Advance Praise for Terry Brankin Has a Gun
Malachi O’Doherty draws from a wealth of professional and lived experience. He crafts characters and plot that are plausible and unsettling in their moral complexity and ethical duplicity. In a society endeavouring to make sense of its bloody past, Terry Brankin Has A Gun reaffirms that no one gets out of this imperfect peace unscathed.
Thomas Paul Burgess, author of Through Hollow Lands
A deftly spun tale of dreadful intricacy and bewildering insight into a paramilitary world in denial of its own duplicitous logic. O’Doherty is a gifted storyteller – here is a wholly believable cast of modern-day imposters – as ordinary as they are sickening, as selfish as they are chilling. We learn that the effects of the Troubles are still rippling and karma is the only true compatriot. I left this book feeling I knew Northern Ireland a lot better than when I lived there in peace times.
June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker
It’s payback time in this tense and gripping novel shot through with wicked humour, because the past is never dead, especially not in the world of Terry Brankin. I sat up late into the night to finish this brilliantly thrilling tale of responsibility and guilt.
Wendy Erskine, author of Sweet Home
This is a marvellous book – part-thriller, part-portrait of a marriage, part-anatomy of a dysfunctional society: it is clear sighted, totally unsentimental and it steadfastly refuses to avert its gaze. It tells a horrible truth about our damage but with style and panache.
Carlo Gébler, author of Confessions of a Catastrophist
This novel fires a truth-telling bullet into the heart of things. A fast-paced joyride through the backstreets of Belfast and bogs of Donegal, it reveals the danger of delving into the past and brilliantly skewers the corruption, lies and hypocrisy in Northern Irish society through its perfectly observed cast of characters. O’Doherty’s sharp-shooting pen effortlessly illuminates the shadowlands of modern-day paramilitarism.
Rosemary Jenkinson, author of Catholic Boy
A compelling and gripping story. The subject is a timely one as people in Northern Ireland who experienced the Troubles continue to seek closure with regard to family tragedy and, in some cases, their own guilt. This is not only an exciting story but is a must-read for anyone who cares about what the Troubles did to people and wants to better understand it. There isn’t a false note in this book.
Annie McCartney, novelist and playwright
Terry Brankin goes from warfare to lawfare to be-careful-what-you-wish for. This punchy, highly filmic, pacy post-Troubles novel is a prescient warning that truth and reconciliation are not always mutual, and can even be murderous.
Henry McDonald, author of Two Souls
A tense and fast-paced political thriller that switches effortlessly between Troubles-era Belfast and the present day, dealing en route with the fallout from what was done. A compelling insight into the workings of the paramilitary machine, the challenges of policing the state, and the far from clear-cut relationship between the two.
Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House
The past might be a foreign country but not in Northern Ireland where the secrets of the past complicate the present in unexpected and devastating ways. In Malachi O’Doherty’s tense and compelling new thriller nobody is as they seem, or claim to be, but one thing is certain; there will be consequences for their actions. O’Doherty’s prose is taut and suspenseful, shot through with gritty humour that keeps the reader guessing and turning the page until the very last twist.
Nessa O’Mahony, author of The Branchman
TERRY
BRANKIN
HAS A
GUN
Malachi O’Doherty was born in Muff, County Donegal, and grew up in Belfast. He was a teacher to Libyan soldiers, a ghostwriter for an Indian guru, a contributor to BBC Northern Ireland and a regular writer for the Belfast Telegraph. Much of his writing career coincided with the Troubles. He has written numerous books about that period, including Fifty Years On: The Troubles and the Struggle for Change in Northern Ireland (Atlantic Books, 2020) and Gerry Adams: An Unauthorised Life (Faber and Faber, 2018).
TERRY
BRANKIN
HAS A
GUN
MALACHI O’DOHERTY
First published in 2020 by
Merrion Press
10 George’s Street
Newbridge
Co. Kildare
Ireland
© Malachi O’Doherty, 2020
9781785373107 (Paper)
9781785373114 (Kindle)
9781785373121 (Epub)
9781785373138 (PDF)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
This book is a work of fiction and while it draws parallels with the political context in Northern Ireland it should not be taken to imply any allegation, or to disclose information of any kind, about any living person.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Typeset in Sabon LT Std 11.5/15 pt
Cover design by Fiachra McCarthy
For Maureen
CONTENTS
