A Decent Bomber

Alexander McNabb

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Twenty years ago, Pat used to make bombs for the IRA. He doesn't want to do it again today...

In a world where travellers are made walk barefoot through airport security in case there’s a bomb in their heels and we’re told 100ml of liquid is dangerous, what happens when a man capable of making bombs that weigh a tonne is torn out of retirement and forced to resume his old trade? Carnage. That’s what.

Pat O’Carolan has been a farmer these past twenty years, living on a remote smallholding with his ghosts and occasional visits from his beloved niece. When he’s forced by Somali terrorist turned extortionist The Accountant to make a series of bombs using materials stolen from forgotten IRA caches, Pat joins the War on Terror as only he knows how.

New terror meets old in a deadly clash with only one winner.

Review by Chrissi (301115) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
This is a most intriguing book, it calls to question a variety of things that I had never really considered before. It opens with a rather gruesome display and contrasts this with the peaceful farming life of Pat O’Carolan, living with his herd of dairy cows in Tipperary. He is looking forward to seeing his niece, Orla, who is studying animal husbandry at University and is coming to visit with him. Unfortunately the poor man at the beginning was being asked to give up details of historical importance, the identity and codes for men who had been members of active service units of the Irish Republican Army. And Pat O’Carolan is high on their list as a successful builder of bombs. They want him to build bombs for them, and they take Orla to force him to do as they ask. The bombs are purported to be for blackmail only, and although O’Carolan builds them, he has a plan to prevent them from being used.

The storyline is tight, fast and will keep you gripped. It is intelligent, there is no simple “terrorism is bad” message. There are both sympathetic and unsympathetic characters who have lost people and how they react is understandable even if it is not laudable. There are interesting relationships borne of enmity and common cause, which confuse the whole terrorist/freedom fighter issue and the whole police/politician is just a morass of issues. Just when you think that people with a long and bloody history can work together there comes a very human fear that they will be let down at some point down the line and it could leave them vulnerable, so it is OK to keep a bit back, just in case, you know.

It does make you realise, though, that those who are fighting within their own society for freedom are different for those who are out for power and prestige. It also points to the very human reaction to pain and grief, which attracts people to extreme views when they feel raw from their experiences and cannot see a way out.

The idea that there are those who will espouse a political view to further their own material wealth is well illustrated. There were a few observations about how well some freedom fighters have done and how it was time that the new guard had a go, which only serves to illustrate how those whose noses are well and truly in the trough are always envied by those yet to get their snout in, and religion actually has very little to do with any of it.

I thought this a clever, thought-provoking book and would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little more challenging for a Christmas Present for someone who likes the modern action thriller genre and has a bit of a strong stomach.
Chrissi (30th November 2015)