|
|
Danger is brewing on the streets
of Belfast
It is ten years since peace came to Northern Ireland but
not everybody is happy with the transformation. An
alliance of dissident republicans and Jihadists is
plotting a fresh campaign to force a final British
withdrawal from Ireland. Having stumbled across the plot,
Belfast journalist Terry Casey, who survived a bombing as
a child, is once more a target.
Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service
(MI6) unveils a Dubai-based arms deal with links to the
U.S. and Ireland. Before long, its sister service MI5,
along with the FBI and Ireland’s Special Detective Unit is
engaged in a desperate race to catch the organisers and
abort looming disaster.
As the killings mount across the globe,
it is hard to friend from foe. The insurgents hold the
political high ground, especially at the United Nations,
where they make hay with accusations of racism and
xenophobia. As the security net closes on the plot
leaders, the authorities check up some significant wins
but are still struggling to interdict an arms shipment to
the terrorists in Ireland.
As the drama reaches its climax, unseen
links between the Troubles and events in Belfast thirty
years later come to light, helping to explain the actions
of current players on both sides of the contest. But many
more will die before this happens.
Born and raised in Belfast where he lived through the
Troubles, Martin John’s work as an academic took him
around the world before he moved permanently to Australia.
Now retired, but in his working life the author of
many academic books and papers, he wrote this novel, which
began as non-fiction, as his first venture into fiction.
His interests include history and politics in particular
Irish history and culture, the Western canon, travel, and
football, both Australian Rules and what is known in the
Antipodes as soccer.