Putting apprehensions to one side

I've been meaning to read Alan Glynn's Winterland for a while. First, I put it to one side because I was writing my own novel concerning property corruption in Ireland. Then, I left it there because I didn't want to do any comparisons that might set my heart sinking, especially since all the reviews I've seen of it are very positive. I've decided to bite the bullet and move it to the top of the pile, in part because it's the first in a trilogy and I'm interested in the second book in the series, Bloodland, which is just about to be released (Sept 1st).

Here's the backcover blurb for Bloodland:

A tabloid star is killed in a helicopter crash and three years later a young journalist is warned off the story. A private security contractor loses it in the Congo, with deadly consequences. In Ireland an ex-prime minister struggles to contain a dark secret from his time in office. A dramatic news story breaks in Paris just as a US senator begins his campaign to run for office. With echoes of John Le Carré, 24 and James Ellroy, Alan Glynn’s follow-up to Winterland is another crime novel of and for our times – a ferocious, paranoid thriller that moves from Dublin to New York via Central Africa, and thrillingly explores the legacy of corruption in big business, the West’s fear of China, the role of back room political players and the question of who controls what we know.