The Morning Line: A War, A Family, A Horse Race, a Hero

by Tom Kenny

Overview

THE MORNING LINE On a raw winter night in Northern Ireland, a misplaced bullet from the rifle of a British Army sniper sets off a series of events that culminate a decade later on a sun-filled summer day at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. In the intervening years, a brother and sister are torn apart by the violence gently referred to as "the Troubles." Feisty Annie McGuire seeks retribution and connects with the Irish Republican Army. Her brother, Aidan, puts a scheme into play that he hopes will accomplish more than an eye for an eye. Aidan trains the great race horse, Irish Eagle. A brilliant success on the European race circuit, the three-year-old colt is pointed toward the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. But this will be no ordinary stakes race. From the vestry of a hillside church in an Irish village, a stately gentlemen's club in London, and the "social clubs" of Boston's Irish and Italian gangsters, deception, blackmail and fatal decisions are plotted and put in place. Then, late on a Saturday afternoon in August, as the horses thunder down the homestretch at fabled Saratoga, it becomes clear that relying on inside information can be a hazardous game. The story returns to the British Isles for its surprising resolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781500454265
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	07/04/2014
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2017
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)

Publishers Weekly

2015-11-01
Kenny details an Irish Republican Army plot set against the backdrop of the Travers Stakes in this crime thriller. On a cold night in Derry, a British sniper lies in wait to end the life of Michael O'Shaugnessy, an IRA operative responsible for a recent deadly bombing attack in London. When the bullet meant for Michael kills his young son instead, the tragedy rocks his extended family. The boy's aunt and uncle adopt distinctly different methods of dealing with their grief. Annie McGuire decides to join the IRA in the violent fight to end British rule in Northern Ireland. Her brother, Aidan, is a gentler man—a well-regarded trainer of thoroughbreds who believes that more violence won't set the country right. As Annie sinks into the covert world of bombs and threats, Aidan trains Irish Eagle, a promising racehorse who takes the European circuit by storm. When the horse has the opportunity to run at the Travers Stakes in Saratoga Springs, Aidan finally sees an opportunity to settle old scores. "There is, quite simply, no way the colt can lose the Travers Stakes," he explains to Annie. "That is, unless I decide the horse has an off day." In a complex scheme involving a network of gangsters, jockeys, terrorists, and arms dealers, Aidan may do more than lose a race: he might just end a war. The plot moves forward at near breakneck speed—almost too fast, sometimes, at the expense of emotional investment—but Kenny is able to do a lot with a quick scene and a few lines of stylish dialogue. The highly fraught context of the Troubles does much to bolster what is ultimately a rather ridiculous premise, and memorable characters coupled with an ever complicating plot aid in the suspension of the reader's disbelief. Is it a fantasy? Certainly. Yet there's something that rings true (and inherently Irish) about placing so much emphasis on a horse race rather than on the literal Troubles at hand. An efficient, if unlikely, thriller that keeps the reader engaged until the finish line.

Kirkus Reviews