compelling and eerily authentic. Read it and be grateful to be alive in our day and age.--Robert Goddard
Extraordinarily detailed world, impeccably researched. So superbly written that it soars as a masterly work of fiction. Utterly compelling.
Fascinating. A mesmerizing, utterly convincing, utterly sympathetic tale of life in Victorian Dublin. A realistic, complex tale that raises important, topical questions about society, government and morality. And the writing itself is really quite terrific. An exceptional historical mystery.
Historian Hughes puts his knowledge of mid-19th-century Ireland to masterly use in his chilling first novel. This beautifully written tale of cruelty and redemption is as unforgettable as it is harrowing.
An engrossing historical mystery. Gallows humor and Dickensian details permeate Hughes' debut, one that takes readers to the dark heart of a series of real crimes in Victorian Dublin.
Andrew Hughes has created an eerily authentic world where one's neighbors cannot be trusted and the authorities even less. John's rapid decline from aimless student to cold-blooded killer is not only chilling, but sophisticated in its telling. Superb.
Just about everything pays off in this engrossing 'Crime and Punishment' style tale. Fascinating. The novel is mean and wicked and really well done.
A quite exceptional novel. The world he creates has echoes of Kafka and Orwell. Totally convincing. It draws you in like a trap.--C. J. Sansom, author of Dissolution and Winter in Madrid
A Kafkaesque study of an amoral weakling consumed by an unrestrained bureaucracy.
Compelling and eerily authentic. Read it and be grateful to be alive in our day and age.--Robert Goddard
Extraordinarily detailed world, impeccably researched. So superbly written that it soars as a masterly work of fiction. Utterly compelling.
Fascinating. A mesmerizing, utterly convincing, utterly sympathetic tale of life in Victorian Dublin. A realistic, complex tale that raises important, topical questions about society, government and morality. And the writing itself is really quite terrific. An exceptional historical mystery.
Historian Hughes puts his knowledge of mid-19th-century Ireland to masterly use in his chilling first novel. This beautifully written tale of cruelty and redemption is as unforgettable as it is harrowing.
About the Author
Born in Ireland, Andrew Hughes was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. It was while researching his acclaimed social history of Fitzwilliam Square - Lives Less Ordinary: Dublin's Fitzwilliam Square, 1798-1922 - that he first came across the true story of John Delahunt that inspired his debut novel. Andrew lives in Dublin.
Customer reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
49 global ratings
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To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews from other countries

Clemens A. Schoonderwoert
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and Stunning Debut!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 June 2015Verified Purchase
This debut novel by Andrew Hughes has been a book which has certainly excelled my expectations.
The complete story has been written in a most exceptional way, for it tells the story about Dublin and life in Ireland in general, and it captivates the reader from start to finish.
The book is set in Dublin mainly in the years AD 1841/42 and it tells the tale of a man called John Delahunt, and about his fortunes and misdeeds.
After several personal incidents, even killing an Italian man called Domenico and framing another man, Cooney, for the murder, this same John Delahunt kills a young boy in Dublin, or so it seems or that he's now being framed himself for the murder by Lyster, but while being an informer and thus being in the pay of the British authorities at Dublin Castle, he thinks he can get away with it again and so he does not fear any punishment at first.
What John Delahunt did not expect is the huge public outcry and which forces the British authorities to arrest and convict him for this horrible crime.
And so in the end John Delahunt decides to tell his tragic tale to all who want to hear, while waiting in his cell in Kilmainham Gaol for the hangman.
What follows is a dark and sinister story of a personal tragedy, of a man who has not only betrayed mostly himself but also his family, friends and society.
Very much recommended for this book is for certain a "Compelling and Stunning Debut"!
The complete story has been written in a most exceptional way, for it tells the story about Dublin and life in Ireland in general, and it captivates the reader from start to finish.
The book is set in Dublin mainly in the years AD 1841/42 and it tells the tale of a man called John Delahunt, and about his fortunes and misdeeds.
After several personal incidents, even killing an Italian man called Domenico and framing another man, Cooney, for the murder, this same John Delahunt kills a young boy in Dublin, or so it seems or that he's now being framed himself for the murder by Lyster, but while being an informer and thus being in the pay of the British authorities at Dublin Castle, he thinks he can get away with it again and so he does not fear any punishment at first.
What John Delahunt did not expect is the huge public outcry and which forces the British authorities to arrest and convict him for this horrible crime.
And so in the end John Delahunt decides to tell his tragic tale to all who want to hear, while waiting in his cell in Kilmainham Gaol for the hangman.
What follows is a dark and sinister story of a personal tragedy, of a man who has not only betrayed mostly himself but also his family, friends and society.
Very much recommended for this book is for certain a "Compelling and Stunning Debut"!
2 people found this helpful
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Willow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, am very impressed!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 June 2014Verified Purchase
I was very surprised that this was a debut novel, as it was so well written.
As other reviewers have stated, the central character was really quite unpleasant and self-centred. I must admit, this made a refreshing, if somewhat uncomfortable change, as it took me a while to get into accepting his shockingly, self-serving lifestyle and mainly conscience-free attitude. Saying that, he is fascinating and unnerving, and I couldn't wait to read more of his story.
I am thoroughly looking forward to reading more of Andrew Hughes's work. His attention to the subtle details of each character's movements in order to show their subconscious innermost feelings,and interesting facts of the 1800's make this novel based on true events, a book to really lose yourself in.
As other reviewers have stated, the central character was really quite unpleasant and self-centred. I must admit, this made a refreshing, if somewhat uncomfortable change, as it took me a while to get into accepting his shockingly, self-serving lifestyle and mainly conscience-free attitude. Saying that, he is fascinating and unnerving, and I couldn't wait to read more of his story.
I am thoroughly looking forward to reading more of Andrew Hughes's work. His attention to the subtle details of each character's movements in order to show their subconscious innermost feelings,and interesting facts of the 1800's make this novel based on true events, a book to really lose yourself in.
4 people found this helpful
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Norman Housley
4.0 out of 5 stars
Admirably dense, atmospheric book, shame about the narrator
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 December 2015Verified Purchase
For a first novel this is terrific and Andrew Hughes deserves these glowing reviews. Fans of Charles Palliser and Iain Pears will lap it up. Hughes provides a similarly rich stew of historical detail and richly observed milieu. He conjures up early Victorian Dublin beautifully. You can see and smell the city. Unfortunately though, the narrator is a deeply unpleasant, borderline sociopath and I for one found reading about his descent into ever more despicable behaviour depressing. So much so that I skimmed the last third - I could see what was coming and found it very uncomfortable. But that's me being oversensitive. If you like a bit of nastiness in your narrative you'll like it.
3.5, but I'm glad it has to show as 4 because the author is one to watch.
3.5, but I'm glad it has to show as 4 because the author is one to watch.

Eva18
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bleak, brutal and depressing tale.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2019Verified Purchase
The unremitting brutality and squalor of life in nineteenth century Dublin depicted in this book made it difficult to read, and indeed I found it so depressing that I did not complete it. The misery of the murderer and his victims alike in a corrupt and sinister world left a very unpleasant aftertaste.

Fnoonar
3.0 out of 5 stars
The tale of a tell-tale
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2015Verified Purchase
I gave this book 3 stars rather than 4, only because I disliked the characters so much. Perhaps that's a measure of how successfully the author depicted them - especially the main character and his wife, both of whom it was difficult to feel an ounce of sympathy for. It was an enjoyable read and the author certainly captured the essence of the era vividly, but on reaching the end of the book, it wasn't so much a case of "Ohhh no!" as "Oh well".
One person found this helpful
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