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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Just started - 2 chapters in and I'm hooked. If the story holds up like this, I'll be so glad to know it is the start of a series.
Enjoyed it immensely though it is rather gruesome. I will like seeing what Neville can do with this in a series.
Really 4.5 stars and don't know why I'm not going all the way with 5.
Enjoyed it immensely though it is rather gruesome. I will like seeing what Neville can do with this in a series.
Really 4.5 stars and don't know why I'm not going all the way with 5.
A haunted man decides to put his ghosts to sleep...by murdering those who helped him kill in the first place.
While this was well enough written that I have to give it a four, I found myself impatient with this book.
Back when I started digging through the history of horror novels, I often found myself having mental conversations with the writers, going, "Read a mystery novel once in a while, why don't ya?" I took that as a lesson and started reading more mystery.
With this book, I kept going, "Read a horror novel once in a while, why don't ya?"
The story felt predictable, and, indeed, there were no real twists, only one at the very end that was really only there to set up a sequel.
On the other hand--the book has a lot of insight into the history of Northern Ireland, the setting is great, the characters (if not exactly likeable) are pretty much solidly in the gang/Mafia novel tradition, and the book is a real page-turner.
In the end, I have to go, "Not for me, I've read this story too many times before not to have some sort of twist on it," but it may work perfectly fine for others. Recommend if you like a good revenge book or gang/Mafia story.
While this was well enough written that I have to give it a four, I found myself impatient with this book.
Back when I started digging through the history of horror novels, I often found myself having mental conversations with the writers, going, "Read a mystery novel once in a while, why don't ya?" I took that as a lesson and started reading more mystery.
With this book, I kept going, "Read a horror novel once in a while, why don't ya?"
The story felt predictable, and, indeed, there were no real twists, only one at the very end that was really only there to set up a sequel.
On the other hand--the book has a lot of insight into the history of Northern Ireland, the setting is great, the characters (if not exactly likeable) are pretty much solidly in the gang/Mafia novel tradition, and the book is a real page-turner.
In the end, I have to go, "Not for me, I've read this story too many times before not to have some sort of twist on it," but it may work perfectly fine for others. Recommend if you like a good revenge book or gang/Mafia story.
Grim story with nuanced twists captures the consequences of political decisions and the exercise of power through vicious snd sometimes gratuitous violence during the Irish "troubles".
This strangely compelling book concerns a man named Gerry Fegan who was involed in the troubles and is, perhaps, haunted by the ghosts of twelve people he is responisble for killing.
And they are not nice ghosts. They want revenge.
This book is violent (and if you like dogs it does have dog fighting), yet the violence is not Hollywood violence, even though you can almost see Gabriel Byrne in the part.
In short, the book is about blood debt and forgiveness. It is about letting go and holding on. It is about living.
And they are not nice ghosts. They want revenge.
This book is violent (and if you like dogs it does have dog fighting), yet the violence is not Hollywood violence, even though you can almost see Gabriel Byrne in the part.
In short, the book is about blood debt and forgiveness. It is about letting go and holding on. It is about living.
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s a powerful book full of dark characters. It is a book of murder, betrayal, and personal redemption.
Best author I 'discovered' in 2013. Read everything you can from this guy if you are a fan of a good mystery/thriller. Plenty of psychological twists, amazing, memorable and vivid characters. One of my favorites for the year.
Whoa! This was a good one, bordering on great. Really good read and kept me glued to the end. It's all about the money, baby!!! My first Stuart Neville but not my last. Solid 4 stars!!
‘The Ghosts of Belfast’ by Stuart Neville is very good! It can be read as a pure revenge novel, similar to the Jack Reacher series or the John Wick comics. There is a lot of violent shoot-em-up fun killing bad guys and some (very few if a reader is looking for happy endings) feels of closure, but the novel’s true underlying purpose is to write about the Northern Ireland’s destructive civil war called The Troubles. The book doesn’t do a deep dive, but it is upfront a thriller with The Troubles being the reason behind every character’s personal difficulties.
The Troubles made of Northern Ireland a land of endless terrorism. Every single individual, whether Protestant or Catholic, whether an adult or child, or whatever job they performed, no one ever knew if they would end the day by death from torture or a bomb or a bullet. Every day fear haunted every single person. Every day there was an extortion threat whether it be of money or a demand that their business or home be used as a paramilitary safe house. Any person could claim to the paramilitaries that any other person was not supporting the cause based on the flimsiest evidence or suspicion, which was a death sentence.
Gerry Fegan, the main character, is tortured by guilt. He was a cold-blooded assassin. He is a respected Catholic Republican because of his paramilitary career, having killed British soldiers, and police officers in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and Loyalists belonging to the Ulster Freedom Fighters. He also accidentally killed four civilians, including a young mother and her baby - twelve victims in all. He spent years in prison for one of those assassinations but has been recently released. However, he has become a drunken sot. Worse, he is always talking, pleading, to people that aren’t there. Everyone has noticed. His former commanders and peers, one now a respected politician, are becoming very concerned. They are afraid Fegan will become a “tout” - what we call a snitch in America. Many of the former paramilitary members are also guilty of murder, bombings. intimidation, protection racketeering - all in the name of freeing Northern Ireland from the “tyranny” of the British and the Irish Protestants. However, people are worn out from the fear and blood and death, so everyone is eager to sign peace treaties.
Well, almost everybody.
Many different members of the involved organizations, too many to name, are not fully on board with stopping the bloodshed. For some, the civil war became very profitable and stopping the shooting means losing income. For many, the hatred for their enemies that they carry in their hearts has not abated. Others have become addicted to violence. On the other side of the coin, of those who are eager for peace, some no longer support the political causes they cynically say they do, now that they have publicly respectable and financially secure careers from being the frontmen or leaders of the various paramilitary organizations. But the money from Americans is drying up, so. Peace it is, even if the paramilitaries are continuing their extortion and protection schemes under the radar. They can’t give up the power, or the money, or the awakened need for violence.
Fegan is not at peace for a completely different reason. He drinks because twelve ghosts are haunting him, all of them screaming. The dead young woman with the dead baby especially gets to him. He can’t stand hearing them, seeing them. He remembers everything about their deaths, what he did to them. Every time Fegan meets one of the Republican murderers and assassins in the pub or street who were also involved in the ghosts’ deaths, the ghosts become insistent, louder, pointing their fingers in the shape of guns at the paramilitary thugs. What they want is clear. Fegan must kill those responsible, or they will never leave him alone. He can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t think. The ghosts will most certainly drive him mad if they don’t go away. Maybe that is the wrong tense, gentle reader. I think the ghosts have already made him insane! Fegan has to kill his former compatriots and bosses who helped to murder the ghosts because that is the only way they will go away. But are the ghosts real? To Fegan they are, and he is done trying to ignore them.
This is an excellent thriller! It also is a very brief history lesson (some readers may not know anything about the civil war in Northern Ireland and this book will not really explain it). The book really shows the kind of terror and fear the Northern Irish lived with for decades.
Below is a Wikipedia link to The Troubles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles
The Troubles made of Northern Ireland a land of endless terrorism. Every single individual, whether Protestant or Catholic, whether an adult or child, or whatever job they performed, no one ever knew if they would end the day by death from torture or a bomb or a bullet. Every day fear haunted every single person. Every day there was an extortion threat whether it be of money or a demand that their business or home be used as a paramilitary safe house. Any person could claim to the paramilitaries that any other person was not supporting the cause based on the flimsiest evidence or suspicion, which was a death sentence.
Gerry Fegan, the main character, is tortured by guilt. He was a cold-blooded assassin. He is a respected Catholic Republican because of his paramilitary career, having killed British soldiers, and police officers in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and Loyalists belonging to the Ulster Freedom Fighters. He also accidentally killed four civilians, including a young mother and her baby - twelve victims in all. He spent years in prison for one of those assassinations but has been recently released. However, he has become a drunken sot. Worse, he is always talking, pleading, to people that aren’t there. Everyone has noticed. His former commanders and peers, one now a respected politician, are becoming very concerned. They are afraid Fegan will become a “tout” - what we call a snitch in America. Many of the former paramilitary members are also guilty of murder, bombings. intimidation, protection racketeering - all in the name of freeing Northern Ireland from the “tyranny” of the British and the Irish Protestants. However, people are worn out from the fear and blood and death, so everyone is eager to sign peace treaties.
Well, almost everybody.
Many different members of the involved organizations, too many to name, are not fully on board with stopping the bloodshed. For some, the civil war became very profitable and stopping the shooting means losing income. For many, the hatred for their enemies that they carry in their hearts has not abated. Others have become addicted to violence. On the other side of the coin, of those who are eager for peace, some no longer support the political causes they cynically say they do, now that they have publicly respectable and financially secure careers from being the frontmen or leaders of the various paramilitary organizations. But the money from Americans is drying up, so. Peace it is, even if the paramilitaries are continuing their extortion and protection schemes under the radar. They can’t give up the power, or the money, or the awakened need for violence.
Fegan is not at peace for a completely different reason. He drinks because twelve ghosts are haunting him, all of them screaming. The dead young woman with the dead baby especially gets to him. He can’t stand hearing them, seeing them. He remembers everything about their deaths, what he did to them. Every time Fegan meets one of the Republican murderers and assassins in the pub or street who were also involved in the ghosts’ deaths, the ghosts become insistent, louder, pointing their fingers in the shape of guns at the paramilitary thugs. What they want is clear. Fegan must kill those responsible, or they will never leave him alone. He can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t think. The ghosts will most certainly drive him mad if they don’t go away. Maybe that is the wrong tense, gentle reader. I think the ghosts have already made him insane! Fegan has to kill his former compatriots and bosses who helped to murder the ghosts because that is the only way they will go away. But are the ghosts real? To Fegan they are, and he is done trying to ignore them.
Spoiler
I think the ghosts are real because one of the murderers, Davy Campbell, whom Fegan kills, sees the ghosts too as he is dying!This is an excellent thriller! It also is a very brief history lesson (some readers may not know anything about the civil war in Northern Ireland and this book will not really explain it). The book really shows the kind of terror and fear the Northern Irish lived with for decades.
Below is a Wikipedia link to The Troubles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles
The "troubles" in Northern Ireland are mostly over, but the country hasn't even begun to heal. Back in the day Gerry Fegan was a hit man for the IRA, and now he has cracked under the pressures of mental illness, alcoholism, and guilt. He believes himself to be haunted by 12 of the people he murdered. He sees them everywhere, begging him to shoot his old friends and comrades among the IRA who manipulated Gerry to kill them. At the same time, he finds his life increasingly entwined with that of a young woman who is hated and despised for her former relationship with an English cop, and with her small daughter who sees more than most adults would ever want to know. This book pulls no more punches than Gerry Fegen ever did. It's brutal, fast-paced, unsettling, and generally incredible.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes