Cathedral

This book seemed promising, but disappointment set in quickly. Most of the 'good guy' characters were stupid, vain, useless, manipulative, dishonest idiots who didn't really seem to care what happened to the cathedral or the hostages. Meanwhile the terrorists consistently showed commitment, cleverness, focus, resolve, resourcefulness, and creativity until I wondered whether the author was setting me up to ask, "Why bother trying?" It's a cynical book that leaves the feeling of a cowardly, incompetent good and a powerful, righteous evil.

A lady perusing the offerings at my church fair's book table pretty much insisted that I take a book by this guy. Eventually I gave in and did so. I'm not sure why it was so important to her, but it was. I also have no idea why she was so chatty and insistent with a strange, bearded, old man. It's not always just the bearded, old men who are the creepy ones.

I dunno, this is not really my kind of book. It's about a fringe band of IRA rebels who take over a cathedral in downtown New York as the St. Patrick's Day parade was winding down, and the serious partying was about to begin. They have hostages with them, including a British diplomat, a Roman Catholic Cardinal and the ex-girlfriend of the leader of the IRA rebels, who herself has show more left the group and is now a peace activist. When they talk to the hostage negotiator, they say that either a boatload of their friends in British prisons be released, or they'll kill the hostages and blow up the cathedral.

So, we have hundreds and hundreds of pages of dick swinging negotiations between the rebels and the civil authorities on the outside; dick swinging in all interactions between the various individuals or groups on each side, e.g. NYC police, National Guard, State police, the mayor's office, the governor's office, and so forth. The only characters who aren't dick swinging are the hostage cardinal and priest, both of whom are cardboard robots programmed to spout churchy sounding things when directly addressed, but otherwise disengaged from any kind of pastoral-care duties other than being willing to sit for confession if so begged. They are also disengaged from reality, kinda like the archbishop who recently declared that he was unaware that sex between adults and children was a crime.

It's actually not a bad book if you have the mentality of a 14-year old boy, i.e. love weapons porn, military-logistics porn, tough talk, and mindless killing. It boggles my mind that in a country where half the people pretend to be pro-life, that they are also enamored by this kind of mindless violence. We've become a nation of schizophrenics. show less

As you always get from DeMille, an exciting, suspenseful read. It seemed like he really hasn't found his voice yet, as this was one of his earlier books, and the way that the characters are introduced in the beginning was a bit jumbled, rushed and confusing. But he always is a master at what he does and this book doesn't disappoint. The story kept you guessing at every turn of the page, I couldn't figure out even the slightest of what was to come. Some great characters, I'd love to hear more from Burke for example, and the scenes are so descriptive it's not hard to imagine them in your head. I was a little confused on Flynn and that whole Whitehorn Abbey thing. Did it happen, or not, who was the mysterious priest who just seemed to show more disappear, and what ever did happen to that ring? Maybe I missed something.
If you've read my other reviews, you know I'm a DeMille fan, especially when it comes to John Corey. This wasn't a Corey book, but it was classic DeMille! show less

The whole story takes course in just one fateful day. In New York City, while people are happily celebrating St. Patrick's Day, they are unaware of an ingeniously masterminded terrorist act taking place. A renegade group of IRA terrorists have taken over St. Patrick's Cathedral, taking hostage four VIPs in the city. The leader of the terrorists is Brian Flynn, a man devoted to the cause of freeing his family and friends imprisoned by the English in Northern Ireland. The terrorists threaten to destroy the Cathedral and kill the hostages, if their demands are not met by dawn. The world is watching, waiting for the final outcome of dawn, as the 'electrifying' duel between the Police and the terrorists ensues. This is an exceptional book show more overall, with a great plot, detailed and interesting characters, and realistic human drama. I strongly recommend this book for everyone, whether you like action, drama, romance, or mystery, Cathedral is all that and more. show less

Read by Scott Brick, a master of the male voice with correct accents and distinctions between each character. Written in 1990, this is a story about a dark side of the Irish people. This story is bringing to light the political power struggle of the English and Irish. It is a story of an extremest group of Irish citizens who call themselves "The Finninians" led by Brian Flynn, who believe they are mystically or naturally descended from the peoples who lived in Ireland pre-St. Patrick. They have no respect for either Protestant or Catholic but are protesting, violently or otherwise against imprisonment of Irishmen and for protesting against English laws.

The festivity of St. Patrick's Day explodes into a nightmare of bloody violence when show more an extremist offshoot of the IRA takes New York City by siege. They've kidnapped four prominent citizens and are threatening to end all their lives - and demolish the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral - unless their fanatical demands are met.

I think DeMille intends to educate Americans about the useless violence and political stubbornness of both the Irish and English. Also, the book speaks of a Special Powers Act, by the British to incarcerate Irish citizens who are suspected of violence or political crimes and put into what the Irish describe as concentration camps. Under this Act, prisoners do not have the same rights as other prisoners. It is interesting, vividly descriptive, but very long winded and drawn out. Many, many police names which are easier to keep track of in a visual format. By the time I got to the end of the story, I lost interest. I still finished it though. show less

This book was wrtten in the late seventies and early eighties and tells the tale of a hostage situation is Patricks Cathedral by a breakaway Irish group attempting to force the release of a number of IRA prisoners. In the abckdrop is a shady British army officer who appears to influence the situation for his own, less than clear aims.

Like all DeMille novels this is pacy and well written however the characters are difficult to connect to and on balance this has not dated well

This book was certainly in the action-packed thriller category. The setting in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and the involvement of some off-shoot of the IRA added to making this an interesting book. I also liked the discussion of the difference between an patriotic freedom-fighter and a criminal terrorist and the personalities attracted to such organizations.