The Return

by Darnell, Chris

• ISBN13: 9781467001182
• ISBN10: 146700118X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-02
• Publisher: Authorhouse

Summary

It is December 1985 and Northern Ireland's social and political future is once again in the balance. The Anglo-Irish Agreement is only a month old but is being rejected by Unionists and Republicans alike. For the British Prime Minister, the public outcry and the political resistance have come as a shock, and nothing must happen to make the situation worse. But down in South Armagh's Bandit Country, you don't care about politics, just about staying alive, because if you are a British soldier, no one is your friend and the countryside and what it conceals can kill you at any time. The men of the Scottish Infantry are days away from the end of their gruelling and violent operational tour, but all is not right. They have lost sight of the enemy. To their seasoned commander, Major Paul Stanton, the situation reeks of treachery, but he has no idea that he and his soldiers are about to be hit by a series of events that will shatter his personal and professional worlds forever. Forced to leave behind all he treasures and believes in, Stanton embarks on a perilous mission. Tasked personally by the Prime Minister and supported by the enigmatic Brigadier Charles Grace, Stanton is forced out into the twilight world of "deniable ops". Partnered with the beautiful and mysterious MI5 researcher, Christina Dahler, Stanton's search for truth takes the two of them from the killing grounds of Bandit Country to the Republican strongholds of West Belfast, and then into the dead-land of the South of Ireland. Living on his wits, in an edge-world where no one is a friend, and hampered at every turn by politics, Stanton gradually uncovers an unimagined picture puzzle of operational security breaches and military corruption. As the early months of 1986 grind on, the mission takes Stanton and Dahler into West Berlin's "Wall Zone", where the demented "Shaggy Drinkwater", the last piece in the puzzle, is at large and roaming free in West Berlin's black underworld.

Excerpts

Chris Darnell's The Return is a fast-paced and atmospheric debut thriller and introduces Major Paul Stanton, SAS hero of the Falklands War. It is a military noir that evokes in gripping detail the dangerous landscapes of Northern Ireland and the dark days of Cold War West Berlin. At its heart is an interconnected manhunt for corrupt members of the British security forces, hardened terrorists and petty gangsters and racketeers.