Bandit Country: A Joe Johnson Thriller, Book 3

by Andrew Turpin

Overview

The murky underside of a terrorist war . . . Joe Johnson finds himself in the crosshairs of a Northern Ireland serial sniper who is awaiting the US president's arrival. And the 29-year mystery around an IRA killer's gruesome death deepens.

★★★★★ "The twists and intricate story lines were incredible. A real page turner." - Amazon reviewer.

Ex-CIA war crimes investigator Johnson is up against a ticking clock as the sniper's body count rises and the president and UK prime minister prepare for a G8 world summit near Belfast.

Eventually, Johnson and his ex-MI6 colleague Jayne Robinson uncover historic hidden files, documents and dark secrets from three decades earlier that certain high-flying public figures would rather remained unread.

The investigation climaxes with a helicopter drama in the skies over Belfast.

Bandit Country-the third book in the Joe Johnson series-dives into the murky depths of historic conflicts between British security forces and the IRA, as well as the illegal US-based fundraising and weapons smuggling operations that armed the terrorists. See how Johnson battles to uncover hidden truths from the past to prevent another devastating crime today.

AMAZON REVIEWERS ON THE JOE JOHNSON SERIES:

★★★★★ "This new writer has entered the scene with three blockbuster books."

★★★★★ "Every bit a match for Lee Child and Tom Clancy."

★★★★★ "Right up there with Daniel Silva/Gabriel Allon."

★★★★★ "More than a touch of Forsyth."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788750059
Publisher:	Write Direction Publishing
Publication date:	02/10/2018
Series:	Joe Johnson Thriller , #3
Pages:	478
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

When I was growing up in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, the conflict in Northern Ireland was never far from the headlines and the television news bulletins. I still have fairly clear memories of watching stories about car bombs, street fighting between the IRA and the British soldiers, and sniper attacks.

My interest in Northern Ireland deepened while studying history at university, and I ended up writing my final year dissertation about attempts by David Lloyd George’s British government to impose conscription in Ireland during the First World War in 1918—when all of Ireland was governed from Westminster.

The initiative, which failed, simply helped fuel a rising tide of republicanism that by 1921 had resulted in independence for what is now the Republic, with Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom.

Since then I’ve remained interested in events across the Irish Sea, and so it seemed almost inevitable that I would turn to this fertile source of fiction for one of my Joe Johnson stories.

Despite many public inquiries, much of what happened in Northern Ireland during the conflict between the IRA and British security services remains shrouded in doubt and uncertainty. Nothing was ever black and white—perfect for a war crimes investigator who is determined to deliver justice but who also recognizes the deep-rooted, historic nature of sectarian and nationalist sentiment and the difficulties involved in determining who is on the side of right.

It is not necessary to read very deeply into the history of the Troubles before coming across accounts of the events on November 22, 1975. On that day, the south Armagh brigade of the Provisional IRA attacked a British army observation post at Drummuckavall, near Crossmaglen, on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Three British soldiers were killed in the shooting, which came nine months after the Provisionals had declared a cease-fire.

The following day, the British government’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, referred in a statement to “the bandit country of south Armagh.” The tag stuck and has been widely used by the media ever since in connection with the southern part of County Armagh.

The third Joe Johnson thriller, entitled Bandit Country, is set in a Northern Ireland landscape which, two decades after the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, still does not match up to the vision laid out at that time.

The ongoing conflict between violent Republicans, who want a united Ireland, and Unionists, who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, still simmers away and explodes into violence at fairly regular intervals. During 2017, there were about sixty shootings and more than thirty bombing incidents by dissident republican terrorists, principally the New IRA, as the largest group is known. Some of the attacks were directed at police officers and police stations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon reviewers on the Joe Johnson series:

"Every bit a match for Lee Child and Tom Clancy."

"A great read, has more twists than a country road."

"Right up there with Silva/Allon."

"More than a touch of Forsyth."

From the Publisher