White Church, Black Mountain

A Belfast policeman untangles crimes dating back to the time of the Troubles—in an investigation that could undermine a fragile peace . . . In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the fragile peace process is still haunted by the crimes of the past. When Detective Inspector Dan Watson enters an interview room, he is astonished to see the familiar face of Eban Barnard, the younger brother of his late partner and mentor Detective Superintendent Alex, who was brutally assassinated by the Provisional IRA twenty years earlier. What Dan learns in that room defies credulity and threatens to open a Pandora's box of secrets that will unhinge the lives of all those involved—and endanger the very peace process itself. Based on actual events and set against the backdrop of a society's hunger for redemptive catharsis, White Church, Black Mountain is a tightly constructed, fast-paced novel of murder, politics, and a traumatic childhood secret that explores themes of prejudice, corruption, retribution, and abiding grace. Praise for Thomas Paul Burgess's Through Hollow Lands: "An inventive, extravagant, high-energy thrill ride of a book." —Irish Times