HUNTING For A Story

HUNTED begins with a rare copy of the ‘Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ being stolen. The whole book is about the past. I had always avoided writing about ‘The Troubles,’ but in this book, here it is- front and centre. But not completely, the story is set just afterwards. I needed there to be some distance for the story, and for me. The book is set in 1999 and the characters are looking back at their recent past. In the same way, the reader is looking back at our recent past from the vantage point of 2024. I say recent- 1999 seems not so long ago to me. 

This is my eighth novel and the first one introducing these characters. Walker has a lot about him that I can relate to and a lot that I don’t. That’s half the fun. He’s a contradiction, an anti-hero. But he has a lot to admire, amidst his flaws and questionable choices. Of course there’s some of myself in there- good and bad. There has to be. Not all though. He was in the IRA, then he was an informer for the British. No tick for either. He’s sensitive, he’s much better read than me, he drinks much more than I do. Walker has a slick orange Hornet AMX. I own a battered orange CMAX. But he does have my same love of Irish whiskey with lemonade and ice. He’s also slightly embarrassed about it. I’ve never had a fight, but he can handle himself with ease, kill when he thinks he has to. But he also listens to a lot of Neil Young.

 

Walker finds two companions in the story and once they were all on the page, I knew that this trio was who I wanted to write about for a long time. I hope I do. Book two is almost finished and number three is roughly planned out. I’d like to think there’ll be many more.

 

The story is set in 1999 for the most part. It was interesting to me to write about our recent history. The story is set in America, but it is rooted in Northern Ireland and The Troubles. I say I’ve always tried to shun The Troubles in my books, but I can’t ever really ignore them any better than Walker can. In many ways this book is about perspective. The character looks at his past actions and the fluid and unstable peace back home through a number of lenses. He now tries to see things from all sides. We wouldn’t have peace now if real people hadn’t tried to do the same. In many ways, ‘The Easter Rising’ started it all. But it was also just one flash point in a winding road that eventually led to the thirty years of daily violence, bombings and murder. In the story, a series of events leads Walker back to face his past full on, with the violence that inevitably follows. 

This is a thriller novel. I hope people find it entertaining. But more than anything else, I think this book is about starting a journey towards being at peace with the past. I think that is something we all have to do at one time or another. 

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