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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In The Maker's Name by Seamus McKenna, Rudi and Malachi run Hawthorne Meats Limited, up until Malachi’s tragic shooting, which deeply impacts Rudi and his family. As Rudi juggles the fallout from Malachi’s death and suspicions regarding his own involvement, he also has his hands full in the light of his wife Penny’s grief. Concurrently, Raymond Quinn, facing legal troubles in China related to a Ponzi scheme, complicates matters. Meanwhile, Gus Considine, Rudi's butcher brother with his own shadow under shady practices, faces scrutiny over his illegal foie gras sales, leading to his dismissal and subsequent return to Brussels. As their storylines become more and more entangled, so too does all the trouble each seems particularly good at conjuring up. “It’s one thing to be ambitious. It’s another to be fanatical about screwing everyone in sight so you can get on.”
Seamus McKenna does a fantastic job of throwing the whole kitchen sink into The Maker's Name. McKenna’s writing is witty and intelligent, bringing his main characters Rudi, Malachi, and Gus to life. McKenna does well in leaning into the ramifications that often follow the tragic downfall of a patriarch, especially when there's massive sibling rivalry and business partnerships in hand. There are a lot of moving parts here that run the gamut of financial investments and embargoes to history, colonialism, and, of course, meat. As a reader who happens to be half East Asian and half Irish, I went into the story with moderate expectations and finished it with a smile on my face. McKenna displays sharp observations about societal issues, especially in the handling of business ethics and cultural identity, which elevate the book as a whole. Overall, this is a book that is prime and ready for hearty consumption and I'm certain others will enjoy it as much as I did.