Blood from a Shadow is a contemporary thriller wherein the hard-boiled 'hero' Maknazpy is expendable cannon fodder in the ruthless scheming between Neocon America, Israel and Iran.
In this story, the death toll is high, innocent people suffer pain and trauma. If you prefer your hero to assert the moral good by dispatching the bad guys with a righteous, and sterile, hand - this book isn't for you.
Just as Maknazpy blindly wades through the fog and mirrors of contemporary intrigue and deception, his journey also traces the footsteps of past heroes of Irish history and mythology (use the Kindle X-Ray facility for an insight into some of these ciphers).
Therein lies the dilemma of Maknazpy, or any hero, past or present, real or mythologized.
On the one hand, he is 'heroic'; and by culture and tradition our heroes are expected to be the ultimate alpha-males - with the capacity to deliver all-conquering violence on the opposition, to assert 'Right' through 'Might', with victory in combat the final benediction.
On the other hand, the 'hero' must operate in two worlds. One is the real, here-and-now of intrigue and falsehoods, with tangible danger and enemies to exploit any weakness. The other is the world we have received, and created by generations before us, which consists of assumptions and attitudes, expectations and accepted behaviors.

The Irish proverb says "Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine" - we live in each others shadows. This is an observation that we depend on each other, and should therefore be benevolent and supportive of other people.
It could also mean that none of us are the autonomous individualists as idealized by modern western culture - the free thinking independent, responsible only to our individual conscience which we have each created in isolation.
Maknazpy's dilemma is not only that the shadows of others have created the real world that he is now a pawn in, but also that the shadow in his blood (the inherited genetic and cultural baggage he has received) demands he behaves in an almost predetermined way.

There are echoes of the warrior-hero Cú Chulainn in Maknazpy's own instinctive response to danger and threat. The episodes of exaggerated violence in Blood from a Shadow mirror the savagery which was the very quality which made Cú Chulainn a hero; and which was, and is, the common feature among heroes from the ancient Greeks to more modern battle grounds. But Cú Chulainn is not to be confused with the standard model of a modern hero; he wasn't a wholesome blend of courage and compassion, didn't stand for justice and virtue against the immoral and corrupt. His most obvious characteristic was his 'Ríastrad', the brutal and indiscriminate battle-rage which could erupt against friend as easily as foe.

Maknazpy's ríastrad is attributed to PTSD as a result of his experiences in America's recent crusades to the East. I'm not convinced on that score but he certainly isn't a 'hero' in the contemporary popular mould - whatever he is, his lineage (the Blood from a Shadow) stretches back much further than the modern code which excuses/glorifies brute force as long as the victor can construct a sufficient veneer of moral virtue.

Maknazpy is ignorant of his Irish background - otherwise he would recognize the names of all the other characters are taken from the traitors, informers and double-dealers of Irish history. He also follows The Great O'Neill from the Armagh battlefield to his resting place in Rome. That should have forewarned him that such history turns on a cyclical, rather than linear, narrative and that he has inherited a destiny more compelling than his 'free will'.
Use the Kindle 'x-ray' tool to see more about the shadow world.

In the end, Blood from a Shadow is an entertainment, plots and sub-plots confuse Maknazpy so his received perception of his world, heretofore arrogant and unchallenged, is shot to pieces.

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• Crime, Thriller & MysteryThrillersEspionage
• Crime, Thriller & MysteryMysteryInternational Mystery & Crime

• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 278 Pages
• File Size: 495 KB