It’s the summer of 2001, and forty-five-year-old Shane Connolly’s supposedly American family life is about to unravel. Shane, a gang member during his teens, overcomes the din of negativity years later to become a millionaire, marrying his high school sweetheart and having three beautiful children. Shane has no choice but to hire a top private investigator and criminal attorney when his son claims his father raped him. An unusual scenario involving a man in a wheelchair at a train station leads Shane to the strikingly beautiful Lia Harrison. A few months later, Shane and Lia find themselves in the midst of the horrific events of 9/11 volunteering together at Ground Zero. Though they fall in love, there’s no guarantee their relationship will survive, as it depends on whether or not Shane’s legal team can prove his innocence before he’s sent to New Jersey’s worst prison hell.
In his debut thriller, rising author Ian McBride creates a horrendous fictional story within a horrendous incident in American history that he claims on his website is “etched” in his memory. McBride is one of many who experienced the devastating effects of that terrible day. And certainly, readers who vividly remember the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers will no doubt grasp early on that McBride’s third-person narrative will eventually unfold into the events of September 11, 2001. But there’s no idea how. will implement that within its plot, as well as its main leads, Shane and Lia. However, if one looks closely, McBride uses a carefully clever tool to correlate Shane’s life with 9/11: a cautionary tale that makes a profound statement about standing strong in the face of adversity.
Although much of his story focuses on Shane and his family issues, McBride incorporates a well-defined cast that initially seems antagonistic but has a softer side in their rough and tumble demeanor. Good examples include Deano, the Oswald-Cobblepot/The Penquin-looking private investigator, and gruff Detective Hallahan. Obviously, the true antagonists unfortunately lie within his own family, his flesh and blood. However, without giving away any spoilers, it’s safe to say that there are a whole host of mental illnesses and drugs, demons, out to destroy the Connelly family. That said, there is a mouthful of bird language to complement McBride’s gruff and gruff characters perfectly.
McBride uses a few key elements to keep his plot moving. At the top of his literary charter is his implementation of limited point of view, whereby readers know what’s going on inside the head of a character, namely Shane Connolly. McBride peppers Shane’s ongoing comments randomly but appropriately throughout his story. And since Shane is one of those keeping family secrets, his thoughts are consistently contrary to his actions. This makes for an attention-grabbing character, especially as Shane throws a lot of Christian commentary (ie honoring marriage, Judas betraying Jesus, and forgiveness) along the way. In addition to dividing his narrative into three parts with distinctly Christian titles, McBride uses another element of plot movement by alternating scenes within Shane’s life. Ultimately, the combination of all his literary tools is used to create suspense and various twists and turns as Shane’s trial unfolds.
Bottom line: Betrayal by Blood and Demons is riveting from start to finish. Big kudos to McBride for producing a great debut thriller!