The Ghosts of Belfast

By: Stuart Neville

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Fegan has been a "hard man" - an IRA killer in Northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being haunted day and night by 12 ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims. In order to appease them, he's going to have to kill the men who gave him orders.

As he's working his way down the list, he encounters a woman who may offer him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an outsider too. Now he has given Fate - and his quarry - a hostage. Is this Fegan's ultimate mistake?

©2009 Stuart Neville (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Mystery / Thriller, 2010
• Notable Crime Books of 2009 (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times)
• The Year’s Most Mesmerizing Mysteries (Maureen Corrigan, NPR)

"Stuart Neville's debut novel about the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland is harsh, brutal, and unrelentingly grim. With spare, crisp dialogue, and a gift for turning an Irish phrase, Neville plants himself firmly in Adrian McKinty territory. And who better to narrate than Gerard Doyle? Doyle gets it—and so do we. His whine; his growl; his rough yet sensitive, always-passionate performance gives everything a listener could want from an audiobook." ( AudioFile)

"With this stunning debut, Neville joins a select group of Irish writers, including Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes, and Adrian McKinty, who have reinvigorated the noir tradition with a Celtic edge." ( Publishers Weekly)

Are they in his head or are they not?

I wasn't expecting what I got from listening to this book. I guess with 12 ghosts following him around, I expected a spooky piece of light-weight literature. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. This book provoked a real discussion in my head of the moral dilemmas Fegan faced nearly on an hourly basis. It is tightly written, imaginative,and very entertaining. It was nice to see what seemed to be a sure jump into a love story evolve into something that would be more likely to happen.

Strong and likeable characters, gritty with a moderate dose of grisly violence, and top notch writing. It will be read in one fell swoop, I promise you.

A new and real talent.

I can't wait to read more from this author.

Good Story, especially if your Irish

This is a decent story, not great. It seems to have a simple premise - guy must make amends for the wrongs he has done. It has some interesting twists. If you are not familiar with Northern Ireland the the struggles there, you might not enjoy this story. If your Irish you will enjoy it.

Very dark and compelling story

Years after the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland ex-IRA foot soldier and assassin Gerry Fagan is haunted by visions, dreams and memories of 20 innocent people he killed. Rather than take personal responsibility for the murders he committed he decides to kill the people who ordered them. There are no good guys in this very dark and bloody story.

Gerard Doyle narrates as only he can. His accent is smooth and strong and his performance flawless, just like with the Adrian McKinty novels he narrates.

I cannot recommend this novel because it is so dark and violent.

Perfectly pitched - novel and narrator

This book would appeal to readers/listeners who like a fine writer who can bundle atmosphere, character development and action -- more like an excellent mystery writer in some ways (Mankell, James Lee Burke) - author has created a haunting/intriguing book. Great delivery by Doyle, and most remarkably-- he pulls off an ending that does the entire book before credit. So many, many books like this end with a whimper, this one does not - the author has crafted a superb ending that does credit to his writing, his characters and the history also envelopes the work. I'm reading more Neville!

Exactly what I expected

A well written, evenly paced, excellently narrated work.

The story draws you in quickly and you don't need to be intimately familiar with the history of Ireland to follow it. The author weaves all the context you need into the story.

The violence is fairly graphic, which I believe is very intentional on the author's part to strip away the romace of either side's prior bad acts. However, I could see how it might make some readers squeamish.

The narration is excellent. Not only accents, but entire voices are created for each character making it easy to follow the dialogue scenes. You often know who is speaking from the change in the narration even before the text indicates the speaker. It truly enhances the book.

I buy audiobooks for my commute, but found myself listening to this one at home because it was hard to put down.

Well written, well read and very enjoyable.

a gripping, gritty story

Loved the story, loved the narration. Author Stuart Neville hooks you into a harrowing world of sin, loneliness, and death from the very first sentence. Kept me glued to my iPod for 12 hours.

Different Kind Of Hero

Jerry Fagan is a different kind of a hero. He's an ex IRA hit man who is plagued by ghosts of those he killed to right their wrongs. Jerry is a very complex character. He's a killer, but one with a heart of gold and a deep sense of true justice.

Throughout the story you're never really sure if Jerry's "Ghosts" are real ghosts or just in Jerry's mid as a result of extreme guilt. In a way it kind of difficult to get very deep in a review of this book without giving too much of the story away....But a very interesting story it is.

As for the performer....He really brings the Irish out. He doesn't have great range between the diferent characters voices, but he does a pretty good job.

I made the mistake of listening to this after listing to a very riviting scary book about zombies. It took a while to get settled into a more psychological thriller. Once I did I really liked it a lot

Intriguing story marred by gratuitous violence

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The theme of redemption was overwhelmed by a level of brutality that was unnecessary for character of plot development.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

NO

I'm not sure that "enjoy" applied to this book ...

This is a very well written and exremely well read book. It is also a very dark book, full of pain. Not the best choice for your light summer reading list .... or, for that matter, for keeping busy during that final week before your double mastectomy (mine, in this case). The author has a dim view of humankind in general, the IRA in particular, thinks politicians are all scum and that ALL politics is evil and is the root of much of what ails the human race. While I cannot fault most of his opinions, I reached a point with this book where I just couldn't read any more, even though I was very close to the end. It isn't that I don't (mostly) agree with the author. I just couldn't handle any more misery. AND there's a SEQUEL. Not, however, for me.

Amazing narration. Great story.

The narrator is pheromonal with not only the accents but the characters as well. The story built some great momentum to a great resolution.