[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Knopf
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Kindle, Audiobook, Audible
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | iBooks[/alert]

High Dive is a fictionalized account of an actual bombing during the height of IRA activity in England during the mid ‘80s. What was interesting to this reviewer is the way it alternates between the narrative of a young IRA operative (Dan) and his mentor (Dawson McCartland), and the narrative of Moose – a father who manages the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England while trying to keep his teenage daughter, Freya, happy. These separate narratives eventually come together as the lives of these people intersect.

The story switches between the lives of these characters leading up to the bombing and its immediate effects. Dan, the IRA operative, has to balance his activities with the IRA while taking care of his elderly mother. In contrast, Moose has to manage a hotel, raise his daughter, and come to terms with his own mortality.

For Moose, the PM coming to the Grand Hotel is a chance to improve his station in life. Freya, like any teenager, wants to understand her place in the world and occasionally takes some missteps.

Dawson McCartland sees the PM’s visit as an opportunity to send a message – a chance to make a change using his IRA explosives operative, Dan.

You built a history for yourself and made people a part of it. They felt involved; they started to exist within its architecture.

High Dive examines the human condition during tumultuous times. The bombing is punctuation to that condition – a beginning for some things and an end for others.

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