Requiem for a Hard Man by S.C. Bradbury

‘Requiem for a Hard Man’ by S. C Bradbury

It is Manchester in 1977 and Jackie Dunne, a club owner and veteran of World War 2, is struggling to keep his son Neil heroin free. Complicating his plight is an old friend, Bill Shaw, also a veteran and a leading figure in the underworld, who is one of the main dealers of the drug. Knowing the substance will destroy the city as well as the health of his son, Jackie has been crippling Bill’s business through intimidation and violence.
Jackie’s tactics come under criticism not only from his wife who is concerned for his safety, but also from another estranged WW II comrade, Corey Blaine. For, Corey knows that Jackie’s suffrage of keeping his son alive is reigniting his own trauma; that being an act of murder committed by himself, Corey and Bill on three defenseless POWs in 1945 Germany. For Corey believes that Jackie’s son’s decline is karmic payback for the pointless slaughter of decades ago. He thinks Jackie knows this too, although he won’t admit it.
His wife suspects something – as a Catholic she sees the only way to stop Jackie’s growing neurosis is through the religion. He will have none of it. He is a second generation Irish Immigrant determined to align himself with his new country and will brook nothing but complete allegiance to the notion of nationhood and patriotism. He sees the ‘guilt ridden’ Catholicism of his heritage as a betrayal of his adopted nation, his Englishness. Yet it is impossible for him to free himself from his nagging guilt, made steadily worse by the looming death of his own son. So he compensates by becoming a vigilante and talks to a local paper exposing the heroin problem.
This just alienates Jackie even more. So he finds Bill’s drug stash and hides it in another one of Bill’s properties and threatens him with arrest if he continues dealing. Bill puts a contract out on his life.
Hearing this Corey intervenes and gives Bill photographs of the fateful day in 1945 when the POW’s were murdered. Corey had taken photographs of the incident with what he thought was a broken German camera he had found in burned out tank. He has recently developed them and the evidence is incriminating. Bill threatens to circulate them all and humiliate Jackie, a war hero. It could also create an international scandal and threaten the popular pseudo-religious homage to the conflict.
Upon seeing the photos Jackie admits why he disobeyed orders to take the men to the rear shooting them instead. It is a watershed moment for him. He finally admits that he met one POW in an earlier action when Jackie was an inexperienced replacement. Upon falling into Jackie’s foxhole during a close battle the young German officer had scarred Jackie in self-defense. But once realizing that Jackie was effectively useless as a soldier and barely a threat, he showed mercy. Jackie admits to the shame of soiling himself with fear and the German soldier seeing this. Jackie later killed the man because of this humiliation. Once in his power as a prisoner, the German soldier had to die because he could not live to repeat the scene of such cowardice on the part of an Englishman. The other two POW’s were collateral damage.
He refuses to relent and hand over the drugs. He says Bill can do what he wishes with the photos – because he, Jackie, can no loner carry this burden. The photographs have brought it all to the surface. He is shot by one of Bill’s crew. As he is dying he finally prays for forgiveness for the pointless slaughter of 32 years ago, something he has not been able to do until now.
‘Requiem for a Hard Man’ follows the struggles of a patriot with his past, his lost faith and the effect it all has on his present dilemma. This is a dark, atmospheric and sometimes touching modern tragedy – a gritty, urban tale, at once moral and heart rending.

My Thoughts

This book is so hard to out into words what I truly feel about it. Let’s start with the easiest it was very well written.

The subjects were harder and while I enjoyed the fact that he didn’t baby things down at all it also felt that I was inside the story and I wasn’t enjoying my time there. This is what I felt and I think as well that this is what the author was hoping for.

Drugs and violence and dealing with a veteran is what makes this book interesting and really lifelike. It felt real and it is a story that I have heard from people before. It is a hard book and it is such a great story.

I am pleased that I was able to join this tour as I don’t know this author and was surprised just how well written it was.