What We Thought: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva

Mystery Reader

May 2015

Rogue Island

by Bruce DeSilva

The mean streets of the Mount Hope section of Providence, Rhode Island evoke a strong sense of place. Readers easily visualized the apartments and businesses of the area. The description of the fires and deadly results of the arsonist deeds affected our readers. Book club members like a good mystery and gritty characters but draw the line on the murder of children and attacks on fire fighters. 

Liam Mulligan, investigative reporter, uses his sarcasm and dark view of everything to write stories that accurately represent his neighborhood and the politics of it along with a criminal element that invades Rhode Island society. Sometimes Mulligan must cross the line to save his friends and keep himself out of trouble. He usually succeeds but there are exceptions.

Although the story is compelling with danger around every corner, readers appreciated the lighter touches of the editor’s insistence on a dog story which turned out to be just as lame as Mulligan had said. Most of the female characters were likeable in their own quirky ways, but everyone had it in for Dorcas, the not yet divorced ex-wife. The nicknames Mulligan gave everyone helped readers keep track of the characters, “Thanks-Dad”.

All agreed that the book ended abruptly and left some loose ends that needed tidying. Perhaps relationships will be dealt with in DeSilva’s second book, Cliff Walk. Readers were surprised that drinking was more emphasized than smoking considering the newspaper culture of hard drinking and hard living. The group ended the discussion with an endorsement of the positive side of Rhode Island and its cultural advantages.