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4.5
Its brilliant when you find a new author who is just a bit different in a pretty crowded field when it comes to crime writing.This novel is set in Belfast after "The Troubles" and centers on Gerry Fegan a IRA hitman who is starting to drink himself to death because the 12 people he has killed are haunting him. He decides the only way he can rid himself of the images is to take revenge for them on those that ordered the killings in the first place. So he sets out and that's when the trouble starts.This is brutal, there is not a likable character in the entire book, apart from a six year old girl. The language and violence is extreme and it is excellent.Great writing, great characters and it should be read by lots of people.A really good. well structured plot. Quickly paced. All very credible, apart from the final moments, when you just have to go with the flow. Leaves you wanting more.This book held my attention from start to finish.Research very thorough and at times i thought I was reading a newspaper or watching TV as it was so real.A little bit of everything in this one. Revenge, mystery, love, supernatural and an insight into life in Belfast during turbulant times. I've just ordered the sequel "Collusion".Grim but heartfelt - one man's attempt at atonement. Listed on Adrian McKinty's blog so I had to read it, now have a new author to follow up.Well written & obviously well researched for factual inclusions etc. A good historical read for those not familiar with the Northern Ireland ' Troubles'.Different but difficult to put down!Turned out to be the same book I had already red but one for the British market with a different title than the one for the American market.We used to name wars after their duration. Seven Years War, Thirty Years War (Eighty YW if you are Dutch, they date if from the beginning of their revolt against the Spanish) … what name shall we give the Irish War(s) when they (I pray) finish? They have lasted longer than my life, and I had graduated before the author of this novel was born.Those of us who have been witnesses to, or victims of, the Troubles will be very sad to hear that nothing very much had changed even after the Good Friday Agreement …. and the tinder is still dry ready to be ignited by the aftermath of Brexit and/or the Coronavirus crisis of 2020.Fegan is an unlikely hero - he shows no ideological conviction that the war and corruption have to stop. His mental anguish - is it alcoholic brain-rot, or psychological manifestation of guilt? The reader must decide this for himself, even after the author suggests one interpretation in the ending.I was waiting for a Hamlet (or OK Corral) style bloodbath at the end. In the end, some of the players are left standing; either because the author had already planned a sequel (I have already bought it!) or because he wanted to leave us some hope that one day all the slaughter and corruption will end. I pray it will be in our lifetimes.I recently read another book from another author and it was so good I wanted to write a review singing it's praises while I was still half way through it. I didn't though, and it was for the best as that particular book petered out in the second half and became a chore to read by the end.You don't need any further details from me regarding what this book's storyline is, so I'll just have my say about this book in general.The Twelve was brilliant from the start and I wanted to immediately yell out a review about this too, but given what I learned from the previous book I held off until the end.I have finished it now and wanted to crack on with the review for it straight away, instead I first went straight onto Amazon and purchased every single book I could find by Stuart Neville.In the same way as Mozart knew how to throw a tune together, Picasso knew how to splash a bit of paint about and Mike Tyson knows how to give someone a good slap, Stuart Neville knows how to tell a story.The story, was excellent, made sense, well located and there was not one single "ah lads" moment (as we say in Ireland when we find a hole in a story)The pacing was the most perfect I have ever seen in a book. Not once did I think "Get on with it". The characters were realistic and interesting, not once did I return to a characters point of view that made me think "Not this gobs***e again"I dislike the beach and sandy things so I have never found a film or a story set in the desert in any way interesting, no matter how promising the storyline may have been.There is something about Northern Ireland given its past that has alway seemed very unappealing to me, grimy, mean spirited and whingy, and because of that I didn't think I'd like a story set up there.Well Mr. Neville has bitch slapped that foolish notion clean out of me, and I am delighted that he did.If your looking for a good story that will keep you captivated, realistic action, legitimate intrigue plot points, well written and well paced...then this ticks all the boxes. Do yourself a favour get it, read it, enjoy it, spread the word about it. Good writers are too hard to come by these days (IMO) and the more well deserved support the likes of Stuart Neville gets, the more, I'm sure he'll keep writing for us.Book as described in the précis. Gerry Fegan is haunted by the ghosts of twelve people who he's responsible for killing. To ease the traumas he experiences, Fegan drinks heavily and then decides to murder the hierarchy who ordered him to kill. Fegan is an adept para-military killing machine, secretly admired by colleagues and others.Set in Belfast, the plot revolves around past 'troubles' and the corruption still existing in areas of politics and policing. (Remember-This is fiction)The book is slow to start with. Initially, I thought it was going to drag if Fegan was just going from one murder to the next. However, it 'got going' with the humble side of Fegan being revealed, along with the reasons to seek revenge.The book is worth reading and offers an insight into what may (or may not) still happen in Ireland today.I started my relationship with Stuart Neville by reading 'Ratliners', a novel I considered to be good but not great.Reading the tremendous reviews accorded 'The Twelve' encouraged me to give him another go and by God, I'm so pleased I did.This, his first book, is a pulsating dynamo of a ride that works on so many levels it leaves you wondering how anybody could do this first time out.Not only does he manage the unusual feet of blending the quasi supernatural with the realistic in such a seamless and believable way. He does so in a flat out noir thriller that is also a tale of revenge and redemption that is set in a post 'Good Friday' Belfast that is so well described that you can almost smell the crooked politician's aftershave.Neville succeeds so well with this work because not only does he tick all of the boxes that are key to succeeding with a sleek modern thriller - tight plotting, frenetic pace and well drawn characters. He does so with a quality of writing and an ability to create a sense of pace that is rare in the genre.Stuart himself claims to be a fan of the late, great Ted Lewis. As am I and frankly Mr.Neville, I have news for you. You sir, are as good as Ted and for a thriller writer, there is no higher praise!By Neville and read him now - he's brilliant!This first novel is undoubtedly a compelling read. I don’t know how authentic the Belfast he portrays is, but it certainly carries conviction. In itself the storyline is unpromising on at least two counts: the variant on “The Ten Little Indians”, to give it its politically correct title, and the supernatural element as a way of dramatizing Fegan’s guilt. The second, in particular becomes increasingly ponderous, strains credulity and for me robs the ending of any real conviction. These things aside, Neville has produced a racy page-turner, only its length, I imagine, preventing many taking it down in a single swallow.It has the near-mandatory mixture of sentimentality and violence and is certainly not for the squeamish. The focus on torture can be explained away via grim actuality, but it still leaves an unpleasant taste and I’m uncertain whether the genre hasn’t created its own taste for dwelling on sadistic detail. I’m left in something of a dilemma. While I didn’t really enjoy the book I found it difficult to set aside. For all the predictability and inevitably of the plot, Neville must be given credit for creating an unrelenting hold on the reader.
