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Book Cover for: Primed, Paddy Hirsch

Primed

Paddy Hirsch

Gary Lawlor is PRIMED

The bomb that killed Lawlor's family was meant for him.

Gary Lawlor's life ended the day a bomb killed his two young sons. For twenty years, he's lived in the wreckage-a former detective turned cybersecurity officer, haunted by the certainty that IRA bomber Rab Harper murdered his children.

Then a photograph arrives. Harper is alive. In California.

Lawlor slips away from Belfast without a trace, drawn across an ocean and a continent by the promise of revenge. But in the sun-bleached sprawl of Los Angeles, nothing is what it seems. And as bodies pile up from Santa Monica to the Malibu Mountains, Lawlor discovers the real conspiracy runs deeper than he imagined-back to the corridors of power in Belfast and Washington, D.C.

Because the bomb that killed his sons wasn't meant for them. It was meant for him. And the man who gave the order has been hiding in plain sight for two decades.

Racing between betrayals past and present, hunted by gangsters and government fixers alike, Lawlor must untangle a web of corruption that stretches from child exploitation networks to presidential politics. His only allies are a traumatized widow seeking her own justice and a woman who knows too much about everyone's secrets.

PRIMED is a searing thriller about the corrosive cost of revenge, the institutions that protect predators, and the impossible choice between justice and survival. Perfect for readers who appreciate morally complex characters, intricate plotting, and thrillers that pull no punches about power, corruption, and the things we do to protect the people we love-or the memory of those we've lost.

Twenty years of silence. One photograph. A reckoning that will destroy everything.

Fans of Mick Herron, John le Carré, and Tana French will find a new obsession in this explosive thriller from Northern Ireland.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Second Cake
  • Publish Date: Nov 8th, 2025
  • Pages: 354
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.00in - 5.25in - 0.79in - 0.81lb
  • EAN: 9798993438504
  • Categories: General

About the Author

Hirsch, Paddy: - Paddy Hirsch is a novelist and a journalist. He's the author of PRIMED, a contemporary revenge thriller set in Los Angeles and Northern Ireland. He also writes historical fiction, including the Lawless New York series of mystery thrillers, featuring Marshal Justy Flanagan. As a journalist, he works for NPR and Bloomberg Audio, and he is the author of Man vs Markets, a tongue-in-cheek guide to the financial system.

Praise for this book

Sharp edged and steel hard, Paddy Hirsch gives us a true page-turner with an Irish accent. Twists and turns come at you fast, keeping you off-balance and keeping you reading. PRIMED is part revenge thriller, part espionage tale, and part meditation on loss. A real winner.

Eric Beetner The Last Few Miles Of Road

The stakes couldn't be higher in this propulsive thriller. PRIMED starts fast and doesn't let up for a minute. Gary Lawlor is an avenging ex-cop who's every bit as smart and dangerous as Jason Bourne. He'll need all his skills and courage survive against a gang of international outlaws. Highly recommended.

Don Macdonald, Author of the Michael Shelter mysteries