Fight or Flight: Jimmy and Doc

By John McAllister

Two brothers grow up ‘hard’ then the Troubles come to Belfast. Enemies on both sides want them dead, and their friends are even more dangerous.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenlish Publishing
• Release date: Oct 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995633803

Book preview

For Trish

And

Daniel who acts as unpaid researcher

And

Lucie who let her bus leave without her and sat on in a bus shelter in the pouring rain while she finished this tale

Published by Glenlish Publishing

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Copyright  ©  John McAllister, 2016

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The right of John McAllister to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Sections 77 & 78

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, of the author.

The work is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or otherwise circulated, without the author’s prior consent in writing, in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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All characters in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons,

alive or dead, is coincidental.

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Front cover © www.frankiequinn.com

Graphics by Car Sharpe www.caligraphics.net

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Right at the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, in the late sixties, there was disagreement as to what had caused the Troubles and what drove people to become so involved in imposing their ‘solution’. 

This ambiguity in ‘cause’ and ‘solution’ lead to me to write Fight or Flight (Originally titled This Life) in an attempt to explain to myself both the origins of the Troubles and how decent, hardworking, God fearing youths could be caught up in such violence and become killers.

The years went past and the violence drifted into peace. But a peace where (most of) the guns have been put beyond use but the minds of protagonists have still to be deactivated. What, I wondered, had happened to Jimmy and Doc the young heroes of Fight or Flight?

My latest novel, Pursuit, gave me that answer and, as an introduction to the now grown up Jimmy and Doc in Pursuit, I decided to reissue Fight or Flight.

Pursuit will be available for purchase from 1st November, 2016.

Anyway, enjoy...

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John McAllister

19th October, 2016

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Praise of John McAllister’s Writing

McAllister’s laconic narrative... carries a strong charge of authenticity. The Guardian

McAllister’s command of plot and breakneck pacing is impressive. Black Mountain Review

McAllister’s stripped down, straightforward prose exquisitely captures the feel of a bygone era and the down-to-earth people who inhabited it. Elizabeth A White Syndication

A naturally gifted storyteller. Hot Press

Instinct for writing... that can’t be taught – UKA Press

McAllister knows his characters and his landscape like a master storyteller. Glenn Meade, novelist

A fresh outlook from an Irish author we are sure to hear more about. Kevin A Hart

I particularly appreciated the occasional barb of typical Northern Ireland acerbic wit and sarcasm among the dialogue. Kilmakeeon

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Chapter 1

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Jimmy and Doc were brothers. They had worked as a team from the moment they stood side by side in the headmaster’s office, wondering why they had been called and what it had to do with the lanky workman who stood in the corner, screwing his cap round and round in his hands.

The headmaster made it as easy for them as possible. Their father was dead.

The Sick was no option for a man determined to educate his sons out of the squalor of working class Belfast life. Jimmy senior had ignored his occasional bouts of breathlessness and gone to work. One moment he was in the middle of Mackies foundry, shouting at his mates to heave on a length of steel girder, the next he was lying at their feet.

The headmaster nodded at the workman who stilled his hands. ‘Michael Quinn here, brought the word. He also brought your father’s last wage packet. They gave you the week even though it’s only Wednesday.’

Something boiled up in Jimmy through the pain of his loss. Before he could make sense of his confused feelings Michael Quinn stepped forward and shook his hand. ‘I’m sorry for your trouble,’ he said.

Jimmy left Everton Secondary School immediately and took a job