It’s the summer of 2001, and the so-called American family life of forty-five-year-old Shane Connolly is about to collapse. A former gang member during his teens, Shane rises above the din of negativity years later and becomes a millionaire, marries his high school sweetheart, and has three beautiful children. Shane has no choice but to hire a top-notch private investigator and criminal attorney when his son claims his father raped him. An unusual scenario involving a man in a wheelchair at a train station leads Shane to the strikingly beautiful Lia Harrison. A few months later, Shane and Lia find themselves in the midst of the horrific events of 9/11 volunteering side by side at Ground Zero. Although they fall in love, there is no guarantee that their relationship will survive as it depends on whether or not Shane’s legal team can prove his innocence before he is sent to New Jersey’s worst hellish prison.

In his first thriller, emerging author Ian McBride creates a gruesome fictional story within a horrific incident in American history that he claims on his website “is etched” in his memory. McBride is one of many who experienced the devastating effects of that terrible day. And certainly, readers who vividly remember the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers will no doubt realize early on that McBride’s third-person narrative will eventually tie into the events of September 11, 2001. But there is neither. idea of ​​how it will implement that within its plot, as well as its main leads, Shane and Lia. However, if you look closely, McBride uses a carefully clever tool to correlate between Shane’s life and 9/11, a take-home from situations that makes a profound statement about standing your ground in the midst of adversity.

Although much of his story focuses on Shane and his family issues, McBride incorporates a well-defined cast that initially seems antagonistic, but has a softer side to his rude and crude demeanors. Good examples include Deano, the Oswald-Cobblepot / The Penquin-looking private investigator, and the courteous detective Hallahan. Obviously, the true antagonists sadly lie within their own family, their flesh and blood. However, without revealing any spoilers, it’s safe to say that there are a host of mental illnesses and drugs, heck, looking to destroy Connelly’s house. That said, there is a wealth of bird language to perfectly complement McBride’s badass and rough characters.

McBride uses a few key elements to keep his plot moving. At the top of his literary chart is his implementation of the limited point of view, whereby readers know what is going on inside the head of a character, namely Shane Connolly. McBride sprinkles Shane’s running comments randomly but appropriately throughout his story. And since Shane is one of those who hide family secrets, his thoughts are consistently contrary to his actions. This makes him an attention-grabbing character, especially since Shane throws a series of Christian comments (i.e., honoring marriage, Judas betraying Jesus, and forgiveness) along the way. In addition to dividing his narrative into three parts with distinctly Christian titles, McBride uses another element that moves the plot by alternating scenes within Shane’s life. Ultimately, the combination of all his literary tools is used to create suspense and various twists and turns as he prepares for Shane’s trial.

Bottom line: Betrayal by Blood and Demons is fascinating from start to finish. Congratulations to McBride for producing a great debut thriller!