Night Boat to Tangiers by Kevin Barry

This book was long listed for the Booker Prize and it certainly fits that bill.  In fact it has a lot of the characteristics of books that make it to the short list as well.  The author said in an interview that the novel was inspired by his many trips to Spain during the coldest months of the year. He was fascinated by the ferry port city of Algeciras, where life is gritty.   One trip took the author across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier. He stayed at the Hotel El Muniria, where William S. Burroughs famously wrote “Naked Lunch".  That fact should be kept in mind when reading this book, as there is the drug and drink fueled memories of love, sex, and infidelity that run through that book.
Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearne, the book's main characters, are Cork drug dealers, former big-time suppliers and users. Now into their 50s, their black money is squandered; they have done and could still do terrible things.  They are in fact hoping that life is not finished with them, but worry that they are being left behind.  While they wait for Dilly, Charlie's daughter, and while they wait they converse about their long relationship with each other.  By the end you understand perfectly why Dilly is not going to come back to Charlie and why.  Odd in it's cadence but well written.