The Cathedral
The cathedral (original title Cathedral ) is a thriller novel by the American writer Nelson DeMille , which was published in 1981.
action
The action takes place in Northern Ireland and New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s, respectively.
After the partially botched execution of two English soldiers by an IRA squad, the only woman, Sheila Malone, is arrested by British soldiers and the Royal Ulster Constabulary , raped and then interned for high treason in the notorious maximum security prison of Long Kesh , which is also among the Catholics of Northern Ireland known as Dachau .
In interrogation with the commanding officer of the Security Service , Major Bartholomew Martin, it turns out, however, that one is really only interested in the lover of her younger sister Maureen, Brian Flynn, who is considered one of the top IRA fighters of the younger generation. But Sheila Malone does not reveal the whereabouts of Flynn, nor does she allow herself to be forced to make false statements that he was there when the two soldiers were murdered.
A little later advised Maureen and Bryan with a planned attack on a patrol of the Royal Ulster Constabulary turn into an ambush and can save only with difficulty. Because of their gunshot wound to seek refuge in the hawthorn - Abbey with Father Donnelly between Squire's Hill and Mcllwahn's Hall. In a hiding place on the other side of the crypt , both completely different visions of the future ripen: while in the vaulted cellar of the former Celtic Bruidean house he formulates even more radical views for himself and, in view of an ancient ring, uses the new alias Finn MacCumail in analogy to Fionn mac Cumhaill , Maureen is planning to leave the radical circle of the IRA: she would at least like to go to Dublin , if not to the USA , and act there with peaceful means for Northern Ireland. At the end of your stay, both paths part.
Four years later, Brian Flynn's Fenier Command from Ulster County in New York started an extraordinary coup by deliberately violating the IRA's inner creed - never to commit an act of violence in the USA as a financier - in order to lend weight to his political demands. Ironically, on St. Patrick's Day , the most important holiday for the American Irish, he wants to bring St. Patrick's Cathedral and its inmates under his control and thus blackmail both governments. Disguised as a priest, he is already depositing an explosive device in the bell tower.
The only policeman outside of the secret services who has any inkling of the impending danger is Detective Lieutenant Patrick Burke of the Intelligence Service , who through one of his informants, Jack Ferguson, an old Marxist officer in the Official Irish Republican Army , at least before the arrival of the latter Troop was warned.
But Maureen Malone is also in New York as the official representative of Amnesty International , where they speak in the presence of the British Consul General, Sir Harold Baxter, and the Cardinal of New York , Terence James Cooke , about their commitment to the imprisoned women and children in Northern Ireland should. Since this will also happen in the area around the cathedral, all paths of fate will cross fatefully, because Major Martin also makes contact with Burke.
At the beginning of the parade, Flynn organized his diversionary maneuvers such as counter-demonstrations by the Orange people in order to be able to occupy the cathedral with his twelve men and women, all of whom have relatives in Long Kesh. A supposed fire alarm makes their work easier, so that in addition to the Cardinal, Baxter, Malone and Father Murphy, they have another hostage in their possession. The portals are locked with chains and mined, snipers are posted in the towers, on the triforias and the gallery, and massive explosive charges are posted in the crypt in order to emphasize the demands. The police communication chain is interrupted by a jammer.
The following negotiations are made more difficult by the supposed unacceptability of the demands - the release of those detained in Long Kesh, impunity and free withdrawal - and the wrangling over competencies of the governments and local authorities. Gradually it is starting to crystallize that Martin is pursuing his own scenario: After Flynn was arrested earlier, he first gave him the plan and finally the funds to use this terrorist attack to take the American public against the Irish, but Flynn and his companion Hickey, a veteran of the Irish Resistance, has other goals.
expenditure
- Nelson DeMille: Cathedral . Delacorte Press, New York 1981, ISBN 0-440-01140-X
- Nelson DeMille: The Cathedral . Translated from the English by Susanne Lepsius, Scherz Verlag , Bern 1982
- Nelson DeMille: The Cathedral . Ullstein, Berlin, 3rd edition 2005, ISBN 3-548-25073-4 , 528 pp.
Reviews
“A bulldozer from book! Knowledgeable and mercilessly terrifying. "
"A Home Run Thriller"
“The special thing about this novel is the encounter between the different characters in this extreme situation. The motives and actions are examined from all sides and presented credibly. The existence of the Fenier Group is not an absurd phantom either, if you consider the split of the Real IRA , which made peace efforts in Northern Ireland difficult at the end of the 1990s. But the book was written almost twenty years earlier, and the author had shown terrifying realistic foresight in his fantasy product. In any case, the author is familiar with the subject, which is clear from the many details and hints from the Northern Irish situation. A small downer is that for the sake of the drama the author sacrificed credibility in some places. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Probably Hawthorn Abby in the original.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link from x-zine.de
