Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize: An unhappy marriage is further shaken when IRA terrorists invade the coupleโs home in this โfirst rateโ thriller (The New York Times).
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Michael Dillon, a self-described โpoet in a business suit,โ is a once-aspiring writer in Belfast whose dreams have been consumed by a stultifying career as a hotel manager and a hateful marriage to his unstable wife, Moira. But on the day he decides to leave Moira for his younger lover and take off for London, IRA terrorists break into the Dillon home. Their plan is simple: Theyโll hold Moira hostage while Michael plants a bomb designed to kill a rabble-rousing Protestant and his flock convening for a political rally. If Michael goes to the police, Moira dies. Itโs only the first choice of manyโbecause in Brian Mooreโs โbreathtakingly constructedโ nightmare, the day has just begun (Los Angeles Times).
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โThe plot [is] one that only a spoiler would revealโand risk ruining the surprises that detonate throughout the novel like cleverly hidden and elegantly designed incendiary devices. The notion of โunbearable suspenseโ is, of course, a clichรฉ, but I found that I kept briefly putting down the novel to postpone the moment when I had to face what might happen next.โ โFrancine Prose, The New York Times
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