Book Description
Garda Detective Tadhg Sullivan leads a special unit that investigates politically
motivated crime. A man known only as The Deerstalker is a cancer who has infected
the Irish political system.
Sullivan teams up with journalist Helen Carty, and together they try tracking down
the mysterious killer. Carty adds to Sullivan’s problems, when he finds himself falling
in love with her. And further complicating things, he starts losing trust in his partner,
Detective Pat Carter, who appears to be on the side of the Garda Commissioner,
who Sullivan is rapidly falling out with.
Sullivan’s case is further thrown into confusion when a copycat killer, Tommy Walsh,
is shot dead by the CIA. When the CIA discovers that they've killed the wrong
person, the two agents involved--Simon, who has become disillusioned by his time
stationed in the Middle East, and Joey, a psychopath who confuses zealotry with
patriotism--are also in pursuit of The Deerstalker.
Sullivan finds himself in a race against time, if he is to arrest The Deerstalker before
the CIA take him out, and use his death as a pawn in a political game of chess.
Who will win out in the end?
Excerpt from The Gun
He stared at the gun lying on the bed. It had been in his possession for nearly
half his life and he’d never known what to do with it. The funny thing was, he’d
always hated guns and yet, here he was.
He heard his wife moving around downstairs, and knew soon she would call him
for a cup of tea. He had to get the gun back into its hiding place.
He thought back to the first time he’d seen it. A late night knock at the door and a
man from down the street had handed it to him with ammunition, both wrapped in
fertiliser bags.
“What the hell is this?” he’d blurted out.
“It’s a gun,” the man had said with no expression.
“What are you giving it to me for?” he’d whispered, not wanting his family to
hear.
“Because I trust you,” he’d replied.
“What the hell do you mean, you trust me? You hardly know me! And all I know
about you is you’re mixed up in the IRA. I have a family and I don’t give a damn
about the North. Now please get away from my door and take that with you.”
The man had stared at him, but all calm had disappeared from his features.
Then he spoke through gritted teeth.
“Now listen to me. The guards are going to be here shortly. Something serious
happened tonight, and now you’re mixed up in it, whether you like it or not. If you
don’t take the gun from me now, when the guards arrive and see us together, I’ll
implicate you. Even if they don’t believe me, it will mean you’ll have to stand up in
Court and give evidence against me. Do you want that for your family? It would be
much easier for you to stick the gun in the boot of your car, drive off somewhere, and
hide it. But you’d better make your mind up fast, before they arrive and arrest us
both.”
He often wondered why he’d taken it. Was it because he’d had sympathy for the
man? He didn’t think so. Maybe it was the fear of being implicated, or like the man
had said, being branded an informer. He wasn’t sure, but whatever the reason, it
seemed like providence.
He heard his wife again. He heard her wheelchair go over the door saddle in the
kitchen. He knew she was sitting there in the hallway looking up the stairs. He was
safe upstairs, yet he always felt panic when he knew she was listening.
“Is that you love?” he called down.
“Yes, what are you doing up there?”
“I’m just checking my fishing gear.”
He hated lying to her, but what could he say? That he was checking out his
sniper rifle?
“Well I’m putting on a cup of tea, so finish up and come down and share some
with me.”
“Right you are. Just give me a minute. Cut up some of that Swiss Roll I bought
yesterday.”
He pulled back the carpet, lifted the floorboards he’d loosened, and put the gun
back in its hiding place, feeling a jolt of excitement. He’d already set his little plan in
motion. They’d find out the hard way, no matter who you are, you can’t escape
justice.
Author Bio
Daithi Kavanagh lives in Trinity, County Wexford with his wife and two teenage
children.
He has worked for several years as a musician.
In the last couple of years, after taking up adult education, he began writing.
His debut book is ‘The Gun’ and has now started the second book in the series.
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My Thoughts
The Gun is a story of many characters, but the main one is the shooter. He has a disabled wife whom he loves dearly and children that have moved away from home. Sounds like most families, right? Well not necessarily, the shooter is a disgruntled man who is disgusted with the local and country politics of Ireland. He blames the government for his children migrating to Ireland because there is no work. It is after the Celtic Tiger and times are tough for people in Ireland. He feels that the politicians are lining their own pockets while the people in the country are struggling. He decides to do something about it and starts shooting and killing these same politicians.
Garda Detective Tadhg (pronounced (Tige) Sullivan is one of those hard boiled detectives who has lived hard. He gets together with a journalist and together they try to figure out who the shooter is , the police call him the Deerhunter. It is not the ideal match as he really should not be sharing info with a journalist, but he just can not help himself, because he is falling in love with her. These are not the only three characters in the story, there is Tadhg's partner, their commanding officer, a man by the name of Tommy, who the CIA think is the shooter, and of course the two CIA operatives.
I did enjoy this story, a really good plot that could have come from The Irish Times, the pace was good, the characters well written. The only issue I had was the formatting for the Kindle. The chapters kind of ran into each other and there were times that it took a bit to figure out which character was narrating the story. I didn't find this a big problem though as reading files on a Kindle can be that way. I would recommend this book to the reader who enjoys a good suspenseful story, plus it is set in Ireland, in my book that is a plus!
I received a copy of the book from the author for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
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