The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

The tragedies of past times take center stage in this thriller set in latter-day Northern Ireland.  The main character of Gerry Fegan is a former hitman who is tortured by the ghosts of his victims.  He drinks himself into oblivion to relieve himself of their constant manifestations, but they refuse to leave his conscience and appeasing them turns out to be costly for many of Fegan’s former associates.

The Ghosts of Belfast captures well how the sectarian issues in Belfast still reverberate, and how shaky the hard-won peace they have now is; the reader definitely will catch the grittiness of the situation.  This is Stuart Neville’s first novel – he writes a gripping yarn, and certainly ratchets up the suspense (and the gore).  The book is not for the squeamish, but then, the history of Ulster itself is hardly for the squeamish, either.  Gerry Fegan is strangely sympathetic – you hate what he’s done, but he still seems worthy of redemption.

I look forward to what the author has coming up next, although I think that I will probably read something lighter in the interim period.

(William Hicks, Information Services)