The Defender by Alan Gibbons

Guns, violence, mob rule, or defending the cause? We all have choices. Or do we? Who would choose blood, sacrifice, and exile? At the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Ian's dad did. In this real-life thriller, 14-year-old Ian Moore walks a tightrope of fear as two strangers reveal the shocking truth about his father. His father thought he was fighting for a cause, for his people. But the price was too high—after the murder of his sister's husband and his own wife's death, he's paying for trying to get out. Somewhere along the line the cause got blurred by organized crime and revenge, and all it's left is a bitter taste. He's still a target, still a victim. Now he faces a lifetime of running with nowhere to go and constantly putting at rish the son he loves. This page turner tackes a controversial topic head-on and makes for powerful and memorable reading.