Reviewed by Terry Kenneally
Mistaken
By Neil Jordan
John Murray Publishers, 2011. ISBN 978 1 84854-420-8; 314 pp.
Neil Jordan’s new book, Mistaken, is a novel about two boys growing up in Dublin who bear a striking resemblance to each other. While it is said that everyone has a double, the theme of the double, or doppelganger, has been a literary staple for years. Books such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Oscar Wilde and Robert Lois Stevenson, come to mind.
In Mistaken, Jordan’s two boys, Kevin Thunder and Gerald Spain, are from two different socio-economic backgrounds. Kevin, from the Northside of Dublin, lives in a modest house located next door to the house Bram Stoker inhabited. Gerald, his double, lives in Palmerston Park, on the Southside, a more affluent part of the city. The two become aware of each other as they are frequently mistaken for one another, often accompanied by pain and rejection.
The story progresses through adolescence and adulthood veering back and forth through the pain of life’s experiences. Gerald becomes a successful writer whose career begins with him using the “pen name,” Kevin Thunder. The real Kevin Thunder reads the poems and novels trying to get a better understanding of himself. At one point in the story Gerald, who is married and has a daughter, becomes embroiled in an affair with a South American woman who claims she is pregnant. He convinces Kevin to intervene on his behalf and the resulting scenario turns tragic.
Though the story is built upon improbabilities, it is entirely believable while being fanciful. The Gothic references to Bram Stoker, which occur frequently, are in this writer’s opinion, distractions, but are a fairly consistent theme in Neil Jordan’s filmography. Jordan won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film, Crying Game, his most well known film. Mistaken is a TOP SHELF read.
Hand in the Fire
By Hugo Hamilton
Fourth Estate, 2010. ISBN 978-0-00-732482-8; 278 pp.
The relatively recent influx of Eastern Europeans into Ireland has impacted the country in many ways. Aside from the purely socio-economic effect of these foreigners, Eastern Europeans have begun to show up in the fiction of Irish writers. One example of this is in the protagonist of Hugo Hamilton’s new novel, Hand in the Fire.
Vid Cosic is a Serbian immigrant to Ireland who has come to find work in his trade as a carpenter. By chance one evening, he finds a cell phone belonging to a lawyer named Kevin Concannon. Upon its return, Concannon shows his appreciation by befriending Cosic and helping him find work as a carpenter.
So begins a story which leads to Cosic becoming involved in the Concannon family “secrets.” While performing some work at the Concannon home, Cosic comes to learn that Kevin’s mother has been separated from her husband for many years. Cosic accidentally discovers a stack of unopened letters from her husband which he later learns contain entreaties from the husband to reconcile with his family.
Cosic also comes to learn about a secret of the Concannon family involving the disappearance of a young woman from Connnemara who was denounced from the Catholic Church because of her pregnancy. What was the connection between this girl and the Concannons? As Cosic searches for the answer to the mystery the outcome will surprise you.
Hugo Hamilton, whose books have received international acclaim, is part German and Irish and resides in Dublin. Hand in the Fire is a MIDDLE SHELF read.
Terrence J. Kenneally is an attorney and president of Terrence J. Kenneally & Associates Co. in Fairview Park, Ohio. His practice consists of representing insured’s and insurance companies in insurance defense litigation throughout the State of Ohio. He is also presently pursuing a Masters Degree in Irish Studies at John Carroll University. He may be reached at
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