Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

By: Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrated by: Matthew Blaney

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of London Falling—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.

One of The New York Times’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years

"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." —New York Times Book Review

"Reads like a novel. . . . Keefe is . . . a master of narrative nonfiction. . . . An incredible story."—Rolling Stone

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, and more!

Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.

Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past--Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.

The way all History books should be!

I can’t say enough good things about this book. I have read many nonfiction books that claimed to read like a novel but few have. This book brought the subject matter to life like few books ever have. Regardless of your knowledge or interest in NI history and The Troubles, you will be fascinated by this story. Need more stars to rank this fairly.

Brilliant and engrossing book; fantastic narration

As a child, I remember vaguely hearing about Bobby Sands but in the US we were so far removed from the Troubles. As I get ready to visit Ireland for the first time, I thought it would be interesting to read this book. Alternatively tragic and inspiring, it captures this confounding —and still really not resolved—issue. A truly engrossing story. I actually bought the book after I listened to this because I wanted to see the pictures and read the notes, but this is one book well worth listening to and reading. To hear it read —and read so beautifully by an Irishman—adds so much to the richness of the experience.

Devastating inquiry into emotional chaos of troubles

Keefe’s obsessive rumination on a most troubling event from The Troubles ultimately portrays the forces that provoked some of the major actors in the Northern Ireland during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Rather than excuse or justify, he works through a palimpsest of contradictory testimony and recollection to understand and report on the causes and consequences of what people did during that time.

Sheesh! What a book!

I very much hope this will win the National Book Award or something similar. It's an incredible story, very well written and skillfully crafted. I started out reading this and then bought the audiobook so I could listen when I couldn't read. I found the narration slightly awkward at first, but it got smoother and smoother and became the perfect reading for the book. It's simply a terrific book; you can't go wrong here!

One side of the Troubles

Having read Voices from the Grave, I was anxious to access Say Nothing, for a more easily digestible approach to the Troubles, at least from the republican side. This audio book did not disappoint. It was especially enjoyable to have the book read in a Northern Irish accent. As I listened to it, the “trial of the facts” in the Ivor Bell case was ending—complete with testimony from Gerry Adams and the judge’s ruling excluding the Belfast tapes as biased and unreliable. Wonder if Marian will ever deliver the last word.