Kennedy, Shane: Highbinders

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Seth Delaney's first encounter with his niece, the daughter of his dead twin brother Sean, is no happy family reunion: Tanina has come to Seth's office with the express purpose of wresting from him control of the family company, Highbinders Inc., formerly an arms manufacturer with suspicious dealings, now transformed, in the decade's since Seth's father died, into a more legitimate business. Tanina looks like her mother, whom Seth abhorred, except that she has inherited her grandfather's--and her uncle's--blue-black eyes, and apparently their steely resolve and ruthlessness as well. Her appearance prompts from Seth a book-length reverie. His negotiations with Tanina are put on hold as Seth remembers how he has come to be where he is--fifty years old and the only surviving heir (prior to his niece's appearance) to the Delaney-Bathwater fortunes, a man with the eyes of a devil and blood on his hands who stands ready, and is perhaps even relieved, to hand over the keys to his father's company to an untried 21-year-old girl.

The story that Seth now recalls begins with the rise of S. Joseph Delaney, Seth's father, an illiterate 17-year-old widower, already the father of twins, who became the wealthy but not quite respectable and still illiterate head of an international company. Delaney accomplished this remarkable feat through sheer intellect, good fortune, alliances with loyal men, and the willingness to achieve his ends through violence when necessary. Joe Delaney's twin boys were joined by three more sons from a second marriage, and the loyalties of this second generation of Delaneys were divided along blood lines, Seth and Sean never quite willing to share power with their half-brothers. Their tendency toward internecine feuding would have guaranteed the Delaneys' unhappiness anyway, but the family's future was further complicated when Sean, unwisely and ineffectively, attempted to avenge the wrongful death of his young wife. The repercussions of his impulsive actions would be felt for decades.   

One can fault author Shane Kennedy's book on a few points. There are a number of small errors in the text that would almost certainly have been caught had the book been published by a traditional publisher. More importantly, the book's conclusion--one part of it, at least--is contrived, and there are a couple scenes in the book that defy credibility (those involving the wielding of axes in company boardrooms). For someone who is, like myself, fiscally illiterate, moreover, the financial details in the book will be incomprehensible, though they are sparse enough not to slow the narrative down.

That said, Highbinders in an impressive piece of fiction. The story jumps around chronologically and is told from multiple perspectives. This might have led to a confusing narrative, but it does not. In fact the book is a collage of well-written scenes that catch and engross the reader. Kennedy manages to invest even his small characters with enough back story to make readers care what happens to them, however short a space is allotted to them in the book. Eventually the story of the Delaney family emerges, through the manifold lenses of its characters, and incredibly, though most of the principals are reprenensible beings, one comes to root for them, or at least to feel pathos over what they've done to themselves. Highbinders is well worth the read. I hope the author finds a broader audience for his work.