Northern Spy
Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
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4,0 • 65 notes
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- 13,99 $
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- 13,99 $
Description de l’éditeur
Reese’s Book Club Pick
Instant New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Thriller of 2021
A Washington Post Top 10 Thriller or Mystery of 2021
“If you love a mystery, then you’ll devour [Northern Spy] . . . I loved this thrill ride of a book.” —Reese Witherspoon
“A chilling, gorgeously written tale . . . Berry keeps the tension almost unbearably high.” —The New York Times Book Review
The acclaimed author of Under the Harrow and A Double Life returns with her most riveting novel to date: the story of two sisters who become entangled with the IRA
A producer at the BBC and mother to a new baby, Tessa is at work in Belfast one day when the news of another raid comes on the air. The IRA may have gone underground in the two decades since the Good Friday Agreement, but they never really went away, and lately bomb threats, security checkpoints, and helicopters floating ominously over the city have become features of everyday life. As the news reporter requests the public's help in locating those responsible for the robbery, security footage reveals Tessa's sister, Marian, pulling a black ski mask over her face.
The police believe Marian has joined the IRA, but Tessa is convinced she must have been abducted or coerced; the sisters have always opposed the violence enacted in the name of uniting Ireland. And besides, Marian is vacationing on the north coast. Tessa just spoke to her yesterday.
When the truth about Marian comes to light, Tessa is faced with impossible choices that will test the limits of her ideals, the bonds of her family, her notions of right and wrong, and her identity as a sister and a mother. Walking an increasingly perilous road, she wants nothing more than to protect the one person she loves more fiercely than her sister: her infant son, Finn.
Riveting, atmospheric, and exquisitely written, Northern Spy is at once a heart-pounding story of the contemporary IRA and a moving portrait of sister- and motherhood, and of life in a deeply divided society.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Belfast BBC political news producer Tessa Daly, the protagonist of this moving contemporary thriller from Edgar winner Berry (A Double Life), is struggling to juggle her job with caring for her six-month-old son, whose custody she shares with her ex-husband, when she sees a TV clip showing a gas station being robbed by a gun-wielding IRA trio. One of them is her younger sister, Marian, whom Tessa believed to be vacationing on the north coast. Detective Inspector Fenton and his team, who subsequently interrogate Tessa, seem convinced that she must also be IRA or, at the very least, privy to her sister's activities. It turns out that the local authorities don't know an awful lot about the now-fugitive Marian, whose efforts to press Tessa to assist her in her current clandestine mission puts both mother and baby at risk. The tension becomes at times almost unbearable as the plot takes increasingly sharp, sometimes improbable twists. It's a measure of the author's skill that she never loses sight of the humanity of her characters. Berry remains a writer to watch.
Avis des utilisateurs
Not what I expected
So I've read this book for the Reese's Book Club pick of April 2021. I must say, I was expecting more from the book. I was utterly disappointed. I mean, I understand the reason why this book fits in the "thriller/mystery" category, but I the same time, I don't fell like it fits in this category at all.
There was some action in the book, but it was long before we got it. I feel like it wasn't as mysterious as it seemed to be. The plot didn't really taken me by surprises or had me at the edge of my seat. There is a lot of plot holes in this story, even though this is fiction, I felt really detached from the story for whatever reason
This story is more about motherhood/sisterhood than anything else. We follow Tessa being torn in family ties, which is cute, but again, not what I was expecting from this book.
I must say, I am glad I read this book for the historic facts. Coming from Canada, we never really learn about Ireland and the on-going conflicts. I didn't even know the existence of a Northern Ireland or a IRA. I had to google search some information to learn more "in-depth" about The Troubles and to grasp a little knowledge about what was/is going on in Ireland. I'm glad it made me curious about Ireland. I will say that is was the only, if not the most, interesting part of the story.