The novel Easter, Smoke and Mirrors was a story about charm, passion and guile; about revenge, deceit and lethal intent. In short it was about therelentless manipulation of ordinary people to conceal chillingly extraordinary events. But above all it was about human nature and how to exploit it.This associated collection of short stories, the first in the Cleanskin series, gives colour, texture and context to the life and times of Michael McCann, itscentral character. It explains how, why and when he grew into the man he became, driven by revenge, vanity and misplaced ideology to become one of the first global monsters of the 21st century.McCann spans the years from 1968 (and so the earliest rumblings of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland) to 2015 (and a resurgent Irish Republican Army's preparations to mark the hundredth anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin). It not only traces McCann's violent and hedonistic upbringing - indeed his whole life up until the opening chapters of the preceding novel - but itilluminates many other people, places and historic events along the way.You don't have to have read Easter, Smoke and Mirrors to appreciate this collection of stand-alone fables, but whether you have or you haven't it should prompt you to ask once again....do you really know who your neighbours are?