A Darker Green

Matthew Keegan

 

Sean Doherty, a conscripted Australian soldier, is sick of the messy Vietnam War and yearns to go home. Home, however, has changed. His country has no sympathy and those closest to him are not what they seem. It is here he realises a soldier may leave the war but the war will never leave him. The killing machine the Australian army had trained for war has just come home.

Fleeing to Ireland with the hope of starting a new life in peace and anonymity in the land of his forefathers, Sean sees a chance to find himself again. But he is mistaken for an IRA member, tortured by pro-British paramilitaries and left for dead. They should have finished the job.

Vowing revenge, the young Australian joins the IRA rebels and hits back hard, bringing his experience from Vietnam to the streets of Belfast and Dublin. But the British authorities discover Sean's identity and military history and want him taken out. Answering the call are Britain's elite soldiers, the Special Air Service. A new type of warfare is silently headed for the Irish rebels and leading them is a recently transferred Australian soldier; once Sean's mate from Vietnam, now warrior for the British SAS.

 

 

About the Author

A Darker Green was written in an aluminium smelter during the quiet hours of many night shifts. At the time, Matt was an operator at the Tomago smelter just outside of Newcastle and in the down time whilst others played cards, watched TV or slept, Matt wrote. So in a way, he was being paid to write.

Currently working as a locomotive operator hauling coal trains down the Hunter Valley to the port of Newcastle, Matt has had many jobs but claims these are simply to fund his many (mostly legal) vices.