Now and in the Hour of Our Death (60 page)

My characters and what happens to them are fictional, as is the raid on the police barracks in Strabane. No such raid actually occurred, but I have borrowed from the description of the intelligence-gathering operation by the Security Forces and their dealing with a similar attack by members of the Provisional IRA on the police barracks at Loughgall in 1987.

Scenes set in Ireland are flavoured by my having lived there for thirty-two years.

The city of Vancouver and an episode in the waters surrounding Bowen Island are drawn from personal experience. I have lived in Canada for forty years, Vancouver for four, Bowen Island, British Columbia, for thirteen, and Salt Spring Island for nearly four.

I hope my late friend Al Byers forgave me for borrowing the name of his vessel,
Windshadow.

Although this work may be thought of as a thriller, it is really a story about love. It concerns the love of men for women, of women for men, and of a woman for her family. The principal actors must also deal with their feelings for Ireland, their country of birth and nurture, and Canada, their new and welcoming adopted country. The universal love of the human race for freedom, both physical and political, lives in many of the characters.

Which of these loves transcends the rest I leave for the reader to decide.

P
ATRICK
T
AYLOR

Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, 2013

 

BY PATRICK TAYLOR

Only Wounded

Pray for Us Sinners

Now and in the Hour of Our Death

An Irish Country Doctor

An Irish Country Village

An Irish Country Christmas

An Irish Country Girl

An Irish Country Courtship

A Dublin Student Doctor

An Irish Country Wedding

Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor

The Wily O'Reilly: Irish Country Stories

“Home Is the Sailor” (
e-original)

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Taylor, M.D., was born and raised in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland. He is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the Irish Country series that began with
An Irish Country Doctor.
Dr. Taylor is a distinguished medical researcher, offshore sailor, model-boat builder, and father of two grown children. He now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia.

www.patricktaylor.ca

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

 

NOW AND IN THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH

 

Copyright © 2005 by Ballybucklebo Stories Corp.

 

All rights reserved.

 

Cover photograph by Corbis Images

 

Cover design by
www.nick-venables.co.uk

 

A Forge Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

 

www.tor-forge.com

 

Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

 

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

 

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

 

ISBN 978-0-7653-3519-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-2143-9 (e-book)

 

e-ISBN 9781466821439

 

Previously published by Insomniac Press

 

First Edition: July 2014