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In a masterful tour de force of shattering intrigue, O'Reilly joins the ranks of Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett with a story of fatal games and hidden players. When photographer Hugo Fitzduane finds a hanged body, it's ruled a suicide. But when the body of a terrorist is found with the same strange tattoo, Fitzduane is plunged into a firestorm of violence as he tries to expose the link.

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Library Journal Review

Soldier and war photographer Hugo Fitzduane is beginning to think about settling down on his lovely, remote Irish island when he discovers a student from a nearby private school hanging from a tree near his castle. Unable to resist investigating why the son of a wealthy Swiss family committed suicide, Fitzduane uses contacts with police and security forces in Ireland and Switzerland to slowly peel away the multiple identities of a brilliant but sadistic corrupter and murderer--``the Hangman.'' The war between the forces of good and evil provides the framework for this overly long, high-body-count story. While the first-time author shows promise, the frequent scenes of graphic and gratuitous violence do not supply needed suspense or substitute for taut plotting. This is a thriller in name only.-- V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

O'Reilly conjures up an astoundingly successful debut thriller that ticks along with the precision of a Swiss timepiece and the whimsy of a cuckoo clock. On a morning ride through his ancestral Irish island estate, Hugo Fitzduane--soldier turned war photographer--finds the hanged body of Swiss student Rudi von Graffenlaub. The unique design tattooed on Rudi's wrist is also found on two terrorists killed by Shane Kilmara, Hugo's former Army commander and head of the Irish Rangers--a sort of national anti-terrorist SWAT team. Kilmara gives Hugo entree to police channels in Bern, Switzerland, where bizarrely mutilated bodies turn up soon after Hugo's arrival, disrupting the Swiss sense of order. The Bern police chief assigns Heinz Raufman to watch over Fitzduane while he searches for a connection between Rudi and the terrorists; O'Reilly contrasts the national characteristics of these two protagonists in picture-perfect Bern to hilarious effect. The gruesome antics of an amoral villain lead Hugo and Heinz through a maelstrom of murder in Switzerland and Ireland to a spine-tingling showdown with an army of terrorists at Hugo's medieval castle. O'Reilly's readers will be turning pages into the early morning hours. 50,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

A suspicious death at an exclusive Irish boy's school becomes the starting point of an investigation that leads toward a complex web of murder and intrigue. At the heart of the mystery is an intellectually elite group of terrorists led by a shadowy personality called the Hangman. Hugo Fitzduane and a Swiss detective join forces to bring the group to justice, with an investigation that spans Europe. This is one of those books that almost reads like a precis for a screenplay. The villain is larger than life, and the action runs at full tilt throughout most of the book. O'Reilly's first novel should be a crowd pleaser for action-adventure fans. ~--Elliott Swanson