Referred to as the Northern Ireland Conflict, “The Troubles” saw the combatants as theoverwhelming Protestant unionists (loyalists), who desired the province to remain part of theUnited Kingdom, and the greater number Roman Catholic nationalists (republicans) whodemanded Northern Ireland become a state or suburb of the Republic of Ireland. The top actorsin the sad drama were the Ulster Defense Regiment, the UDR; then, from 1993, known as theRoyal Irish Regiment. Their assignment was to serve as arbiters between the IRA, IrishRepublican Army, which saw the situation as a guerrilla war for Irish independence, and theloyalist paramilitary “police” which considered the IRA as nothing more than thugs and coward-terrorists. The Irish government viewed the fight as little more than a “low-intensity conflict” –gang fighting, popular bombings, sniper murders, roadblocks and the shootings of selectedvictims on the spot, jailing without court proceedings and trials, in short, all the characteristicsof a gang war. More than 3,554 innocents were killed and 31,206-plus wounded. Finally, in1999, peace came to Northern Ireland when the governments of the British United Kingdomand the United Kingdom of Ireland signed a pledge of authority-sharing in a so-called “NorthernIreland Assembly at Stormont”.A MUST-READ HISTORICAL FICTION SUSPENCER OFFERING FRESH INSIGHTS INTO THE IRA, THETROUBLES, AND NORTHERN IRELAND AT WAR FOR 30 YEARS BEGINNING IN 1968

Reviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi

“DIRECT LEGACY – The Snake Eater Chronicles 3”, by James Stejskal. Casemate Publishers: 2022,314 pagers, hc; $27.95. Visit: www.casematepublishers.com.This is academic scholarship comingling with thrilling suspense, mystery, and intrigue at its best.Author James Stejskal brilliantly projects via characters dynamic understanding of the eventsintrinsic to the storyline. More important is how he explains the almost complete equation ofthe tragedy via easy to grasp dialogue, action, and their results. Thus, readers will be unable toput the unfolding story down begun.When rogue Green Beret soldier Neil Fitzpatrick is recruited by the Irish Republican Army tohelp prepare a terrorist attack, Paul Stavros, his former teammate, is sent to stop him and bringhim home alive. Fitzpatrick, the American son of an Irish rebel who was forced to flee hisbirthplace, is a Special Forces demolition expert. He knows his trade and has a personal agendawith the IRA.Alarm bells erupt when the US government learns that Fitzpatrick has gone over to the IRA. The

American public must not learn that one of its elite soldiers is involved in terrorism and the US

government won’t rely on the British to find him. They need someone who knows Fitzpatrickand how he operates. Who better than one of his former teammates? Paul Stavros, of course, aSpecial Forces veteran who knows how to fix problems. Neil has just become the greatestchallenge of his life. But before Stavros can become operational, he must endure an arduousand hazardous selection process to be accepted by the joint SAS-intelligence cell that will backhim up. The British aren’t pleased with Stavros on the Isles since they insist on handling thework themselves – competently, quietly, and merciless.Thus, the high-stake drama is about to unfold. Not too long before, Fitzpatrick and Stavros werebuddies in the same missions. Now, both are pawns on opposite sides of a relentlesslyunforgiving, brutal, conflict where anything goes, no prisoners are taken, and life cheap. Inshort, the British want to kill one, the IRA the other. Who will be the first murdered?And James is in the perfect position to describe it all, having served with the US Army SpecialForces and the Central Intelligence Agency, to say nothing of being a historian and novelist atheart. He is the author of the definitive histories, “Special Forces Berlin: Clandestine Cold WarOperations of the US Army’s Elite, 1956 – 1990” and “Masters of the Mayhem: Lawrence ofArabia and the British Military mission to the Hejaz”. “Direct Legacy” is his third novel.As for this, David McCloskey, former CIA analyst and author of “Damascus Station”, “Immersiveand spellbinding, bringing to life the violence and heroism of The Troubles and the nature ofleadership.” Echoes Dr. Aaron Edwards, Senior Lecturer of the Royal Military Academy,Sandhurst, UK, and author of “Agents of Influence: Britain’s Secret Intelligence War Against theIRA”, “ . . . a fast-paced game of cat and mouse involving Special Forces operators, terrorists,and a rogue US soldier. . . intense, riveting, and exciting in equal measure conjuring up theelectric atmosphere of those dark days to produce a fascinating tale of adventure, betrayal, and

death on a windswept island.”