Father & Son [Mass Market Paperback]

Peter Maas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1990

Drawn by the anger and loyalties learned at a grandfather's knee, second generation Irish-American Jamie McGuire has vanished into a world of explosive secrets and brutal betrayals. Now Jamie's father, Michael -- an advertising executive with no allegiance to any cause -- must rescue his lost son from a violent place where revolution is the faith and freedom means death. But it may already be too late, for Jamie has been chosen to play two indispensable roles in a bloody, long-running international drama: scapegoat...and martyr.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maas has always brought a novelist's sense of pace and drama to his nonfiction (most notably Serpico ), so it should come as no surprise that his accomplished second novel is sharp and surehanded, especially in its depiction of people caught up in a cause about which they have more passion than knowledge. Widower Michael McGuire is a New York ad exec with dwindling emotional ties to his Irish heritage, but his young son Jamie (with some indoctrination from his grandfather) becomes an outspoken supporter of the IRA at an early age. At 19, he attends Harvard but moonlights as a coffeehouse balladeer whose songs about "the Troubles" capture the attention of a gunrunning network that decides to use him as a pawn. In alternate chapters, the author probes Michael and Jamie's relationship and strips away the layers of an IRA network that, in his portrayal, extends through every level of American government. As the stories converge into tragedy, Maas's tightly coiled narrative reaches a conclusion that, though inevitable, is highly effective. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) buys Redeye missiles from a U.S. crime lord, then hires 19-year-old Jamie McGuire, Harvard student, believer in the Irish cause, and a sailor, to help transport them to Northern Ireland. When the shipment is intercepted, someone must pay for the failure. Maas, second-time novelist and author of best-selling nonfiction (The Valachi Papers, Manhunt), uses the entire clandestine IRA hierarchy as a backdrop for this informative novel of terrorism, betrayal, and the poignant tale of a father and son. No one escapes his journalistic scrutiny from the intricate network of Irish empathizers to British MI5, the Irish Guarda, the FBI, and the IRA itself. Failing somewhat to create a mood of suspense, he succeeds in presenting all sides of the Irish embroilment without emotional involvement.
- Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch; 1st Pb Edition edition (March 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061000205
• ISBN-13: 978-0061000201
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,105,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another Irish Tragedy, June 24, 2002

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Father & Son (Mass Market Paperback)

A father who is slow to respond to his son's needs, creates a family version of the Irish Tragedy.