Undertow

by Tom Foote

Overview

In the stormy seas of Galway Bay, Jim Predergast and his treasured yacht Larinita are doing their best to compete in a local race. After a boating accident that kills his wife and daughter, Jim embarks on a personal quest for revenge which leads him on a dark journey involving IRA gun-running and an international terrorist plot of major proportions aimed at destroying the peace talks once and for all. Foote's highly literate and tightly plotted debut novel heralds a new and exciting voice in thriller/suspense fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802360182
Publisher:	Dufour Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/25/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	409 KB

Editorial Reviews

Routine but absorbing debut nautical thriller about a seasoned salt who avenges the death of his family by infiltrating an IRA terrorist cell, from an Irishman who knows his surf. During a bad storm off the picturesque Connemara coast, Jim Prendergast's sailboat is deliberately destroyed by an unmarked vessel that, we quickly learn, is smuggling weapons for the IRA. Prendergast, 48, a retired Merchant Navy captain, survives but loses his wife and daughter. Foote, who writes with easy authority on matters both nautical and Irish, introduces a mixed bag of homicidal terrorists (including the de rigeur beautiful but lethal femme fatale) loosely affiliated with the IRA. Their apparent leader, Foster, a psychopathic Catholic who makes the sign of the cross over his victims after he murders them, is hired by the Libyans to sabotage an imminent meeting of world leaders on Irish soilþamong them Sein Fein leader Gerry Adams, England's Prime Minister, and America's President. Meanwhile, to assuage his grief, Prendergast agrees to captain an aging rustbucket from Galway to a scrapyard, unaware that his employer has links to MI-6, whose shadowy upper-class executive, Jonathan Cooke, shamelessly manipulates Prendergast into Foster's group. There are few surprises in Foote's triple-cross plotting, or in his cinematic, blood-spurting violence. He also undercuts his worthy subtextþthat the lust for revenge makes one prey for larger schemers who care nothing for human lifeþwhen, at the end, he forces Prendergast into a standard kill-or-be-killed confrontation with Foster. Still, the storyþs ho-hum plot is supported by taut writing, strong detail, and an unusual compassion for abunch of mixed-up Irishmen too angry to know that they're their own worst enemies: a satisfying, above-average page-turner for Forsythe and Higgins fans.

Kirkus Reviews