Set in 1981, this novel brings modern readers back into the center of the discord over Northern Ireland. Eighteen-year-old Fergus McCann lives with his family in the northern counties, which are held by Great Britain. The family is embroiled in the fight for independence against the foreign holders. In fact, his brother is currently in prison and has started a hunger strike, and he is not alone. There are other men in the prison doing the same, and some have even died from it. This leaves Fergus extremely worried about the safety of his brother.

Fergus is hoping to score high enough on his final tests to get him into medical school, but what is happening to his brother makes him will to risk it all. In the hopes of convincing the leadership of the Irish Republican Army to order his brother to stop his fast, Fergus has promised to run to secretly obtain packets that probably hold some sort of dangerous contraband if the leadership of his brother's group is willing to order the stop to start eating again. All of this is happening as their father supports his brother, and their mother wishes they could settle down and avoid danger.

While all of this is taking place, Fergus is also involved in a bit of a historic mystery. He has been working with his uncle across the border in the Republic of Ireland. As can be imagined this is illegal, but it is worth the risk to farm peat for use as fuel, which could be a major source of income on the black market. In the process of working, Fergus comes across the body of a bog child, a girl who had been placed in the bog during the Iron Age. As the archaeologist work on processing the details, along with his Fergus' help, it quickly becomes clear that the girl died under terribly violent circumstances.

The book actually does a nice job of presenting the difficult times that it is set during. The problem is that I think it does need to have a strong handle on the background of what is happening in Northern Ireland at the time. The author makes major assumptions about the historical background of the reader. Fortunately, my background with international politics in college left me in the loop, I am doubtful that would be true for most readers, particularly the teens that would be the target audience.

It does not help that the book is overly rich in details and depends a lot on people talking about the actions taking place rather than allowing the reader to participate in the events through the eyes of one of the characters.

Mel, the bog child, is an interesting symbol of the troubles that are being paralleled in the modern day events, but there really isn't enough of her. Personally, I think there should been more there or she could have just been totally cut from the story since either would allow a greater level of enjoyment. It is almost like the gross concept of a bog person and her suffering is a teaser to keep the reader in while allowing the parallels that are evident, but it doesn't really work as the author probably intends.

I do think there will be a (VERY) small audience for this book, but most people will want to pass on it.

On an aside, the author has a habit of starting a lot of her sentences with "he," which is a little frustrating and makes some of the reading boring because of the ongoing repetition.
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