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The Torchbearers: A Gripping, Suspenseful Crime Thriller
Seeking sanctuary, burnt-out fund manager Ariel Mignolet retreats to the New Mexican desert near Prospero, an isolated settlement steeped in religious fundamentalism. Long runs on remote trails and a new romance with local police officer Mike Argyll help forge a path back to sanity.
But weeks into their relationship, Mike is brutally murdered and Ariel narrowly escapes the same fate. The ensuing investigation unearths the truth about powerful local figures whose acts of prejudice and deception have torn families apart for decades.
As the FBI closes in on Mike’s killers, a broken man bent on revenge is planning to take another life and Ariel is getting in the way.
Unfolding in a land of ghost towns and restless spirits, The Torchbearers is the story of how love for God and neighbour can turn deadly.
Courageously, Irish writer Bairbre Higgins has taken on the same landscape with gritty American characters - with great success - “The Torchbearers” is a superbly written and plotted debut - a thriller from beginning to end.
— Joe Duffy, Broadcaster and Author
The Torchbearers is a scorching debut, an enthralling character-led thriller with breath-stopping twists and turns. Higgins is a born storyteller.
— John Stack, Author; Masters of Sea Trilogy
A fast-paced, gripping crime debut, woven with skill and full of intrigue. Thrilling!
— Irene Graham, The Creative Writer's Workshop
But weeks into their relationship, Mike is brutally murdered and Ariel narrowly escapes the same fate. The ensuing investigation unearths the truth about powerful local figures whose acts of prejudice and deception have torn families apart for decades.
As the FBI closes in on Mike’s killers, a broken man bent on revenge is planning to take another life and Ariel is getting in the way.
Unfolding in a land of ghost towns and restless spirits, The Torchbearers is the story of how love for God and neighbour can turn deadly.
Courageously, Irish writer Bairbre Higgins has taken on the same landscape with gritty American characters - with great success - “The Torchbearers” is a superbly written and plotted debut - a thriller from beginning to end.
— Joe Duffy, Broadcaster and Author
The Torchbearers is a scorching debut, an enthralling character-led thriller with breath-stopping twists and turns. Higgins is a born storyteller.
— John Stack, Author; Masters of Sea Trilogy
A fast-paced, gripping crime debut, woven with skill and full of intrigue. Thrilling!
— Irene Graham, The Creative Writer's Workshop
356 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2018
46 people are currently reading
368 people want to read
About the author
Bairbre Higgins
1 book14 followersBorn and educated in Cork, I worked within Dublin’s financial circles for sixteen years but am now focused full-time on writing. A period of intensive US coast-to- coast business travel in the early noughties helped provide the inspiration for San-Francisco- based hedge-fund- partner, Ariel Mignolet, the main protagonist in my debut thriller, The Torchbearers.
Wife of one, mum of three and servant of two (dogs), I believe in the power of curiosity and that education is the cure for the world’s worst ills.
Wife of one, mum of three and servant of two (dogs), I believe in the power of curiosity and that education is the cure for the world’s worst ills.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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April 15, 2018The Torchbearers is a riveting read from Higgins. Packed with strong characters, the pace of the storyline is relentless and the action is striking in its suddenness and ferocity. The twists and turns of the plot are breath-stopping. If you are a fan of Lee Child, you will love this. Highly recommended!
November 9, 2018
(Won through a Goodreads giveaway! Thank you to author Bairbre Higgins for providing me a free e-copy.)
I wanted to like this book, with its strong sense of setting, tackling of LGBTQ and mental health and racial-prejudice issues, but I don’t think they were effectively addressed. The ending does help, though it feels a bit contrived since the Sprite Lady is utterly disconnected from the rest of the plot, and only appears about once each in the beginning, middle, and end. Although certain characters are painted as especially bigoted (Caleb Freeth), I didn’t feel that Ariel’s own biases were addressed, particularly since multiple Native American characters were described as having “honey-toned” skin and other exotic descriptors. There’s a lot of exoticism/other-ing, with the heavily-accented Russian dream interpretor, the stereotypically Chinese proprietor of the little restaurant back home, the Native American ghost in Shakespeare, and the torchbearers themselves (who turn out to be teenage malcontents fed up with the desert-based religious cult they were raised in).
Speaking of descriptors, there were far too many of those overall. In the acknowledgements the author thanks her father for his “precious thesaurus,” probably jokingly, but it really does read like a first-draft essay that someone took a thesaurus to, with long descriptions of every person, action, and locale that so much as catches Ariel’s peripheral vision.
Ariel. I know it’s a unisex name, but it threw me for a loop when, 40+% of the way through the book, people suddenly start addressing the main character as “Mr” and “sir” when the opening chapters never overtly hint at his gender, and given his relationship heteronormativity will, more likely than not, do you in. (I went back and read the Goodreads summary because I was genuinely confused, and found that it was also ambiguous.) Not sure whether that was the author’s intention, but that was a moment of reader alienation and marked the beginning of the decline for me — before then, I was prepared to give the book three stars, even four if it picked up later on. Also, his rants seemed out of the blue, random breaking points; the alleged OCD only shows up twice — once to be established, once as a minor inconvenience/private embarrassment — and then in one flippant joke about being cured, so I wouldn’t consider it good representation.
I had a lot of issues with believability — like when FBI Agent Pitcavage comes in and immediately briefs a civilian witness (and former suspect!) about the minutiae of a high-priority, high-clearance ongoing federal case, and even invites him along on a “low risk” raid to confirm identification of the new suspects. Maybe Higgins did even more research than I did and this is actually how things are done, but somehow I doubt it.
It’s also disappointing that there are no compelling female characters present; Ariel’s mother’s voice makes a few cameo appearances to worry about him, but his friends back home are all men; Miranda, a local teenager, is a clever young girl who somehow doesn’t think twice about striking up a close friendship with a strange man, an outsider to her small religious town (her father’s caution is more realistic, though (I think) still too trusting); her mother is the uptight, mistrustful police officer handling the murder, who suddenly warms up to Ariel when Miranda goes missing following the conveniently timed world-changing news of her adoption and Ariel becomes their only hope of contacting her.
I wanted to like this book, with its strong sense of setting, tackling of LGBTQ and mental health and racial-prejudice issues, but I don’t think they were effectively addressed. The ending does help, though it feels a bit contrived since the Sprite Lady is utterly disconnected from the rest of the plot, and only appears about once each in the beginning, middle, and end. Although certain characters are painted as especially bigoted (Caleb Freeth), I didn’t feel that Ariel’s own biases were addressed, particularly since multiple Native American characters were described as having “honey-toned” skin and other exotic descriptors. There’s a lot of exoticism/other-ing, with the heavily-accented Russian dream interpretor, the stereotypically Chinese proprietor of the little restaurant back home, the Native American ghost in Shakespeare, and the torchbearers themselves (who turn out to be teenage malcontents fed up with the desert-based religious cult they were raised in).
Speaking of descriptors, there were far too many of those overall. In the acknowledgements the author thanks her father for his “precious thesaurus,” probably jokingly, but it really does read like a first-draft essay that someone took a thesaurus to, with long descriptions of every person, action, and locale that so much as catches Ariel’s peripheral vision.
Ariel. I know it’s a unisex name, but it threw me for a loop when, 40+% of the way through the book, people suddenly start addressing the main character as “Mr” and “sir” when the opening chapters never overtly hint at his gender, and given his relationship heteronormativity will, more likely than not, do you in. (I went back and read the Goodreads summary because I was genuinely confused, and found that it was also ambiguous.) Not sure whether that was the author’s intention, but that was a moment of reader alienation and marked the beginning of the decline for me — before then, I was prepared to give the book three stars, even four if it picked up later on. Also, his rants seemed out of the blue, random breaking points; the alleged OCD only shows up twice — once to be established, once as a minor inconvenience/private embarrassment — and then in one flippant joke about being cured, so I wouldn’t consider it good representation.
I had a lot of issues with believability — like when FBI Agent Pitcavage comes in and immediately briefs a civilian witness (and former suspect!) about the minutiae of a high-priority, high-clearance ongoing federal case, and even invites him along on a “low risk” raid to confirm identification of the new suspects. Maybe Higgins did even more research than I did and this is actually how things are done, but somehow I doubt it.
It’s also disappointing that there are no compelling female characters present; Ariel’s mother’s voice makes a few cameo appearances to worry about him, but his friends back home are all men; Miranda, a local teenager, is a clever young girl who somehow doesn’t think twice about striking up a close friendship with a strange man, an outsider to her small religious town (her father’s caution is more realistic, though (I think) still too trusting); her mother is the uptight, mistrustful police officer handling the murder, who suddenly warms up to Ariel when Miranda goes missing following the conveniently timed world-changing news of her adoption and Ariel becomes their only hope of contacting her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2018
Torchbearers carries a bright torch!
If the fall weather is calling for you to settle in your favorite chair and be mesmerized by a story line with near lyrical prose.... then download this book. No ifs, no and I’m too busy nor but I’ve read so much trash.... hang on for a great ride on the thriller mystery genre train.
If the fall weather is calling for you to settle in your favorite chair and be mesmerized by a story line with near lyrical prose.... then download this book. No ifs, no and I’m too busy nor but I’ve read so much trash.... hang on for a great ride on the thriller mystery genre train.
July 6, 2019
Ariel Mignolet is a high-performing fund manager and doesn’t have much of a life outside of work. Ariel is on the verge of a breakdown and seeks solace in small town Prospero, New Mexico. During the break, Ariel begins a relationship with a local police officer, Mike. Their relationship is cut short when Mike is savagely murdered. Ariel becomes the chief suspect in Mike’s murder. There are several surprise twists and turns in the book. I did enjoy the book, but it lost momentum for me in several places, especially with discussions of stocks and funds.
May 24, 2018
A gripping read
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much I read it twice. Because I speed read I missed a lot of nuances first time around. Kept me intralled to the very end. Very tense last few chapters. A must read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much I read it twice. Because I speed read I missed a lot of nuances first time around. Kept me intralled to the very end. Very tense last few chapters. A must read.
March 21, 2018
Five star thriller
A great read. Really Different. Loved every single page. Last few chapters are totally thrilling. Looking forward to the next One!
A great read. Really Different. Loved every single page. Last few chapters are totally thrilling. Looking forward to the next One!
August 24, 2018
An exciting thriller that kept me guessing. Well crafted insightful characters with an atmospheric delivery. Highly recommended!
November 13, 2018
Ariel Mignolet is a high wielding, over worked hedge fund guy who is on the verge of a mental breakdown via the reoccurring dream of his home burning up. Heeding the advice of a Russian dream analysis expert to take up a hobby, develop his right brain and take the load off of his left brain. Ariel takes up long distance running and decides on staying in Prospero, New Mexico to prepare for his upcoming race. Cool, so far so good.
Here’s where it started to get a little tricky for me.
Ariel is a homosexual man and Prospero is a ultra conservative, rightist, fundamentalist enclave. Why Ariel would even consider living in this place for a minute confused me. But, we suspend disbelief and go with the theory that the “glass house” the architectural masterpiece that Ariel rents is so beyond beautiful and the view so enrapturing that he decides he can deal the ice cold shoulder the Prospero inhabitants give him.
The book description tells you what happens during Ariel’s stay so no need to rehash that here but I do want to comment on the characters in this book. Many of the characters were narrow minded or racist or misogynist or homophobic or all of the above. Yet, despite that- their development was layered enough so that you could also view their humanity, their pain and while you don’t necessarily understand their perspectives-you do see how they came to be that way and pity them for it.
Many of the relationships within the book were incongruous. For starters, there was the uptight sergeant Marge Newland who was married to liberal thinking Vasquez who is wheel chair bound.
Racist Caleb Freeth is married to a Native American woman but then goes off to war and leaves his wife and infant twins to fend for themselves amongst an extreme fundamentalist group that lives in complete isolation in the middle of the desert. I didn’t get that at all…
Then there was the Sprite lady….eh I was glad that the author closed the loop but was underwhelmed with the development.
I did really like Ariel, Sunil, Miranda and even Ben-Ariel’s business partner was amusing from the periphery. I cared what happened to Ariel and Miranda and was rooting for them all the way. To me, this is always a sign of fine writing and essential character development.
Also, some of the dialogue was just so good-an example of an exchange between Marge Newland and Ariel:
“You’re not among your own here. You’re a tropical fish in a tiny cold creek and my strong advice to you would be to help us out today and tomorrow and then head back west to recuperate. I will keep you posted, of course … on developments … and call if we have any follow-up questions. Why linger?”
“Okay. Let me help you with that, Sergeant. I am planning to stay around as long as it takes to witness the arrest of the crazy, sand-dwelling fucking psychos who murdered my friend, those other two men, and tried very hard to kill me, too. I frankly don’t care what you or anyone else in this Jesus-freak shithole think of me. The fact is, you and I both know that you are consumed with
hiding the true nature of my relationship with Mike and, while I am happy to go along with you on that, up to a point, please make no mistake about where I am coming from here. What I want, in fact what I need from the system loosely called justice here in Prospero, is closure on this issue and, until I get that, you better get used to seeing my tropical face. Does that help you any? You know? In your understanding of me and all?”
OOOOOOO, burrrrrrrnnnnnnnn!
This is a solid 3 stars for me.
I was drawn to the characters but I was left with some looming questions.
Annoying I know-that I need to understand every little darn thing.
My thanks to the author Bairbre Higgins for the complimentary copy, all opinions are my own
Here’s where it started to get a little tricky for me.
Ariel is a homosexual man and Prospero is a ultra conservative, rightist, fundamentalist enclave. Why Ariel would even consider living in this place for a minute confused me. But, we suspend disbelief and go with the theory that the “glass house” the architectural masterpiece that Ariel rents is so beyond beautiful and the view so enrapturing that he decides he can deal the ice cold shoulder the Prospero inhabitants give him.
The book description tells you what happens during Ariel’s stay so no need to rehash that here but I do want to comment on the characters in this book. Many of the characters were narrow minded or racist or misogynist or homophobic or all of the above. Yet, despite that- their development was layered enough so that you could also view their humanity, their pain and while you don’t necessarily understand their perspectives-you do see how they came to be that way and pity them for it.
Many of the relationships within the book were incongruous. For starters, there was the uptight sergeant Marge Newland who was married to liberal thinking Vasquez who is wheel chair bound.
Racist Caleb Freeth is married to a Native American woman but then goes off to war and leaves his wife and infant twins to fend for themselves amongst an extreme fundamentalist group that lives in complete isolation in the middle of the desert. I didn’t get that at all…
Then there was the Sprite lady….eh I was glad that the author closed the loop but was underwhelmed with the development.
I did really like Ariel, Sunil, Miranda and even Ben-Ariel’s business partner was amusing from the periphery. I cared what happened to Ariel and Miranda and was rooting for them all the way. To me, this is always a sign of fine writing and essential character development.
Also, some of the dialogue was just so good-an example of an exchange between Marge Newland and Ariel:
“You’re not among your own here. You’re a tropical fish in a tiny cold creek and my strong advice to you would be to help us out today and tomorrow and then head back west to recuperate. I will keep you posted, of course … on developments … and call if we have any follow-up questions. Why linger?”
“Okay. Let me help you with that, Sergeant. I am planning to stay around as long as it takes to witness the arrest of the crazy, sand-dwelling fucking psychos who murdered my friend, those other two men, and tried very hard to kill me, too. I frankly don’t care what you or anyone else in this Jesus-freak shithole think of me. The fact is, you and I both know that you are consumed with
hiding the true nature of my relationship with Mike and, while I am happy to go along with you on that, up to a point, please make no mistake about where I am coming from here. What I want, in fact what I need from the system loosely called justice here in Prospero, is closure on this issue and, until I get that, you better get used to seeing my tropical face. Does that help you any? You know? In your understanding of me and all?”
OOOOOOO, burrrrrrrnnnnnnnn!
This is a solid 3 stars for me.
I was drawn to the characters but I was left with some looming questions.
Annoying I know-that I need to understand every little darn thing.
My thanks to the author Bairbre Higgins for the complimentary copy, all opinions are my own
July 31, 2019
Really more of a 2.5. Much too unbelievable.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews