Review: Finely Written Fiction with Action, Tragedy, and One Man's Self-Discovery in Ireland
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
“Irish Blood” is a novel of loss and healing, of one man’s self-discovery and his discovery of a nation’s largely-hidden conflict.As the novel opens, Mick McKenna is struck numb with grief over the death of his wife, Sarah, who died in a car bomb explosion while they were on honeymoon in Ireland. His grief finally breaks through on his first day back teaching at the university, and he finds himself on a plane back to Ireland, where he is looking for answers and possibly revenge. What he finds is the O’Neil couple, who take him in and give him a place to grieve and explore Ireland, and a sensitive and kind young woman named Jillian, to whom he’s physically drawn even though it’s too soon. Tom O’Neil is involved in the conflict in Northern Ireland, however, and soon Mick is drawn into it too—it’s a world of violence, anger, and danger that Mick might not get out of alive.“Irish Blood” is a well-written novel with many themes, among them senseless violence and the effect it has on innocent people, the morality of our own choices, and how grief shapes a person in the aftermath of tragedy. Mick is lost when the novel opens, and he grounds himself in Ireland; the beauty of the countryside and seaside contrasted with the violence he witnesses as an everyday part of life are a shocking contrast. As a reader who isn’t well-educated about the IRA and the unrest in Northern Ireland, I felt myself awakening to it as Mick did, and it’s deeply effective. Mick’s struggles with his own grieve are touching and realistic, while the O’Neils provide a center of warmth for the book with their own personal tragedy.  I also liked the periodically placed chapters about Cecil Maxwell of the FBI; Maxwell is set up to provide a strong moral compass in the book, and the chapters featuring him give you a different inside in the politics and positions of the conflict.Recommended to readers who enjoy contemporary fiction that combines action and foreign conflict with strong character development and meaningful themes.