All Them Dogs

Set in the working-class estates and industrial parks of West Dublin, the novel is narrated by Tony Ward, a volatile young criminal who has just returned from five years hiding in England. Tony fled Ireland after fatally stabbing Eddie Glackin, a rival, during a gang feud. His former boss and mentor, Philly Mooney, a local drug dealer Tony idolized, was subsequently murdered, and the police investigation into Eddie's death was abandoned, with Philly receiving the blame.

Tony now works for Darren "Flute" Walsh, a tall, quiet enforcer for Aengus Lavelle, Dublin's most powerful crime boss, who operates out of a large boxing gym that doubles as his headquarters. Tony got the job through his childhood friend Kenny Boyle, whose nine-year-old daughter Lizzie trains at the gym as a boxing prodigy. Tony sleeps at Kenny's house and drives his mother's baby-blue Opel Corsa. On their first assignment, Tony and Flute collect a late payment from Patsy McDermott, a low-level dealer working for Finto Maher, a mid-tier drug supplier who answers to Lavelle. They find Patsy's apartment filthy and his toddler neglected. Finto later orders them to kill Patsy for undermining his business.

Lavelle meets Tony and reads aloud news articles about Eddie Glackin's unsolved murder, calling Tony a liability. Flute defends him, and Lavelle grudgingly keeps Tony on, warning that any retaliation for his past is his own problem. Tony visits his mother, Jenny Ward, for the first time since returning and clashes with his half-brother Archie, who is older and university-educated. Archie associates Tony with their volatile, now-deceased stepfather and demands he leave, warning he endangers their mother. Jenny refuses to choose between them.

Flute sends Tony on solo debt collections, including one to a young mother named Gemma, whom Tony terrorizes into compliance. Flute also has Tony store a gun. That night, Tony spots graffiti reading "RIP EDDIE GLACKIN" near Philly's boarded-up house. The stylized letter G matches a tag on Finto's tattoo shop, making Tony fear someone connected to Eddie is tracking him.

At Person's Bar, a pub owned by one of Lavelle's associates, Tony shoves a stranger named Gerry Keegan who had been pestering him about the jukebox. Lavelle summons Tony to his booth, examines Tony's onyx ring, a gift from Philly, and makes an implicit threat: He knows Tony's mother's name and where she lives. Tony learns that Flute is Lavelle's stepson, his mother Melissa having married Lavelle about five years earlier. Lavelle's twenty-two-year-old daughter Fanny, a microbiology student who works the gym's front desk, suggests they all go out.

Tony drives Flute and Fanny to a house party, where Tony and Flute do cocaine in a pantry and open up about their pasts. Tony kisses Flute, who after a tense moment kisses him back. Tony's volatility worsens; he picks a fight with Kenny and throws him and Lizzie out of his car. At Flute's apartment, Tony and Flute's relationship becomes sexual, though Tony struggles with his identity. Flute uses the word "queer" about himself without hesitation, but Tony panics at the exposure. When Tony reveals he stashed the gun at Gemma's house, Flute reveals it was never loaded, leaving Tony livid at having been tested.

Meanwhile, Finto recruits Tony as a double agent. He shows Tony CCTV footage identifying the tagger of his shop as Gerry Keegan, and Tony feels relief that the G stands for Gerry, not Glackin. Finto pitches his plan: He wants Tony to become his enforcer and eventually turn against Lavelle. Tony says he will think about it.

Flute calls with the green light for the Patsy job. Using a pre-staged car, Tony storms Patsy's apartment and drags him outside, where Flute shoots him in the back of the head. They burn the car with their clothing and the gun inside, then hide in a rural safe house. Flute reveals the killing was his fourth and tells Tony that one of his previous targets was a man who had been dating Fanny, killed on Lavelle's orders. Flute makes Tony swear never to tell her.

On Christmas Day, dinner at Jenny's erupts into a vicious argument between Tony and Archie, ending with their mother screaming that she will kill herself if they force her to choose. She confesses she once prayed for Tony's father to die because of how he treated Archie.

The day after Christmas, Flute and Fanny give Tony Christmas gifts and take him to a riverside pub for a warm afternoon. In Phoenix Park afterward, a silver car pulls up and the driver fires through the windshield. Flute rams the attacker's car and kills the man. Tony identifies the body as Gerry Keegan. At the body shop owned by Dennis Deegan, one of Lavelle's old associates, Tony discovers that "Gerry Keegan" was actually Robbie Glackin, Eddie's younger brother. The G graffiti was for Glackin after all. Eddie's obituary reveals two more brothers remain alive.

Lavelle and Melissa arrive at the body shop. Melissa places a gun in Flute's hand and orders him to shoot Tony. Flute refuses, tearful and shaking. In the chaos, Lavelle grabs the gun and accidentally shoots his own driver. He spares Tony but banishes him from the organization permanently.

Everything collapses. Kenny, still furious about being thrown from the car, refuses to help Tony and threatens to call the police. Tony's mother and Archie change the locks. Fanny meets Tony and urges him to flee the country. In a McDonald's on Grafton Street, Tony tells Fanny that Philly was his old boss and that the Glackins killed him. Fanny's reaction reveals that Philly was also her boyfriend, the one Flute killed on Lavelle's orders. Flute killed both Tony's mentor and Fanny's partner.

Tony visits Finto and asks for a gun. Finto agrees on the condition that Tony kill both Flute and Lavelle. Tony says he needs time. That night, a hooded figure appears at his mother's house, and Tony flees in terror to Gemma's, the only refuge left. Flute had beaten Gemma severely while retrieving the gun, breaking her hand. The next morning, Tony calls Finto and agrees. Finto's associate Dickie Kilchild supplies a .44 revolver.

Tony drives to the gym, where Lizzie is fighting in a youth boxing match with Kenny cheering and Fanny refereeing. He climbs to Lavelle's office and confronts Flute at gunpoint, accusing him of killing Philly while knowing the truth the entire time they were together. Flute admits it but calls Philly someone who was grooming Tony. Flute tells Tony he loves him.

Lavelle and Fanny enter. Flute tries to spin the situation, telling Lavelle that Tony is helping them by informing on Finto's crew. Tony hands the gun to Lavelle. Fanny screams, punches her father, and wrestles for the weapon, shouting at Tony to run. Flute lunges to seize Tony, and Fanny fires the gun, hitting Flute in the neck. Lavelle wrests the gun away. Tony bolts down the stairs as Lavelle fires wildly from above. Kenny runs toward Tony with Lizzie behind him, and a shot strikes Lizzie. Kenny falls to his daughter's side. Tony grabs a kitchen knife and stabs Lavelle repeatedly at the bottom of the stairs, killing him. Kenny stands over Tony with the .44, then pushes the gun into Tony's chest and says: "Go."

Tony drives home and collapses into his mother's arms. Archie tells him he has called the police at their mother's request. Tony briefly puts the gun to his own head, then forces his family into the sitting room. Hearing sirens, he places the gun on the staircase and walks out with his hands raised. Detective Sergeant Eamonn Prendergast, Tony's former Juvenile Liaison Officer, waits at the end of the driveway. Tony lowers himself to the ground, is handcuffed, and is carried away, surrendering the final decision about his fate to someone else.