The Second Prison

by Ronan Bennett

Kane is part of a group of young Irish republican activists, whose belief in their cause at times competes with an urge to inform the police. After he is let out of jail for his alleged part in the murder of another informer, Kane goes to England to seek out and avenge himself on the final surviving member of his cell. Here he is drawn ever more deeply into the web of Tempest, the psychotic Special Branch policeman who destroyed Kane's cell in Belfast. Kane's encounter with him closes the circle of this taut, compelling novel.

1 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Ronan Bennett is a novelist and screenwriter who was born and brought up in Northern Ireland and now lives in London. His third novel, The Catastrophist, was nominated for the Whibread award in 1998. Havoc, in Its Third Year (2004) was listed for the Booker prize. Havoc has been adapted into a motion picture to be released later in 2012. His latest novel is Zugzwang. His television drama Top Boy will be broadcast by Channel 4 in November 2011.

In addition to Havoc and Top Boy, Ronan has an excessive amount of work writing and creating for both television and the screen.

Long before Ronan ever thought of becoming a writer, he did a brief stint in prison for crimes perpetrated by the Irish Republican Army, crimes he was wrongly accused for.

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked to have liked this better, Bennett being a countryman and a handsome one to boot, but this was his debut novel and reads like it too. It doesn't quite work as a thriller and it doesn't quite work as a clever 'literary' novel either. However, I enjoyed his later book 'Havoc in Its Third Year' and am prepared to accept that he hadn't quite hit his stride when he put this one together.

[Theodore Kinni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ronan Bennett's last three or four books were such great reads that I searched out his hard-to-find first novel - a story of the IRA, prison, love, and betrayal. It stood up very well for the first half, but the writing fell apart in the second.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book compares favorably with other thrillers that use the Northern Ireland "Troubles" as their backdrop, such as The Ghosts of Belfast and The Journeyman Tailor; in this case the action centers around one Augustine Kane, an IRA soldier and internal enforcer, and his nemesis, a British detective and counter-terrorism operative named Henry Tempest, whose shadowy insidiousness lurks throughout the novel, breaking out into the open near the end. Bennett dwells quite a bit on the world within the British prison system and the machinations of the legal system, on deals, counter-deals, and double-deals, and on the titular "Second Prison" awaiting those who serve out their terms or are paroled from the first, the prison of endless entanglement in the lawlessness of paramilitary activity. Though Kane is portrayed sympathetically, the reader is reminded at every turn that he is also a bent human being who has destroyed others' lives and would easily do so again, though this fact is effectively counter-poised against the psychosis of Tempest, whose love of control and murder is not even given the benefit of a veneer of political motivation, though it has the sanction of the power of the state.

[Nanni Sender · Rating 1 out of 5]

What nonsense to compare this writing to that of Graham Greene (as it does on the cover). Was going to give it two stars but then dropped the score.

[Sarah Bray · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Tom Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad there are a couple more books by Bennet to look forward to reading.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual read on my shelf, part love story part IRA/Prison procedural part thriller. Bennett's experience of wrongful imprisonment in Belfast during the troubles certainly helped him build an authentic portrait of life behind bars in Brixton in the 70s and, no doubt, helped him form the working relationships that led to the stellar Top Boy series. His erotically charged account of love affairs, derailed by time inside, was built on later in his 16th century catholic love story in Havoc in its final year. The Second Prison explores what integrity and loyalty look like under difficult circumstances. Fans of Top Boy will see a thread. Parts of the book were just stunning, others drifted a little but this is well worth a read if you can lay your hands on a copy.

[Bachyboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raw and challenging especially at the start where he keeps shifting the setting and the time frame. A very good novel to help you understand the Irish way of thinking when they were at that time of shooting each other.

[J. Maximilian Jarrett II · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Asks the critical questions as all good literature must. Posits some nuanced answers too. Ronan Bennett is one of the best writers of his generation. Enough said.

[Lazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, extremely clear depiction of life in prison and the situation of many lost in their beliefs of loyalty and violence. Very well written.