Hours of Gladness

Rating:
Summary: Exciting look at early 1980's Irish-Americans
Review: In 1984, two IRA operatives, Dick O'Gorman and Bill Kilry select Paradise Beach, New Jersey as the ideal spot to smuggle Cuban missiles into the United States. The Jersey shore locale was selected because many of the residents are sympathetic to the cause. However, the Irish-American populace is not quite as supportive of the IRA as they once were. Still the Monaghan crime syndicate agrees to assist the IRA operatives for the sake of the Motherland.

Former Nam marine Mick O'Day serves as a cop in Paradise Beach. Mick still feels the anguish of his betrayal of his men in Nam. The Vietnamese woman who seduced him to get him to sell out also lives in town. Adding to the nuclear meltdown is a priest, who is actually a crazed British secret agent. With the game just starting, none of the players realize what is yet to come as the small community is about to be ripped asunder.

HOURS OF GLADNESS is an exciting look at the relationship between Irish-Americans and the IRA. Though, the story line at times goes a bit too far, the plot provides insight into the late twentieth century splitting of the Irish into two mindsets: being an American first or the love for Eire being foremost. Thomas Fleming turns up the heat, but still finds time to glimpse into the soul of a torn people, circa early 1980's.