Book excerpt: Like many young men growing up in the violent political hotbed of Northern Ireland during the 1980s, Mick McNabb developed an intense, revenge-driven, hatred for the British and the Protestant Loyalists. But by the time he was eighteen, Mick stood out as a type of messianic figure for the Catholics of Northern Ireland, and a devil to the British authorities. A combination of fiery rhetoric and brazen acts of violence force Mick to flee his beloved homeland, an odyssey which takes the young Irishman to various locations around the world, including a stint in the United States where he assumes a new name and identity. Lulled into complacency by his middle-American surroundings to the plight of those who considered him a savior, Mick eventually becomes estranged from the freedom struggle in Northern Ireland. Mick’s previous life would eventually catch up with him, however, thrusting Mick McNabb back into The Troubles of Northern Ireland. Initially in the good graces of the Irish Republican Army, Mick’s reckless exploits, as well as growing cult of personality and megalomania, eventually cause the IRA to consider him a liability and a detriment, and the freedom fighter from Belfast soon finds himself a target of both sides in the century-old conflict.