Irish Gold (1994)

I read a later book in this series some time ago. I liked it, but I was too young and ignorant to really "get" it. I have since educated myself somewhat about Irish history, which could best be described as "Well, still not as bad as Russia." Nonetheless, when I decided to read the series from the start, courtesy of the local library, I started at the beginning. all I really recall is that is it's very, very Irish-

"Pissantgobshite." She peered at me over her dark glass of Guinness, mildly offended but intrigued.

...I haven't even finished the first page.

Over the course of the next few pages, we get more and more curses-our narrator Dermot claims to have cut out even more-checking the young woman's body out, including her boobs when they happen to swing close to his face, checking her out when she's singing, kissing the woman he's known for less than half an hour, and her admitting she "liked but didn't like, you know what I mean" the way he was looking at her on stage.

This is cut with flashbacks of Dermot refusing to be intimidated by the cops warning him off investigating his Irish grandpa's affairs. Dermot is Irish American, comes from a wealthy family, and is a multi-millionaire entirely by accident. After walking herself part of the way home, he's set upon by some punks giving him a more aggressive warning, and tosses them through a window. Yes, he mentioned having martial arts training earlier. No, he's not a misogynist, God Mode Gary Stu. The closest thing to an author insert seems to be oft-mentioned his brother George, who is both the life of any party, and a priest.

Andrew M. Greeley, the man who wrote this book, is a priest.



Take it away, Wikipedia.

His fiction often deals with romances, including details of sexual encounters, typically written with underpinnings of a theology based on what theologian David Tracy calls the Catholic "analogical imagination", in which human love serves as a metaphor for the love of God for humankind.

Okay, let me just say this now; I am not looking forward to the sex scenes.