Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

By Patrick Radden Keefe
2019
464 pages / 14 hours and 40 minutes
Nonfiction

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Every year the New York Times Book Review chooses its 10 Best Books of the year. They always choose five fiction books and five nonfiction. After reading these lists for years, I can be pretty sure I will like half of their selections. Among their 2019 nonfiction selections is Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. It is the best book I read last year in any category. It is a heartbreaking, page-turning account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

This is one of those books which is a great one to listen to if you like audiobooks. There’s something about hearing the book in an Irish brogue that makes it even more compelling. However, I also recommend getting the print copy for the sake of the photos that further bring the book to life.

Reviewing this book is an interesting experience. Although it reads like a well plotted murder mystery or historical fiction, everything in the book is true. So anyone who knows the story of Northern Ireland already knows a great deal of what is going to happen. And still I hesitate to say much for fear of taking from the reader the experience of not being able to turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next.

So here are a couple of teasers. While it chronicles that troubled history of Northern Ireland, the book is really built around the mystery of the murder of Jean McConville, a mother of 10 children. And, believe it or not, that event is itself wrapped up in a secret enterprise in which an American university was engaged to create an oral history of the Troubles. Ethical dilemmas abound. You will also pick up some interesting tidbits along the way. For instance, I had no idea that the actor Stephen Rea was married to one of the more famous terrorists of the IRA, the often violent wing that carried out bombings and murders.

There are so many vivid characters who are so brilliantly brought to life that it is something of a jolt to realize that the ones who are not murderers are likely to be murdered. At the center of this drama is the enigmatic figure of Gary Adams, who was one of the primary brokers of the peace and a longtime member of Parliament. Until very recently he was the head of the political party representing Northern Ireland. He denied ever having been a member of the IRA, but by the time you reach the end of the book it will be quite clear that he was not only a member of the IRA but was also its head and that there is a great deal of blood on his hands. And yet he helped end the violence. What shall we make of this?

Religion is a part of the story. The conflict is Catholic/Protestant, but that is much too simplistic to really understand what happened. If you are like me and were aware of the conflict but never really understood it, this is a must read. But I have to tell you from the start, a lot of people are going to die, and it is unbearably sad.