Terrible Angel: A Novel of Michael Collins in New York

by Dermot McEvoy

On August 22, 1922, Michael Collins was assassinated at Beal na mBlath in County Cork. The charismatic Collins was 31 years old and the leader of the Irish Free State. In the previous six years he had been busy: He fought in the 1916 Easter Rebellion, invented the IRA, financed the new Irish state, assassinated the entire British Secret Service in Dublin, and negotiated the treaty that drove the British out of twenty-six counties of Ireland for the first time in 700 years.
Terrible Angel, Dermot McEvoy's suspenseful and lightning-paced romp through New York's streets, finds Collins 70 years after his bloody death desperately seeking to make amends for his violent life by completing one last worldly mission: springing a wrongly accused Irishman from the clutches of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the British MI-5, and a certain life sentence in a British jail.
You'll meet a cast of characters that entertains, frightens, and amazes: Tommy Butler-a 275-pound bartender at Greenwich Village's famed Lion's Head saloon who can tell a tale and handle a thug with equal ease. Earl Holder-a retired black detective first grade, NYPD, with a nose for intelligence and a passion for justice. Sadie Robinson-a homeless woman who becomes Collins's guide to a grimy underworld that few New Yorkers ever see. Naomi Ottinger-the sexy Village bartender who knows what she wants, and she wants Michael Collins. Quentin Quinney-a double-dealing detective in NYPD's intelligence unit who's after Collins's head. Sir Ian Boxer-Clegg-chief of MI-5's Belfast Division, with a penchant for the more exotic things in life, be they fine wines, young boys, or fugitive Fenians.

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Margaret Capozzolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun light reading. The Irish revolutionary Michael Collins is sent back to earth to do one last task. He comes to New York to save an innocent Irishman from certain hanging. Twomey is to be scuttled in secrecy from his New York prison cell to England, and all this is to happen while George Bush Sr. is still president. The author has done his homework, and the reader is the beneficiary of his research. This is a lighthearted story, but the reader can glean many insights into the Irish rebellion and the life of Michael Collins in the process of reading it.

[Clive · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good light story which keeps you reading
I am British so do not agree with Collins poltics
but you do not have to interesting Historic details and great portrail of an Irishman
in NY where i worked

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and historically interesting. Loved the angels, New York setting, and political insights. Great characters.

[Robert Meaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay, crazy premise.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's saving grace was that it introduced me to a historical figure and placed him in modern day NY.

[Margie Hastings · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting story idea, but never fully realized.