December 1972, 38 year-old Jean McConville is removed from her Belfast flat in front of her children and never seen again - what happened to her?

This narrative non-fiction makes for a gripping read - Jean McConville’s disappearance as the central thread gives the book propulsion and provides a jumping off point to touch on many aspects of The Troubles. It focuses on the Republican side of the conflict - the motivations, organisation and functioning of the IRA, and the British government’s response and some of the resulting British Army operations against the Republicans. Keefe does an excellent job of contextualising The Troubles, and bringing in the violence, brutality and pervasive atmosphere of fear, profiles of some of the main IRA players as well as the peace process and its ongoing aftermath, both on personal and societal levels, all without overwhelming the reader.

This isn’t a comprehensive history of the Troubles - Keefe does not claim that it is - and it doesn’t really get into the Unionist paramilitary groups, but if you’re completely unfamiliar with The Troubles, it would make a great introduction. I found it very useful to better understand some of the more detailed machinations of the conflict, the internal politics within the IRA (and the distinctions between the Provisional IRA, Official IRA and much more recent Real IRA - which I have always found quite confusing) and the genesis of Sinn Fein and consequent various less obvious repercussions of the conflict on current Northern Irish politics and tensions.

I mostly listened to the audiobook, which is very well narrated by Matt Blaney, but I found it helpful to refer to the physical copy as I am utterly rubbish at retaining names that I don’t see written down.

An excellent, accessible introduction to the brutality and shocking reality of The Troubles, focusing on the IRA and some of its key figures.