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Tiara, December 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Wolf Man, December 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Author Self-Published
December 2013
On Sale: December 25, 2013
Featuring: Berlin Mansfield; Princess Jennifer
253 pages
ISBN: 1494366878
EAN: 9781494366872
Kindle: B00H4NLHR6
Paperback / e-Book
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Thriller
Tiara is one of the most original novels on Northern Ireland
written in quite some time. Based on the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement, it borrows from the Princess Diana tragedy in a
what-if scenario, then takes a dark turn into the shadowy
world of terrorism that brings us right alongside modern day
headlines. Its politics, its characters and its storyline
are controversial and intriguing, turning this into a first-
rate page-turner. Princess Jennifer is a widowed member of British royalty who
pursues a vision quest in attending the negotiations at
Stormont leading to the GFA in NI of 1998. She becomes a
fantasy object to Berlin Mansfield, a terrorist who finagles
his way into the peace talks to meet the Princess. Unknown
to both of them, she is also the target of the Ulster
Defense Association, a loyalist gang intent on holding her
hostage to stop the negotiations. She is kidnapped by the
UDA, and Mansfield offers his services to the rival IRA to
try and rescue the Princess. CIA agents Jon Stevens and
Slash Scimitar are in NI on a mission and end up helping the
British track down both Mansfield and the kidnappers.
Eventually the 'black knight' rescues the Princess, and we
end up on a different track on this rollercoaster that
eventually hurtles us home safely into the Good Friday
Agreement. Tiara's Jennifer is a knock-off of Princess Di, reminiscent
of the guess-who characterizations employed by Mario Puzo in
The Godfather. She's a statuesque, emerald-eyed blonde whose
philandering husband buys the farm in a boating accident,
leaving her with her own unique title (the Princess of
Edinburgh) and position as heiress to the throne of England.
She buries her grief in British philanthropy, drawing her
into the centuries-old debate over the Troubles in Ulster.
She becomes a crusader for the quest for self-governance,
and in doing so becomes a target for the Ulster Defense
Association, a loyalist terror gang. They kidnap the
Princess in a last-ditch effort to derail the talks, and we
see a reenactment of Lady Di's car accident become a segue
into her capture. Her celebrity catapults the incident into
international headlines, and at this point the story
escalates into a tale of romance, intrigue, revenge and
murder between the UDA and the rival IRA. Although the IRA and their counterparts, Sinn Fein and MADD
(Mothers Against Drug Dealers, or Evil Mothers), remain
shadowy figures in the novel, the conflicts within the UDA
are most noteworthy. Elderly bosses Jimmy "the Bull" Doherty
and Delmore Merrick struggle to maintain control of their
politically-savvy kidnap team under street tough Baxter
Cody. Along with fraying political connections, they
eventually lose their most deadly assassin, Shannon
Blackburn (my vote as the scariest villain of all time), as
well as their control of East Belfast in the changing times
ahead. The subplot provides us with an insightful look at NI
in its arrival into a new century amidst its traditional
values and mores.
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