Title: Born of Bombs and Bullets: An Aaron Thornton Thriller

Author: David A. Dummer

Genre: Political Thriller

 

Following a traumatic incident during a therapy class in a US State Penitentiary, prison psychologist Aaron Thornton relocates with his Belfast-born wife, Claire, to Northern Ireland when she is offered the role of visiting law professor at Queen’s University.

Keen to see where Claire grew up and curious to learn more about The Troubles, the violent sectarian conflict that raged for three decades, Thornton accepts a job working with offenders within the Irish criminal justice system. But if Thornton believes The Troubles to be in the past, he’s very much mistaken…

Born of Bombs and Bullets opens in a West Virginia prison. Dummer’s writing has a controlled, confident style, weighted with an uneasy frisson of foreboding and precise detailing that is instantly absorbing.

Within a few pages, Dummer introduces a life-changing event that provides the reader with insight into Thornton’s character and propels the move to Belfast.

Once in Northern Ireland’s capital city, Dummer skillfully builds up a bold, multi-layered narrative told from overlapping perspectives, deftly switching between characters and locations while weaving through flashbacks to the early 1970s and mid-1990s.

First of the emerging protagonists is Liam O’Malley, the Provisional IRA’s foremost bomb maker, about to be released from prison. O’Malley is a convincing character whose brutal résumé belies a complicated, intelligent man about to face a period of intense self-reckoning.

His dynamic with fellow terrorist Patrick Linden is one of several toxically tangled partnerships that are central to the narrative and where the balance of power fluctuates intriguingly, strengthening and subverting the gripping plot turns and reveals.

Another is between Tommy Magee and his Loyalist homicidal foster brother, Kieran Oliver. Dummer heartbreakingly depicts the extent of Tommy’s emotional damage resulting from an IRA bomb that killed his parents.

This bomb, detonated at Sheehan’s furniture store on the Shankill Road in 1994, underpins the plot. Dummer revisits it from differing viewpoints, adding nuance and embroidering detail that begins to connect the main characters with devastating consequences.

Thornton also becomes an incendiary link between them without realizing it. His sessions with Tommy and Liam are magnetic exchanges loaded with meaning and dramatic irony.

Claire is a conflicted soul, inadvertently playing all sides while being manipulated by her father, Robert Inglesby, an M15 director as ruthless as the terrorists. Dummer cleverly makes the reader aware of the seismic secret Claire is hiding from Thornton and its extensive consequences early on. Subsequently, she never elicits full sympathy.

Nonetheless, Thornton is occasionally too naive. His solo trip to The Tricolor Pub stretches credulity. Although his well-meaning ignorance yields some of the most riveting scenes, there are moments when he appears overly gullible.

The supporting cast is depicted with individuality and authenticity. Dummer ensures that even the lesser characters are given compelling impulses and desires, and as events accelerate from all directions toward a violent finale, it’s absolutely nail-biting.

Indeed, Dummer controls the plot with its array of complications superbly.  Elements of the ending are a surprise. Dummer makes a brave decision with Claire and Thornton’s denouement, which is realistic and satisfying within context.

Born of Bombs and Bullets shines a profoundly illuminating light on The Troubles, presenting the factions involved, their motives, and influences with writerly objectivity yet an emotive understanding, which ensures that even the most heinous terrorist actions provoke a level of comprehension if not complete empathy.

It’s difficult to comprehend that Born of Bombs and Bullets is Dummer’s debut novel. This highly accomplished, brilliantly conceived, and nerve-shredding thriller effortlessly hooks the reader from the first page with its gritty, cross-generational story driven by complex, engaging characters and meticulous research.

 

 

This Editorial Review was written by the Book Review Directory staff. To receive a similarly honest, professional review for one of your own books, click here.