James Byrne

James Byrne's The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick in the most anticipated new thriller in years.
A highly trained team of mercenaries launches a well-planned, coordinated attack on a well-guarded military contractor - but they didn't count on one thing, the right man being in the wrong place at the right time.

Before becoming the prime ministers who led Australia in moments of extraordinary crisis and transformation, John Curtin and James Scullin were two young working-class men who dreamt of changing their country for the better. Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin tells the tale of their intertwined early lives as both men became labour intellectuals and powerbrokers at the beginning of the twentieth century. It reveals the underappreciated role each man played in the events that defined the modern Australian Labor Party: its first experience of national government, the turmoil of war, the great conscription clash and party split of 1916, and the heated debates over the party’s socialist objective.

Rachel vive a Cork, in Irlanda, ha vent’anni e si paga gli studi lavorando in libreria; è alta e un po’ goffa, ma brillante e piena di risorse. Diventa coinquilina di James, sfrontato e intelligente, e tra loro nasce un’amicizia intensa e totale come un colpo di fulmine. Finché Rachel non rivela a James di avere una cotta per il suo professore di Letteratura, Fred Byrne. L’amico la aiuta a elaborare un piano per sedurlo, ma le cose non vanno come previsto: il professore si innamora di James, e allo stesso tempo Rachel inizia uno stage nella casa editrice di Deenie, l’ignara moglie di Byrne. Rachel fa di tutto per coprire la relazione dei due amanti e non ne parla nemmeno con Carey, il suo primo vero amore, ma il castello di bugie diventa troppo grande e la situazione le sfugge di mano, mettendo in pericolo la sua reputazione, il suo lavoro e il suo futuro.

‘The extent to which prime ministers make the political weather or succumb to it has always puzzled political leadership scholars. Confronting such a question, this book presents meaningful comparisons of the circumstances and challenges of prime ministerial leadership, within a framework of disjunctive leadership. Byrne, Randall and Theakston expertly utilise Skowronek’s classic political time approach during three critical junctures in modern British politics. Crucially they argue for a deeper understanding of the role of prime ministerial agency within this “rhythm of time”. A fascinating, comparative evaluation of the exercise of prime ministerial power.’