cover image The Morning Line

The Morning Line

Tom Kenny. CreateSpace, $12.95 trade paper (223p) ISBN 978-1-500454-26-5

Kenny’s intriguing, occasionally moving thriller opens in 1998 New York City, with American journalist Bill Upton receiving the Metropolitan Peace Council’s Peace Medal for his “brilliant, persuasive writings” that have led Northern Ireland to the verge of genuine peace. In his acceptance speech, Upton shares the story about how “courage and sacrifice, when mixed with a bit of sleight of hand, can accomplish what most think impossible.” Flash back to 1980s Northern Ireland: a British sniper misses IRA leader Michael O’Shaughnessy and instead kills O’Shaughnessy’s son, Timmy, in the five-year-old’s bedroom. The bullet travels through a stuffed kangaroo, a Christmas present from the boy’s Australian uncle, Aidan McGuire, before exploding in Timmy’s “little heart.” Devastated by Timmy’s death, Aidan, a trainer for a record-breaking race horse, has an opportunity years later to help the IRA cause. His unique access to the animal gives him the idea for a scheme that can vastly increase the movement’s coffers. Readers will keep turning the pages to see how Aidan’s plan will connect with Upton’s speech. (BookLife)