Kirkus - BOOK REVIEW
This debut work of “creative nonfiction” relates an Irish entrepreneur’s tumultuous professional and personal life.
The author opens with an ingenious framing device: he has just received an email from his estranged adult daughter. Her brief, polite message asks a simple question: “why did you leave me?” The narrative that follows is his detailed response, relating his life before and after his separation from his children. The son of a film projectionist and a factory worker, he fights his way to the upper echelons of the software industry and ultimately becomes a multimillionaire. His strategies are gutsy, and his distinctive personality is his greatest asset: he’s forceful, driven, occasionally oblivious, and very funny. In addition to his business triumphs and defeats, he goes through two marriages, the births of multiple children, a battle with cancer, and the loss of his father. His tale is also loaded with humorous tales that cover everything from a bacchanalian trip to South Africa to his own man-hating dog......
An account of a compelling man whose life story merits a longer, more in-depth telling. (Vol 2 for release in 2017)