Lies of Silence

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize: An unhappy marriage is further shaken when IRA terrorists invade the couples home in this first rate thriller (The New York Times). Michael Dillon, a self-described poet in a business suit, 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: Theyll 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. Its only the first choice of manybecause in Brian Moores breathtakingly constructed nightmare, the day has just begun (Los Angeles Times). The plot [is] one that only a spoiler would revealand risk ruining the surprises that detonate throughout the novel like cleverly hidden and elegantly designed incendiary devices. The notion of unbearable suspense is, of course, a clich, but I found that I kept briefly putting down the novel to postpone the moment when I had to face what might happen next. Francine Prose, The New York Times