Billy O'Connor

Da Mick Billy O'Connor

Da Mick tells the story of a firefighter who blames God for his wife's tragic death and embarks on a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, drugs and women. Morally rudderless, Mick Mullan flirts with salvation when a beautiful Irish-Catholic fiddler starts tending bar in his nightclub. Erin Callahan is everything he's not, religious, anchored and ethical. Despite her love for Mick, she can't reconcile with his hedonistic lifestyle and ends up in the arms of Mick's best friend, Jamie. The tension builds with a subplot finding Mick torn between the virtuous Erin and the girl of his salacious dreams, an Australian prostitute named Grace. While fighting fires in a busy Bronx station stocked with screwballs, Mick battles both atheism and alcoholism. This witty love story turns deadly serious when Erin and Mick reach an impasse that can only be broken by such a cataclysmic force as 9/11. This dramatic and prodigally generous tale tackles Mullan's inner moral battles while introducing readers to a host of gallant but flawed firefighters who risk their lives laboring in one of New York's wackiest firehouses. The entire story takes place in the year leading up to its fiery, poignant and powerful conclusion at 9/11.