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Three Ghosts
What do you do when the decisions you’ve made come back to haunt you? How do you make them right? Can you, when one wrong move will mean lives lost?
Deirdre O’Brien, an American political-activist living in Dublin, married the wrong man – and had to kill him to save the lives of thousands. Fifteen years later, he’s back from the dead, with a horrific plan to destroy the tenuous peace between Belfast, Dublin and London. To stop him, Dee will throw herself at a seedy underworld, where nothing is what it seems, and trust is a commodity too short in supply.
She only has three days – three days, and three ghosts. She will confront them, or risk becoming one herself.
Deirdre O’Brien, an American political-activist living in Dublin, married the wrong man – and had to kill him to save the lives of thousands. Fifteen years later, he’s back from the dead, with a horrific plan to destroy the tenuous peace between Belfast, Dublin and London. To stop him, Dee will throw herself at a seedy underworld, where nothing is what it seems, and trust is a commodity too short in supply.
She only has three days – three days, and three ghosts. She will confront them, or risk becoming one herself.
69 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2015
8 people want to read
About the author
Katie Sullivan
19 books11 followersDescended of pirates and revolutionaries, Katie Sullivan is a lover and student of all things Irish. Born in the States, she is a dual US/Irish citizen, and studied history and politics at University College, Dublin - although, at the time, she seriously considered switching to law, if only so she could attend lectures at the castle on campus. She lives in the American Midwest with her son, two cats and a pesky character in her head named D (but you can call him Dubh). She can be found writing with said character occasionally at her blog, The D/A Dialogues.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 12, 2015
Three Ghosts is a fast read not just because it’s only 69 pages. The author pulls you right in with a conflict between two men, Pearse Finnegan and Pat McGuire, and the woman between them, Pearse’s wife Deirdre. Pearse supposedly dies in a conflagration of an abandoned wharf, and Deirdre is gone from Ireland. Fast forward 15 years and Deirdre is back in Ireland on a mysterious assignment. There is much that is mysterious in this well-told tale, and to say too much more would give it all away.
Let’s just say, Deirdre has to come face-to-face with the ghosts of her past, not knowing which of them, if any, she can trust. In many ways, the twists and turns of this story reminded me of some of the Alfred Hitchcock movies of intrigue and betrayal. While I am by no means an expert on Irish history (recent or long past), the author Katie Sullivan appears to be quite astute with historical details as well as creating a sense of place so strong I once felt I was sitting in the table next to Deirdre and Pat as they worried over events yet to unfold.
I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed in the ending, in part because it came too soon. I would have liked to have kept reading, to have had that tell-all scene drawn out some more, to have continued to feel the rising tension as everyone slowly realizes who has been betraying who. As it was, the ending reminded me of the old Perry Mason TV episodes where Mason brings together all the suspects and then neatly points out the murderer.
Perhaps the author thought she needed to wrap things up, but she didn’t. I would have liked to have stayed in the company of Deirdre O’Brien a good while longer. While I’m not sure I would trust Deirdre as far I could throw her, she was still someone I could admire for her wit and her will. I recommend this novella in large part for the pure entertainment value of Deirdre. Perhaps, as subtle hint to the author should she read this review, we haven’t heard the last of Deirdre O’Brien.
Let’s just say, Deirdre has to come face-to-face with the ghosts of her past, not knowing which of them, if any, she can trust. In many ways, the twists and turns of this story reminded me of some of the Alfred Hitchcock movies of intrigue and betrayal. While I am by no means an expert on Irish history (recent or long past), the author Katie Sullivan appears to be quite astute with historical details as well as creating a sense of place so strong I once felt I was sitting in the table next to Deirdre and Pat as they worried over events yet to unfold.
I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed in the ending, in part because it came too soon. I would have liked to have kept reading, to have had that tell-all scene drawn out some more, to have continued to feel the rising tension as everyone slowly realizes who has been betraying who. As it was, the ending reminded me of the old Perry Mason TV episodes where Mason brings together all the suspects and then neatly points out the murderer.
Perhaps the author thought she needed to wrap things up, but she didn’t. I would have liked to have stayed in the company of Deirdre O’Brien a good while longer. While I’m not sure I would trust Deirdre as far I could throw her, she was still someone I could admire for her wit and her will. I recommend this novella in large part for the pure entertainment value of Deirdre. Perhaps, as subtle hint to the author should she read this review, we haven’t heard the last of Deirdre O’Brien.
April 28, 2015
This is the second book I've read by this author and she continues to surprise me. Not one to be pigeon-holed by genre, this time Sullivan explores the political thriller, and does so quite successfully.
Dee is a woman with past ties to political revolutionaries in Ireland, and thought she had left that world behind, along with an ex-husband whose death she once helped to fake.
Now she is pulled back in, told that her ex-husband is plotting a bombing. But the truth is something elusive, and when the ghosts from her past come crawling out of the alleys of Dublin and London, she becomes caught in an intrigue where loyalties and motives are unclear.
The characters in this book are fantastically realized, and the plot moves quickly, with lots of twists near the end.
It reads almost like a James Bond or Jack Ryan spy thriller, only with ordinary, everyday people. Highly enjoyable read.
Dee is a woman with past ties to political revolutionaries in Ireland, and thought she had left that world behind, along with an ex-husband whose death she once helped to fake.
Now she is pulled back in, told that her ex-husband is plotting a bombing. But the truth is something elusive, and when the ghosts from her past come crawling out of the alleys of Dublin and London, she becomes caught in an intrigue where loyalties and motives are unclear.
The characters in this book are fantastically realized, and the plot moves quickly, with lots of twists near the end.
It reads almost like a James Bond or Jack Ryan spy thriller, only with ordinary, everyday people. Highly enjoyable read.
May 17, 2015
Katie Sullivan, of D/A Dialogues fame and author of Changelings: Into the Mist, has written a short novella. Three Ghosts illustrates the depth of Katie's writing and gives us the viewpoint of multiple characters. I really enjoyed it but had wished it was longer. Perhaps this could be the start of a novel? Five stars
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews