Is there a serial killer in Ireland? In the Irish midlands, two former members of the religious Order of St. Kieran, which once ran Dachadoo Industrial School for Boys, are murdered within weeks of each other. Their bodies are found nailed to the floor.
Detectives Tom Breen and Jimmy Gorman are assigned to track down Nailer, as the killer has been nicknamed. They warn local clerical outcasts that Nailer may be working off a list.
Pauline Byron and Mick McGovern, reporters for The Telegraph, are put on the story. As police and journalists work against each other to expose the killer, they discover that the actions of a small group of men almost forty years earlier are still resonating in the present.
As Nailer continues to kill, Pauline Byron surmises he may be getting revenge for something that happened in Dachadoo School a long time ago. But she also believes Nailer is demanding an admission of guilt from those who have used the schools' culture of corruption to excuse their own criminal behavior - the "I was only following orders" plea.
*****
"A hard-hitting thriller."--Books Ireland
"A compelling story."--Leinster Express
"Is revenge ever justified? Tom Phelan's gripping detective story challenges his readers to grapple with the possibility that revenge should be a part of a justice system...Awesomely well-written novel."--John Walsh, editor, The Hedgemaster
*****
Tom Phelan's Nailer is both a riveting whodunit and a deeply affecting indictment of the Catholic Church's grab for power after the British departed from Ireland. Nailer shines a light on a very dark time in Ireland's modern history.
Phelan, who is a former priest, grew up in the long shadow of one of Ireland's most notorious institutions for boys, Saint Conleth's in County Offaly. The reputation of the place was such that as children, Phelan and his contemporaries were often threatened with being sent to Saint Conleth's if they didn't behave.
Tom Phelan, reared on a farm in County Laois, is the author of In the Season of the Daisies, Iscariot, Derrycloney, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told, and The Canal Bridge. His first novel was selected by Barnes and Noble for its Discover Great New Writers series and was a finalist for the Discover Award.
Read more at www.tomphelan.net and www.facebook.com/tomphelannovels.
Genre: Mystery
Detectives Tom Breen and Jimmy Gorman are assigned to track down Nailer, as the killer has been nicknamed. They warn local clerical outcasts that Nailer may be working off a list.
Pauline Byron and Mick McGovern, reporters for The Telegraph, are put on the story. As police and journalists work against each other to expose the killer, they discover that the actions of a small group of men almost forty years earlier are still resonating in the present.
As Nailer continues to kill, Pauline Byron surmises he may be getting revenge for something that happened in Dachadoo School a long time ago. But she also believes Nailer is demanding an admission of guilt from those who have used the schools' culture of corruption to excuse their own criminal behavior - the "I was only following orders" plea.
*****
"A hard-hitting thriller."--Books Ireland
"A compelling story."--Leinster Express
"Is revenge ever justified? Tom Phelan's gripping detective story challenges his readers to grapple with the possibility that revenge should be a part of a justice system...Awesomely well-written novel."--John Walsh, editor, The Hedgemaster
*****
Tom Phelan's Nailer is both a riveting whodunit and a deeply affecting indictment of the Catholic Church's grab for power after the British departed from Ireland. Nailer shines a light on a very dark time in Ireland's modern history.
Phelan, who is a former priest, grew up in the long shadow of one of Ireland's most notorious institutions for boys, Saint Conleth's in County Offaly. The reputation of the place was such that as children, Phelan and his contemporaries were often threatened with being sent to Saint Conleth's if they didn't behave.
Tom Phelan, reared on a farm in County Laois, is the author of In the Season of the Daisies, Iscariot, Derrycloney, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told, and The Canal Bridge. His first novel was selected by Barnes and Noble for its Discover Great New Writers series and was a finalist for the Discover Award.
Read more at www.tomphelan.net and www.facebook.com/tomphelannovels.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Tom Phelan's Nailer