Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. I found it slow moving and didn’t like any of the characters.

This was a tense thriller that was compulsively readable. Set during the Troubles. this is a nuanced and thought-provoking story of loyalty, betrayal, and violence. A tense read that I would definitely recommend.

This book was very interesting and good. Would love to read more of this author.

Bridget O'Neill was swept off her feet by her husband, a man from Belfast with links to the IRA, married him and settled into uneasy domesticity in the remote border country of Armagh. Francis O'Neill is a trained operative with the IRA, executing terrorist acts in Britain and the Continent, and controlled by 'Gentleman Joe', a high ranking leader. During a trip to Singapore both Francis and Bridget are separately approached by British intelligence to act as 'touts', however Francis' younger brother has recently been executed by the IRA for just this. Years later and Francis is involved with a plot to bomb and army barracks but is caught and sentenced. Francis knows he was betrayed and so does Gentleman Joe.

Having read Searle's first novel 'The Good Liar' I knew that this would be a fast-paced and twisty story but this second book is way beyond the first. Given recent events in which former leaders of the opposing sides in the Conflicts have been prominent there has been a lot of looking back at the bad times of the 1980s and 1990s, the shootings, the bombings and the general sense of fear. Searle looks at the impact on the communities and the individuals, the reader feels empathy for Francis, caught up in something that he can't get away from, and also for Bridget, her life limited to an isolated house and a distant husband. The title refers to both the O'Neill family and also the bigger IRA family and there is a dark sense of humour here, the obsession with cups of tea and cleaning the house, but there is also a rattling good storyline. The final twist is excellent - I didn't suspect who was the traitor.

A Traitor in the Family by Nicholas Searle begins as Francis prepares to commit a terrorist attack as his wife makes preparations for Christmas with the family. Francis is committed to the IRA which is working towards a United Ireland using violence as their campaign strategy. He is a man who follows orders and he strongly believes that he is doing the right thing despite the fact that his actions leave a trail of destruction. On the other hand, Bridget is hard to figure out at first. She is different. So demure that the union doesn’t make sense. She does support her husband although she doesn’t seem really happy with his actions or their marriage.

The story alternates between a number of POVs with the main narrators being Bridget and Francis. It spans from 1989 to 2007 which each year representing a significant event. From the start, I liked Bridget and sympathized with her predicament. She was so nice and quiet. It just didn’t make sense how she ended up married to a terrorist. I couldn’t figure her out at first. Her shyness and feelings of loneliness made me feel sorry for her. Her background story was even more heartbreaking and so is the story of how she got married to Francis. Hers is a tale of unfilled dreams. There is no much background story to Francis on why and how he ended up in the cause. His narrations are more about his present actions which include a number of attacks. He is cold, methodical and highly committed to the IRA. His attitude towards Bridget was bordering towards indifference. I didn’t like this man.

The book is really fast-paced with so much going on. Francis and his men keep finding new targets. At each attack, I kept wondering if he would get caught. I read about his actions waiting for something to happen. On the other hand, something changes in Bridget and she decides to do something about her situation. Now this was nerve-wracking. As I had mentioned, Bridget is so quiet and submissive. I was so worried about her. The people that she was dealing with were ruthless. Nobody walked away from the IRA alive and through the pages; this was made clearer by the punishment meted out to suspected traitors. In addition, the British Intelligence was trying to infiltrate IRA at all costs. The tension heightened with each new chapter.

Betrayal and revenge are served in equal measure through the pages. I was nervous as the story progressed and the stakes got higher. When the twist finally occurred, the tension actually went even higher up to the final twist. The conflict resolution in the end was perfect. It’s the kind of ending that gets you cheering (slow-clap kind of cheering) for the MC. It was brilliant, brave and had the perfect effect on the other characters. If that wasn’t enough, another jaw-dropping reveal was made in the epilogue.

A Traitor in the Family by Nicholas Searle is a story about family, betrayal, revenge and blind allegiance. It is fast-paced and it had me turning pages until the wee hours or the morning. Its action packed and would be perfect for fans of crime thrillers.

I actually enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first. I liked the way the action spanned from the 1980s to 2000 but if I'm honest I just didn't find the characters appealing and I felt it was a little rushed.

A Traitor in the Family
By Nicholas Searle

Reviewed by Heath Henwood
www.books-reviewed.weebly.com

Bored.

The is Searle second book, and I have to admit that I have not read the first. I would suggest that he might be suffering from the common second book syndrome, of having put out one good book, and now what next!

The book lacked – everything. Not true – Searle has gone to great lengths to detail and describe the characters, and has filled in the gaps with detail. Maybe too much detail, which cuts into the rhyme of the book.

Generally disappointing.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Sounded like it was going to be a good read. Interesting plot. While it SAS gripping in parts I felt it was rushed or skipped key moments just as it was going to get good. Disappointed with it but author had some great bits to it. Let's hope the next one packs the killer punch

Nicholas Searle is a major discovery and after the success of "The Good Liar" he has surpassed himself with his second book which seems a complete change of tack.

Here he covers the Irish troubles and the struggle of an IRA enforcer's wife to walk away from her life as the partner of one of their best assassins without putting his existence in jeopardy.

Will she betray him? Can she escape from the life she has grown to hate?

The book is breathlessly exciting and beautifully plotted and written.

Highly recommended.

Nicholas Searle is the author of the bestselling book, Good Liar. I'll admit that I've never actually read it, but Good Liar sounds amazing and I would love to read it in the future. However, I cannot say the same for A Traitor in the Family... it was slightly disappointing.

Francis O'Neill is a terrorist, trained to kill for his cause. Bridget is his wife, expected to be loyal and stand by her husband. She has learned not to hope for much more, until the day she glimpses, for the first time, the chance of a new life. A life without violence, without secrets, and without knocks on the door in the dead of night. A life without her husband.

But what if freedom for Bridget means grave danger for Francis?

When reading the blurb of this book, it sounds amazing; a thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat. But it just didn't do it for me. I was 100 pages in and I wasn't hooked, it didn't interest me, the characters weren't very appealing. I was actually disappointed in myself for not enjoying.

The pace of the book did pick up after around 200 pages. Tensions are high within Francis' close circle and to be honest, I was eager to see how everything would turn out; would they ever be caught?; would Bridget continue in the same life?

What was also interesting is that this book is first set in the 1980s and spans the year to the 2000s. We get to see how a close community works together and fights for what they believe in, we see how the people left on the sidelines of the operations have to deal with loneliness and juggle what is right and wrong. It is a very interesting concept and I think that if the characters were more fleshed out, it would have been more enjoyable. The characters just seemed bland. Which is a huge shame because I feel like the characters WERE the plot. Everything revolved around them.

Even though I was very disappointed with A Traitor in the Family and would have loved to have seen more action, more three-dimensional characters and a better pacing (it seemed rushed), I like the idea that Searle had come up with and I like the concept of showing the organisation over a couple of decades. However, it just fell flat for me.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Released 6th April

It has echoes of the 80s political terrorism which in light of recent atrocities seem almost logical, almost I say because terror always gets attention but it never resolves anything. In the hands of a better writer this could have been excellent, but in truth it was a bit bland. Potiential lost in dull prose and poor pacing. Plot is interesting though and is will always remain relevant as terror as weapon seems set to stay but who decides what is terror and what is justified action against repression? This could have been more, a it of a letdown.

Opening with the assassination of a British soldier in Germany, this feels packed with authentic knowledge of the IRA campaigns of the late 1980s and 1990s, Searle's writing style and vision are straightforward and uncomplicated, and there are sometimes disconcerting jumps where time passes in an unacknowledged way and we're suddenly years away from what happened in a previous chapter.

There's something almost nostalgic about this kind of homegrown, almost parochial, 'terrorism' in contrast to today's threats, and maybe for that reason this is evocative of a specific time and place. Events are only loosely tied together with a plot, this is more a slice of life involving active IRA units, their commanders and the security services trying to undermine them.

So a straight-from-the-1990s-headlines read but I couldn't help thinking that this would have been a richer and more complicated tale in the hands of someone like le Carré - 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

loved this book. its a topic im really interested in and found the storyline very intrieging. loved the characters and the plot very much

The title grabbed me and the book doesn't disappoint. A great book to curl up on the couch with on a cold night. This book won't leave you alone.

I grew up during the seventies and eighties in a military family and was very aware of the troubles in Ireland. This book provides a fascinating insight to the troubles, the strains on relationships and those who "sold" information to the authorities. Would really recommend as this is well written and a brilliant insightful book.