The Ghosts of Belfast

Starred review from August 31, 2009
With this stunning debut, Neville joins a select group of Irish writers, including Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes and Adrian McKinty, who have reinvigorated the noir tradition with a Celtic edge. Gerry Fegan, a former IRA hit man haunted by the ghosts of the 12 people he killed, realizes the only way these specters will give him rest is to systematically assassinate the men who gave him his orders. Though those in the militant IRA underworld have written him off as a babbling drunk and a liability to the movement, they take note when their members start turning up dead. Meanwhile, Fegan is attracted to Marie McKenna, a relative of one of the newly slain men and a pariah to the Republicans. Can Fegan satisfy his demons and redeem himself, or will the ghosts of Belfast consume him first? This is not only an action-packed, visceral thriller but also an insightful insider’s glimpse into the complex political machinations and networks that maintain the uneasy truce in Northern Ireland.

Starred review from September 1, 2009
The IRA may have made peace with England, but decades of violence still haunt a former terrorist.

One-time IRA hard man Gerry Fegan is out of prison. But the 12 people he killed (three while out of jail on compassionate leave for his mother's funeral) won't let him forget the past. For the seven years since his release, Belfast native Fegan has been troubled by these dozen silent and accusing figures, and no amount of drink has driven the ghosts away. So when his old running buddy, Sinn Fein Assembly member Michael McKenna, shows up to ask why Fegan has revealed the site of a body dump to a victim's still-grieving mother, he follows the direction of one spectral victim and shoots McKenna. The killing ignites a firestorm of old rivalries and paranoia; it's a crime against Fegan's former brotherhood that makes him an outlaw among his own kind, but it's also the beginning of possible salvation, as the haunted, wasted gunman realizes he must avenge his ghosts to find peace. But even murder isn't simple, especially when McKenna's beautiful niece Marie and her daughter Ellen get caught up in the violence. First in a proposed series, Neville's debut is as unrelenting as Fegan's ghosts, pulling no punches as it describes the brutality of Ireland's"troubles" and the crime that has followed, as violent men find new outlets for their skills. Sharp prose places readers in this pitiless place and holds them there.

Harsh and unrelenting crime fiction, masterfully done.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from September 15, 2009
Former IRA killer Gerry Fegan is literally haunted by the past: 12 ghosts follow him, the victims of his days as a "hard man." Although Belfast is no longer a war zone, the IRA bosses are still in charge, and the ghosts want them dead. Oblivious to the precarious state of the political situation in Northern Ireland and how his actions might affect it, Fegan tries to win some peace for himself by satisfying the ghosts' desire for revenge, only to find himself hunted in return, not only by former IRA heavies but by the British as well. His budding relationship with a woman and her child who are also threatened by the IRA show him that another type of life is possible but at the same time makes him vulnerable. Verdict In this well-crafted and intriguing series debut, Neville evokes the terrors of living in Belfast during "the Troubles" and manages to makes Fegan, a murderer many times over, a sympathetic character. VERDICT The buzz around this novel is well deserved and readers will be anticipating the next book in the series. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 6/1/09; this was published in July as "The Twelve" to great acclaim in the U.K.Ed.] Lisa Hanson O'Hara, Univ. of Manitoba Libs., Winnipeg

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Gerry Fegan has a knack for killing people, and it made him a legend among Catholic paramilitaries in Belfast during the Troubles. But at age 45, free after 12 years in prison and returned to the citys still-edgy peace and prosperity, hes haunted by the apparitions of his victims. Theyre with him around the clock, and he finally agrees to do their bidding: kill the people who ordered him to kill others. But Fegans attempts to exorcise his demons of conscience could shatter Northern Irelands government and cause internecine war in the IRA. Nevilles debut novel is tragic, violent, exciting, plausible, and compelling. Its a tale of old fealties, betrayals, and retribution in a place where most of the populace has turned away from hate and terror to embrace peace and prosperity. As McGinty, a para turned corrupt parliamentarian, puts it, Weve got peace now, whether we like it or not. The Ghosts of Belfast is dark, powerful, insightful, and hard to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)