The Poison Tree

New York: Simon & Sutcher, 1996. CI3 - A first edition (complete numberline) hardcover book SIGNED by F.M. O'Rouke and inscribed to Otto (Otto Penzler) on the title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket. Dust jacket has some wrinkling and crease on the edges and corners, dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, light discoloration and shelf wear. A novel. Although not marked in any way, this copy comes from the personal collection of Otto Penzler, legendary editor and founder of the Mysterious Press, an award-winning icon in the genre. 9.4"x6.4", 336 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. When Billy Quinn was six years old, he watched as his father was murdered, an innocent victim of the ongoing Irish struggle. Years later, Billy, still haunted by the memory of his father's bloody death and driven by his mother thirst for revenge, is recruited into a terror splinter group unhappy with the developing peace with Britain. Michael Kileen is the legendary IRA soldier whose exploits have made him a hero to his people and a monster to his enemies. Despite the ceasefire, Kileen will not be stopped, and, in fact, has hatched his most brilliant and diabolical plan yet. When Kileen recruits Billy for a mysterious, top secret assignment in California, Billy is honored. But what he doesn't know is that he has been chosen for a suicide mission. Major James Queally-Smythe is a famous English director and war hero, now living in California. Is stranged from his daughter, who was married to an Irishman and who died with him in recent bomb blast, the major has never seen his grandson Brian O'Malley. Kileen's plan is to kidnap O'Malley and have Billy assume his identity. Anxious to please his hero but confused as to what his real part in all of this is, Billy nonetheless accepts. Meanwhile Queally-Smythe prepares for his grandson's arrival by asking his pretty next-door neighbor, Kelly Hutson, to help show Brian around. Kelly, a student at the Pacific Academy school, is hesitant at first, but eventually agrees to take Brian under her wing. Kelly, young, bright, and beautiful, whose problems amount to no more than what to wear to the latest dance club, has no idea that what begins as a favor to a kind old man will end up putting all their lives at risk. And Billy, caught up in a lifestyle far removed from the desolate, hate filled streets of Belfast, begins to question both his own hatreds and the true motives of his terrorist masters. And what starts as a curious friendship between Kelly and Billy evolves into a deeper relationship that puts them both in jeopardy, as they are thrown headlong into a maze of deadly twists and turns, as Billy finally becomes aware of the terrible truth behind this mission.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.