Showing posts with label rite of passage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rite of passage. Show all posts

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Until the Next Time by Kevin Fox

This is an Amazon Vine book that took me out of my comfort zone; it required me to fancy myself Irish and just accept what I read. If it hadn't contained such marvelous characters, I don't think I would have suspended disbelief so well but these characters have such depths to them that I'll be thinking about them for a long while.

The story begins when Sean Corrigan, of New York, is given a journal kept by his father's brother Michael. Sean had never known about an Uncle Michael, but apparently his uncle had been a NY cop who ran to Ireland to escape a murder charge. As the story continues, Sean goes to Ireland to solve the mystery of what happened to his uncle there and meet the people who knew his uncle.

Now it gets really intriguing and mysterious. Sean doesn't know what's going on half the time and I could only figure things out in retrospect in some cases. Still I was glued to the pages as I needed to find out. All I could do was settle in for a wild ride, particularly when Anne, the girl who is sent to pick Sean up at the airport, is driving. This girl is one of the most fascinating characters in the book, and her driving is absolutely insane.

The beautifully described settings vary from lonely islands, one of which Sean's family owns, to city streets. The IRA is involved, the Troubles, killing of innocent people in the cause of a free Ireland, guns and money from the U.S., revenge killings, and the British fighting back. You will wonder throughout who is Declan? You will wonder what happens to Kate and Michael and Sean and Anne. And unfortunately if I tell you anymore I'll spoil the story for you.

I'll have to be satisfied with saying that the story is very Irish, and that it is illogically logical. If you have "eyes that see and ears that hear", you will understand. I highly recommend this haunting book.