Featured title Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Espionage, Murder and Justice in Northern Ireland
Featured title Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Espionage, Murder and Justice in Northern Ireland
Rights
Endorsements
One of the most compelling books I've read in a very long time. An absolutely extraordinary tale of secret intelligence, infiltration and murder, Four Shots is a brilliantly pieced-together psychological drama that is all the more gripping - and unsettling - for being real rather than fiction. The story is expertly woven together, exploring the characters and motivations of the four main characters into a truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb.
Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written. Henry Hemming unfolds a true story of violence, politics and spycraft that sits right at the edge of journalism and history.
A superb portrait of the Troubles . . . Gripping and revelatory.
“The past is here,” writes Henry Hemming about Northern Ireland, “and will not leave until it has been seen.” Mr. Hemming is the author of “Four Shots in the Night,” the best book about the Troubles since Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Say Nothing” (2018) […] Both unwind painful stories of old political murders. What unites the two books is outstanding reporting and an unflinching focus on the facts at hand.
[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller [...] Hemming’s narrative combines the in-depth historical research he has brought to his previous books with a mounting sense of danger and intrigue.
An exciting, at times astonishing read... Hemming's book is an evenhanded account of the clandestine murders that still haunt so many.
A true-crime tale narrated with the skills of a whodunit pro.
A mind-bending deep dive into a shadowy world of government secrets.
The forty-one short, crisp screenplay-like chapters in this superb and chilling book constitute a sordid thriller.
Both a sinewy spy thriller and a wider history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Four Shots in the Night is edge-of-seat stuff: beautifully crafted, shrewdly observed, frighteningly immersive and utterly compelling.
A masterly achievement and a riveting read.
Meticulously researched and brought to life with the finesse of a first-class storyteller, Four Shots in the Night is an absolutely gripping tale of murder, The Troubles, and the good and bad that lurks inside us all. I was in its thrall from the first page to the last.
If another book has been written that has zoomed in so closely on the relationship between handler and agent, I have yet to find it. A not-so-chance meeting on an isolated Road to Perdition ends in ultimate destruction for one of the parties. What began in silence morphs into staccato, as Four Shots in the Night enter the brain of a once lonesome dog walker. Henry Hemming with sublime clarity peels away an opaque film allowing the reader to stare through a humane window into the horrendous world of espionage.
With the skill of a suspense novelist, Henry Hemming artfully unspools an enthralling investigation into espionage during Northern Ireland’s 'Troubles.’
Well-written and well-researched [...] One of those books that get to the heart of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Synopsis
The riveting story of how the death of a spy in the IRA led to the biggest murder investigation in British history.
On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. The brutal killing of Frank Hegarty began a decades-long search for justice. In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both.
After his recruitment by British secret intelligence, Frank Hegarty infiltrated IRA circles and became trusted with the most covert operations. But soon Frank would have to make an impossible decision, with devastating and deadly consequences. In 2016 a detective began to investigate the chilling possibility that Frank was murdered by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'.
Henry Hemming blends meticulous research with a modern-day investigation into crimes that were hidden away long ago. He highlights the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for the truth.