An unnamed businessman and a well-known novelist, both from Belfast, meet while checking into a hotel in Hiroshima. The recognition of a shared home, so far away, is awkward and unwilling, but over the coming days they cannot avoid each other. As the novel opens, the businessman, rising from a fitful sleep, sees an eagle in flight from his lofty bedroom window. It might be a portent of something.
Glenn Patterson, the author of this intriguing story, is himself a native of Belfast and has written about it extensively before. But "The Third Party," though it involves two Irish characters, is set in Hiroshima. It is Patterson's seventh novel, and something of a departure. It owes its origin partly to a visit to Japan he made a few years ago, with a short stay in Hiroshima, a place whose name resonates uniquely.
The events of "The Third Party" begin at breakfast, and pursue the two men through a single day. The nicely ambiguous title refers specifically to the party that comes after the party that follows the first party, which in this case is a reception for the guests of a university conference. The novelist, also nameless, is referred to as Ike (from "icon"), and is famous for writing on the Irish "Troubles." He has been invited to a gathering on the theme "Writing out of Conflict."