Collusion (Jack Lennon, Book 2)
*Starred Review* Sectarian hatreds and an assassin’s quest for absolution were at the heart of Neville’s brilliant debut, The Ghosts of Belfast (2009). In this riveting sequel, collusion, dating back decades between and among Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries, the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s Special Branch, Britain’s MI5, and British Army Intelligence, is the cornerstone. Ulster police detective Jack Lennon is caught in the middle of the sectarian hatred and the psychopathic desire for revenge that live on in Belfast, even in peacetime. Fearing for their lives, Jack’s daughter, six-year-old Ellen, and her mother, Jack’s former lover, have disappeared. Lennon’s superiors tell him to stop searching for his daughter, but Ellen is all he has in the world. Her trail leads him to the collusion that helps fan the flames of hatred in Northern Ireland. Lennon goes rogue in order to protect Ellen and her mother, and he forms an edgy alliance with the terrifying IRA assassin Gerry Fegan, the main character in The Ghosts of Belfast. Neville’s deft style builds mounting tension, and his characters, all tragic figures, are skillfully developed. The collusion he describes sounds all too plausible; it’s devious and endemic enough to impress even descendants of the infamous Borgias. The violence, administered up close and personal—and the rage of those who commit it—is almost operatic. A feast for thriller fans. --Thomas Gaughan