| Sean McNulty, a well-to-do trust fund kid from Long Island's North Shore leaves Georgetown University for a year abroad to study at Trinity College in Dublin. Sean eagerly escapes the watchful eye of his power-broker father who runs America's largest defense contracting company, Technical Defense Systems (TDS), to go to Ireland. Once in Dublin Sean takes to the West-Brit old boy network on campus that he meets through the crew team--which reminds him of his well-heeled life back in the States. Sean, however, also falls in love with a beautiful Dublin girl who is also from the right side of the tracks (or the Liffey in this case) but righteously rebels against her parents' capitalist ways, West-brit traditions on campus, and just about every social inequality she and her mates can protest.
Sean masterfully enjoys the best of both worlds on campus until his collegiate radicalism with his beautiful but rebellious girfriend and the rest of the "campus commies" become fuel for a blackmail plot against Sean to obtain military secrets from his father's defense company back on Long Island. It is the 1989-90 school year and the map of Europe changes weekly with the fall and rise of new regimes. Sean's blackmailer's are anarchists and neo-marxists who will stop at nothing to keep former Soviet Republics from turning to capitalism. Sean and his friends must match wits with radicals and mercinaries on their own because his father is the fight of his life to ward-off President Bush's investigations into the defense industry, corporate raiders threatening to takeover TDS. All the while Mr. McNulty is managing a multi-billion dollar empire (in the tradition of Parmalat or Enron) that is shrinking due to the peace dividend of Glasnost and the break up of the Soviet Empire. | ||
|
Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) Time/era of story: Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Who's the terrorist enemy here? Search for technology? Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - a teen Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - power The antagonists are: - communists How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Genius Setting Europe Yes European country: - Ireland Misc setting - fancy mansion |
||