Plugged is a crime debut that, whilst dealing with some very dark subject matters, is also laced with a healthy dose of black comedy.

The word "plugged” has been interwoven into pop-culture lexicon by shows such as The Sopranos (also set in New Jersey) where it simply means to shoot or ‘whack’ somebody. Here, it has a double-edged meaning.

Just as Connie the waitress is ‘plugged’ early on in the story, Dan McEvoy has also been ‘plugged’… with hair extensions.

Facing the onset of male pattern baldness, he has recently turned to his dodgy doctor friend Zeb Kronski – who he first encountered in Lebanon "sticking a large needle of reddish gunk into another man’s dick” – for discount hair plugs.

Making matters worse, Zeb has now gone missing. In fact, he is probably dead. Could his disappearance be linked to Connie’s death? Dan hits the streets, and he hits them hard.

Before long, his army training kicks in whilst investigating Zeb’s surgery and a would-be attacker ends up with a key sticking out of his neck as he bleeds to death on the carpet. Dan is in deep and he needs to think fast.

Unfortunately, a lot of his thinking these days actually sounds like his old pal Zeb, kindly standing in for his subconscious.

His observation that the situation is "a total donkey’s cock” sounds about right, at least.

Title: Plugged Author: Eoin Colfer
Publisher: Headline
First Published: May 2011

Rating: 3/5
No. of Pages: 288