Night of the Blackbird [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

Heather Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

Moira Kelly has come home to Boston to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with family and friends. The last thing she expects to find in the family pub is the undercurrent of danger as talk turns to politics. All too quickly, Moira finds herself struggling with the anger of her old flame, Dan O'Hara, and the convictions of her new love, Michael McLean. Torn between them, she becomes a pawn in a conspiracy that promises to bring the violence and hatred of a different time and place to her own backyard.

This passionate, close-knit community is harboring a traitor. And as the chilling acts of evil unfold around her, Moira must face the fact that a generation is not long enough to soften revenge.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Graham's powerful romantic thriller (after Night Heat, etc.) offers a cool, reasoned look at how Irish-Americans cope with the violence occurring in their homeland. Kelly's Pub, a family-owned establishment in Boston, is ground central for the Kelly family reunion, a St. Patrick's Day celebration and, quite possibly, a terrorist operation. When a cable TV producer, Moira Kelly, brings her boyfriend, Michael McLean, home to meet her family, she immediately senses that something is amiss. Her brother frequently disappears at all hours of the night to meet with his "associates," her father's best friend gives her cryptic warnings and later turns up dead and her ex-boyfriend, Danny O'Hara, seems to be hiding things from her. To complicate matters further, there's a serial killer on the loose who may be connected to the St. Patrick's Day conspiracy that's brewing at the pub. As the suspense mounts and the number of red herrings rises, Danny works to draw Moira away from her picture-perfect boyfriend and rekindle their old passion. The narrative's high suspense and charismatic characters will engage, but an excess of detail occasionally impedes its momentum. Unlike many romantic suspense novels, however, this gripping tale strikes a perfect balance between romance and intrigue. (Oct.)Forecast: Expect strong sales. Graham (aka Shannon Drake and Heather Graham Pozzessere) is as popular as she is prolific; she's written nearly 100 titles several of which were Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild selections and her first Mira hardcover, Hurricane Bay, is due out in April 2002.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

". . .a book filled with passion and suspense." -- Rendezvous

"With the name Heather Graham on the cover, you are guaranteed a good read! -- Literary Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Dh Audio; Abridged edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552042804
• ISBN-13: 978-1552042809
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,714,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really.

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Her weakest effort, November 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Night Of The Blackbird (Mass Market Paperback)

Every time I read this author, I'm amazed that she could be a "best-selling author." This book was probably one of the worst I've ever read.

Since her stories are usually good for a light read, I continue to read them. However, this one was so full of politics and history that I skipped over a lot of it, something I rarely do. And her attempt to authenticate it with the Irish dialect was distracting and made it even harder to follow.

One thing I wish this author would get a grasp on is the basics of writing. I'm a writer and one of the first things I was taught was that "said" is the best way to describe conversation - it's short, sweet and to the point. This author should be used as an example of what not to do by every writing professor in the world as far as this subject. The characters wailed, breathed, muttered, responded, cried, questioned, murmurered, retorted, and just about every other word you can possibly think of to excess. It was very annoying, as were the pages and pages of "filler" that really said nothing and did nothing to move the story along (i.e. "Where were you?" "What are you, my mother?" "I asked where you were." "I was out." "Out where?" "Why are you questioning me?" etc.)

Another thing that's very annoying with this author is her overuse of characters. She packs so many into each story that it's nearly impossible to keep track of who's who. And in every scene, the details are painstakingly described, and every character must be accounted for. Frankly, I really don't care who sat next to who at dinner, who rode in whose car to church, what everyone wore to sleep and where each member of the family was while Grandma was cooking breakfast.

A very poor effort from a very mediocre author.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Way too political, October 22, 2006

By 

A. Rowley (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Of The Blackbird (Mira) (Mass Market Paperback)

Moira Kelly gets a guilt ridden phone call from her mother begging her to come back to Boston for St. Patrick's Day. For the very Irish Kelly family, this holiday is even more important than Christmas. Knowing that her father's health is failing and wanting to please her mother, Moira decides to change her plans to film her travel show in Florida, to a full look at St. Patrick's day celebrations in Boston.

Unfortunately, her visit is not a pleasant event. Dan O'Hara broke her heart some years ago, but he is back and ready to make a change. Moira has already moved on with the gorgeous Michael, whom she works with and who dotes on her lovingly.

Something is going on in her family's pub. The politics of Ireland are now in full force and someone among her is planning an assasination. The one person who knows anything mysteriously dies and Moira is left to suspect the one man she has loved nearly her whole life. Not knowing who to trust, Moira does some investigating of her own to find the killer, but what will it cost her?

This romantic suspense/mystery was a little more political than I enjoyed. The issues seemed to drone on about the Irish issues as if reading a text book concerning the continuing conflicts surrounding the dividing of Ireland.

Even with a number of red herrings, the plot was fairly predictable. Even the romance was not up to other Heather Graham novels.

Is it worth buying?

Unless you are very interested in Irish politics, the average reader may find this novel to be more wordy than it is suspenseful. Therefore, I do not recommend paying full price for Night of the Blackbird.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Divided loyalties - Very highly recommended, October 1, 2001

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Of The Blackbird (Mass Market Paperback)

Kelly's Pub, a family-owned establishment in Boston, becomes the center of a family reunion and possible terrorist plot during a St. Patrick's Day celebration. When her mother calls warning that her father's health isn't well, TV producer Moira Kelly changes her plans and brings she show to Boston. The plans for the pub and her family provide insight for viewers into the way of the Irish from recipes to lore. When Moira learns that a certain Belfast politician plans to celebrate the holiday with Bostonians, she also decides to invite him to her show. Soon Moira finds herself thrust into danger and intrigue, as she learns that "Blackbird" represents more than the name of the band or Kelly invented beverage, it also seems to be a code word linking pub patrons to political ideologies and dangerous plots.

In addition to professional concerns, Moira also finds her loyalties challenged in her private life. She brings her new love, Michael McLean to Boston, despite the fact that her old flame Daniel O'Hara is also visiting her family. Torn between stability and passion, Moira struggles with her common sense and her heart. Worse, she also feels her loyalties challenged by her brother's frequent mysterious absences, secrets whispered in the darkness, and new revelations about Danny's past. Add a killer of prostitutes that seems connected to the conspiracy, as well as her father's best friend's death, and Moira finds herself in imminent danger.

Heather Graham strikes the perfect balance between romance and suspense in NIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD. While terrorist plots may be a bit difficult to read in the wake of the recent US bombing, for those with an appetite for intrigue, NIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD will prove quite satisfying. The complexity of plot, richness of historical detail, and multitude of suspects keeps the reader enthralled. Further, the heroine struggles with first generation Irish-American, including family idiosyncrasies, political entanglements and multiple loyalties, thereby adding tremendous richness of this novel. Combined with a beautifully written love story and thought provoking philosophical asides, NIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD comes very highly recommended.