The Truth Against The World by David Corbett

This is a strange book. It seems to be based on Irish folklore. The second book in two weeks to have an Irish protagonist self-described as “wet as grass”. The hard part of this book isn’t its possibility but dismayingly the probability unless things change. The friction between haves and have-nots, red and blue, suburban-city-rural, gender identification, LGBTQ+, racism, book banning, and disrespect for anyone who isn’t the same as you is featured in the book and in the news. The impact of the discord is fired by a computer game based on a book authored and illustrated by Georgie. Shane, her unofficial bodyguard, tries to help her free her soul from its prison.
Sounds confusing and it is a bit confusing. Reincarnation plays a part as well as a peek at our possible future. Georgie’s goal is to make amends for how her work has been perverted by monied interests. Shane’s goal is to keep her alive to do it.
This was a difficult story to read due to my concern about our present intolerance towards others. I was told by a twenty-four-year-old today that planning is useless as the world will be over in five years. That is a shockingly depressing look at our shared future. Unless things change, I can see this future coming to fruition.
The book is a thought-provoking read.

Based on the Irish legend of Oisin, Shane is an Irish ex-pat in the US, which is descending into civil war. His friend Georgie is a mental institution inmate - she descended into depression after being rejected by her college professor lover, who subsequently published her book under his own name. Shane visits Georgie in hospital and events force them to flee. They decide to travel across America to confront the plagiarist and it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to stop them. there's lots of bloody action, evoking memories of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. For English readers David Corbett's Oirish American knee jerk anti Englishness will seem unnecessary, but its a page turning thriller.

Advance Praise

"“The best in contemporary crime fiction—or contemporary fiction, period.” —Washington Post
This blurb is attributed either to the author or the book but I searched the Washington Post to find the context and it does not come up under the title or the author. Very curious.

This stylish love letter to Celtic myth centers around trickster-figure Shane Riordan, who busts his friend Georgie O'Halloran out of imprisonment in a mental institution to go on a quest to hunt down Rory Fitzgerald, one of those sleazy older academics who prey on young women, not only for boinks on the beautyrest but to steal their work, in this case a book actually written by Georgie, published under his name. They journey across a fractured America, where a rather theocracy (depicted rather heavy-handedly) is fomenting national turmoil.

This novel is actually a mix of genres, which really good novels can be. It's a stylistic tour-de-force, with interesting characters, sometimes elusive, and a wild plot.

The Truth Against the World shows America on the brink of falling apart. Civil War is coming. Religion is threatening to divide the country. Sound familiar? I think it is timely at the very least.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This is a story which is about Geogie and Shane's journey to recover a book which someone else has published as their own work. It begins with Shane looking for information where the individual who stole the book resides. After learning if the information, he goes to a hospital where Georgie has been committed. While visiting Georgie an event happens and as a result Georgie and Shane escape.

Read along as they attempt to cross the country to California. Discover more of Shane's background and see all of the obsicles that Georgie and Shane encounter during their trek

The ending is one that I didn't expect but does answer some questions.

This is a timely novel considering the state of America. This is powerful ,, insightful and shocking as the author captures the reader and takes you on a journey through a civil war and a author devoted to his craft. This speaks to the love of books for all biblophiles. These characters are richly drawn, the plot intriquing and well crafted. I enjoyed reading this novel and recommend it to all who enjoy a dystopian read.

Thank you to the publisher, the author and to Net Galley for the opportunity. Well done to the author.

This was a genre-defying novel. Part dystopia, part fantasy, part quest story. It was an engaging title narrated by Shane Riordan who has lived again and again. He's under a curse to do so until he learns what he is supposed to learn.

Currently, he is best friends with Georgie O'Halloran who suffers from depression. They met when she was in college and his was a janitor at the college. They became friends. She was intrigued by Celtic myths, and he told her lots of stories never revealing that they were about his past. She wrote them up and illustrated them and gave them to her lover as a gift. The lover - Reginald Feely - took her gift, claimed it was his own work, and sold it for publication. It, and the video game it inspired, became a cult hit which incited some of the factionalism that is plaguing the United States.

Shane breaks Georgie out of the hospital where she is being treated and the two take off to find Feely and gain his apology for stealing her book and intellectual property. They need to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast through a disintegrating United States filled with gangs each touting their own version of what should be. And they are being pursued by people who don't want them to interfere with the book or the video game.

I enjoyed the story once I got over the writing style which at first seemed to be filled with sentence fragments. I enjoyed learning more about Shane and what his quest was. He is definitely the main character of this one despite what the blurb seems to imply.

The Truth Against the World, by David Corbett, is a captivating book set in post-apocalyptic America. The story, filled with myths and prophecies, takes readers on a quest full of memorable characters, twists, and suspense. The novel explores a frightening future and a mystical past, incorporating political messages and Celtic customs.

The plot follows Shane Riordan, a mysterious Irishman, on a quest with his old friend Georgie O'Halloran to find Rory Fitzgerald, a writer who published Georgie's book under his name. They journey across a fractured America, where political divisions and a popular video game based on Georgie's book contribute to national turmoil. Shaun, the narrator, is unique due to his mythical origins and must relive life until he attains wisdom.

The novel's quest plot delves into themes of personal growth, self-discovery, and the pursuit of meaningful goals. Corbett's writing style is short, efficient, and poetic, focusing on clarity and brevity. The novel transcends genres, blending elements of detective fiction, historical fiction, mystery, thriller, and fantasy. The memorable characters are well-developed, with physical descriptions and psychological insights revealing their dramatic functions.

Overall, The Truth Against the World is a fascinating and innovative read.

If you liked The Children of Men, specially the movie, you will love this book.

Normally when I seek out novels that feature a society that is tearing apart at the seams, I am more than eager to delve into a fiction-driven world, but I had no issue restraining my enthusiasm for this crumbling world. Why? Because the civilization on the brink of an outright civil war is one that is arguably already unfolding before our very eyes.

The Truth against the World takes place in America, and the timeline could be five years from now or two decades at most. The country is on the brink of civil war, one that is heavily driven by right-wing religious ideology, and I can honestly say that while this information isn’t the main focus of the tale, David Corbett’s latest novel is one of the most terrifying pieces of fiction I’ve personally interacted with since I read Stephen King’s IT for the first time, because we are seeing the potential descent in real time.

However, as I said, the devout and unempathetic religious population is not the main plot point of the book. Instead, we keep our focus on a genuinely kind soul who goes by the name of Shane. An immigrant from Ireland with a rather colorful past, Shane takes on a mission to escort a young writer, Georgina O’Halloran, across the tense American landscape to recover a stolen piece of work and confront the man who took the book and published it as his own work. This man is not only a plagiarist, but he is also Georgina’s former professor and lover.

On this journey, Shane and Georgina must evade figures of authority as well as the dangers one could expect to find in a theocratic society. They encounter good souls, and awful folks as well, but every person that they interact with feels like a real person with honest characteristics, and I cannot commend Corbett any higher for making the character interaction run so fluidly. It was rare for me to stop and second-guess if someone would respond in the ways that the people in The Truth against the World did. Even more so than the side characters, though, for me, nothing really compares to the friendship that Shane and Georgina have. Not once did I pick up on a hinting at a forced romantic relationship between the two, which I find rather rare in media in general.

I will admit that initially, the plot did feel rather odd to me. I could not grasp why anyone, with the world seemingly at a breaking point, would risk their life to claim the authorship of a book. Even with the overall success of Georgina’s stolen work (which goes by the very same title as this book), the odds against our protagonists were well out of the realm of achieving that goal. From the very start, Shane and Georgina had damn near everything going against them. But I believe that is an intended discussion point from Corbett. The Truth against the World is a vehicle to drive the question: How far are we willing to go for the truth?

Packed with action and tragedy, this novel is a love letter to the Celtic tenets, and it holds a lot to admire. It is an interesting blend of a pending future with a mystical past, raw betrayal, powerful political messages, honest people, and above all else, hope. Hope for humanity even in the most desperate of times.

The Truth against the World will be finding a place on my bookshelf once I can get my hands on a physical copy, which will be available this June.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the opportunity to read the riveting The Truth Against the World by David Corbett.

Omg i love this book. Elegant, lyrical prose, compelling characters, suspenseful enough to not let me stop reading until the last page. It also frightens me with the timeliness and pertinence. Bravo, this is a brilliant and powerful novel, not to be missed.