1. Title & Cover:

On the cover of the book you can see a mans face with red and yellow prints around it. The backround is black. I’m not sure what this means or shows, but to me it looks somewhat secretive, mysterious and dark…
The title also sounds pretty exciting, it matches the cover. By reading the title you know it isn’t a type of ‘fairy tale’ book, but you still don’t have any clue what it’s about.

2. These are the main characters:

Michael Dillon: He is the main character in this book. Dillon lives in Ireland with his wife Moira which he once met at a party when he was in England . He works as a hotel manager only because his father and grandfather were also hotel managers; but if it were up to him, Dillon would’ve preferred another job. His life dream was to be a poet, which he tried to be after graduating, but unfortunately he had no succes. Allthough Dillon is Irish himself, he hates the country and would like to live in England.

Moira: Moira is Dillons wife. They married 3 years ago. She is also Irish and has been living in Ireland her entire life, like Dillon. Moira is a very hot-tempered woman, and can get hurt very quickly. Her looks are her life; nothing is more important than that to her. She has anorexia and to stay thin she sometimes eats nothing at dinner, then after dinner secretly eats some chocolates to vomit them out again afterwards. Dillon later realizes that the only reason he married Moira was for her looks.

Andrea Baxter: Andrea works for the television channel, BBC. She is Dillons secret girlfriend even though she is around her twentys; much younger than Dillon. She is the opposite of Moira, very nice, calm and willing to discuss things, unlike Moira. Andrea and Dillon see each other regularly during the day just after work, when Moira thinks Dillon is still at work.

3. The Story…

This story takes place in Northern Ireland, where there is war going on between the Protestants (UDA) and the Catholics (IRA).

Michael Dillon, a hotel manager, is already married to Moira for three years but is bored to death. He doesn’t really love Moira (anymore) and only got married to her because of her good looks. He has a job he doesn’t really appreciate and he lives in a country he hates, even though it’s his own country. The only good thing in his life at the moment is the young woman he’s having an affair with; Andrea Baxter from the BBC. One night when Dillon and Andrea are together they decide they want to move to England together. Andrea has been asked to go there for her job and she wants Dillon to come. Dillon will ask for a transfer to a hotel in England or find another job.

But that night when he is lying in bed next to Moira, thinking about how he will tell his future ex-wife about the whole thing the following day, the IRA burst into the house. The next morning Dillon is forced to drive to work, park his car with a bomb in it in the garage under the hotel. The IRA want to kill a representant of the UDA, Allun Pottinger, who is making a speech in the hotel that morning. If Dillon doesn’t do things as instructed, Moira will be killed. At the last minute, after parking his car, Dillon runs in a shop and calls the police. The police come and stop the bomb. Luckily Moira isn’t killed because the IRA left the house as soon as Dillon left; telling Moira not to move, an order which she obeyed.

When the IRA were in the house that previous night, one of them called Kev lifted his mask to scratch his face. In the mirror, Dillon saw his face. So the danger is clear now; the IRA will probably be after Dillon and try to kill him so that he cannot identify the so-called Kev if the police get hold of him.

Deceiving Moira, Dillon moves to London with Andrea a little while later. Dillon gets a transfer and goes to work at another hotel in London.

4. The Ending…

The IRA find Dillon's new adress by asking people at the hotel in Ireland Dillon used to work for. One day, not so long after he moved, a priest from the IRA comes to Dillon and pleads him not to identify the IRA man, (Kev) that Dillon saw, for the police (the police has arrested a man who looked like the one Dillon recognized). Dillon gets mad at the man and says that no matter what, he will do everything to help the police. The priest then warns him to be careful because it will soon go wrong…

When he comes home he tells Andrea all about it. She wants him to tell the police that he will not identify Kev because then the IRA will get mad and try to kill Dillon. After a long discussion he agrees and promises her to call the police to say he will not help them in identifying Kev. But it is already to late: the priest told the IRA what Dillon told him.

The next day, when Andrea is out, he is about to call the police when two men without masks burst in and raise their revolvers. They don’t need masks, because this time…there will be no witnesses…!!!
!!!THE END!!!

I think the ending was a little sudden and unexpected. In a way I liked it, because it’s different than most books that have a predictable, happy ending. I wonder what happens after Dillons death and kind of wished the book would say that but on the other hand, it’s also nice to think of an ending yourself…
I think it was a pretty good ending, because it is original, compared to other books!

5. My Overall Opinion…

I really liked this book. It was exciting during the entire the story. The ending was abrupt, but good. By reading this book, I also learnt a lot about Ireland and what’s happening there nowadays. I already knew a little about it, but not much.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, because the book isn’t too long neither is it extremely short. You learn a lot while reading this book and I think both boys and girls will like it.