Reilly - It's a Long Way to the Top if You Want to Rock N Roll

The novel starts with Pat Reilly getting exiled from Ireland by the IRA and forced into joining the French Foreign Legion due to his illegal activities. This does not work out as planned and he finds himself back in Ireland a dead man walking literally. His skills in demand but no one trusts his motives. Pat eventually ends up exiled in Scotland there trying to live the quiet life drawn back into criminal activity by his family. Pat doesn’t take it all too seriously but just gets by, he loves the wild lifestyle and his family shape and influence his views and actions. His family are Travellers but Pat just wants the quiet life but is continually drawn back into murkier and more dangerous exploits. His exploits include smuggling, distilling and poaching not too mention drinking, karaoke and a Don Johnson fetish. The inevitable characters he encounters in his lifestyle add to his woes.
Pat just wants to be irresponsible and party, drink and womanise however everyone else wants his considerable dodgy skill sets including paramilitaries, criminals and the security services. The story is set in the late eighties and early nineties.
His life is driven by boose, the easy life and his family, but redemption for his fallen star is never far away.
The themes are adult, satire and the novel is written in the Scots Irish dialect.