Until the Next Time

December 12, 2011
In his debut novel, screen and television writer Fox has a fresh and fascinating take on an absorbing concoction of myth, belief, memory, identity, reincarnation, and the lasting power of love. On his 21st birthday, Sean Corrigan wakes to his dad handing him a gift: his uncle’s journal. Both the journal and the uncle are news to Sean, who soon learns why he’d never heard of uncle Michael: he fled to Ireland after killing a black civil rights worker and was then killed for working with the IRA. The journal sends Sean on a journey to Ireland that’s more than a trip to the old country to meet the family he never knew and find out what really happened. It’s about peeling away layers of memory and learning “WHO HE IS.” Accelerating chapters alternate between Sean’s present journey and his uncle’s diary and begin to flow together as more is revealed to both men. Although at times the book has the feel of an episode of Lost, it is both entertaining and provocative. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media.

January 1, 2012
Given a journal belonging to an uncle he never knew existed, Sean Corrigan embarks on a quest across the Atlantic—and lifetimes—in search of the truth about Michael Corrigan, a cop accused of murder who fled to Ireland. Sean falls in with his Irish family, who are privy to an ancient knowledge: that reincarnation is real and, while most of us don't remember past lives, some, by taking belladonna and reaching a hallucinatory state close to death, can remember their former lives. Sean soon learns he is part of a karmic cycle in which bloodshed begets bloodshed and some mysterious debt needs to be repaid. The action shuttles between Sean's narrative and that of his uncle Michael, whose flight from an almost certain murder conviction takes him to the Corrigan family's ancestral land. Both experience uncanny bursts of insight and familiarity—e.g., understanding and speaking Gaelic despite never having learned the language. Michael realizes that his father, whose idea it was that he visit Ireland, has used him as a mule to smuggle cash to persons sympathetic with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Both Sean and Michael fall for beguiling Irish lasses: Sean for his cousin (not by blood) Anne, and Michael for Kate Ryan, who tends the counter at a grocery store he happens upon. Soon enough, both become embroiled in ancient animosities and conflicts, encountering enemies English and Irish. This intertwining, transgenerational epic of romance and revenge never overcomes its protagonists' naiveté, especially Sean's, whose every paragraph ends in a series of questions illustrating his confusion at what is immediately obvious to the reader. As he seeks pages missing from the journal, Sean spouts trite observations on Irish culture and quasi-philosophical digressions on the implications of reincarnation as Anne clues him in to how this secret knowledge has been encoded in the parables and mythologies of the major religions. Michael's narrative of being caught in the bloody struggle between members of the Provisional IRA, the British and with one another is more compelling. Unfortunately, weak writing and crepe-thin characters, as well as unnecessary redundancy between the dual narratives and uninteresting denouements make for an unrewarding read. A potentially good idea lacking adequate execution.

(COPYRIGHT (2012) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

On Sean Corrigan's 21st birthday, he receives the journal of his late uncle Michael, who Sean never knew existed. To avoid prosecution for a crime he did not commit, Michael had fled New York for Ireland in the 1970s and, drawn into the raging turmoil of Northern Ireland, was ultimately murdered. Urged on by his family and fascinated by Michael's writing, Sean heads for Ireland on a rite of passage and is instantly caught up in the lives of people who knew his uncle and strangely seem to know him as well. The mystery of Michael's murder casts a shadow everywhere. Deeply infused with the violence and political mayhem of 20th-century Ireland, the stories of Michael and Sean and the women they love, told in alternating chapters, illustrate the inextricable relationships among religion, mythology, and persecution. VERDICT Heavy with history, Celtic mysticism, violence, and a somewhat pedantic plot, this debut novel by the producer and writer for the TV series Lie to Me is nonetheless a satisfying read about a culture that still believes strongly in the cycles of lives and loves and the inevitable repetition of political and religious intolerance. Recommended for Irish fiction fans. [Eight-city tour.]--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
Sean Corrigan expected his twenty-first birthday to come and go without much fuss. He never expected an old journal to be tossed in his lap, a present from a father who had always been noticeably vague when pressed on the family's history. As Sean begins to flip through its pages, he realizes that his uncle Michael started the journal after fleeing Ireland to escape prosecution for a murder he never committed. Sean returns to Ireland to explore this entirely new corner of Corrigan family history but soon has to decide how much of his family's past he's willing to unearth. Fox has an evident passion for Irish history, and his lush, pastoral imagery immerses the reader in the emerald fields of rural Ireland. The author's keen ear for accents and crisp dialogue reveals his television and screenwriting experience, and the story's pacing never feels dragged down by expository details or character introductions. A mysterious, sweeping family saga reminiscent of the work of Meira Chand and Julie Drew, Fox's novel is a suspenseful tale of lost love, rediscovered family, and the importance of history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)