The Wrong Man

by Danny Morrison

An informer at work inside the IRA is causing fear and paranoia and must be tracked down before the organisation is further weakened. But has the IRA got it wrong, and why would the main suspect betray his comrades and risk execution? “A powerful evocation of betrayal, deceit and guilt” was how the Oxford Companion to Irish Literature described Morrison's third novel, which is set in Belfast after the 1981 hunger strike. A novel that “should come to be regarded as one of the most important books of the [Irish] Troubles” - The Belfast Telegraph. Danny Morrison came to prominence as an activist in the Republican Movement in the 1970s before he became a recognised writer. He was imprisoned several times and twice charged with IRA membership. In 1981 he acted as spokesperson for the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and later coined the phrase ‘The Armalite and the Ballot Box’ to describe the republican strategy of waging armed struggle and engaging in electoral politics. He was Sinn Féin’s National Director of Publicity for eleven years and edited the party’s newspaper, An Phoblacht. He was also elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly. He escaped several attempts on his life by the British Army and loyalist paramilitaries.

Genres: Fiction

187 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Robert Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting view "from the other side of the hill". I read it just before "Secret Victory" by William Matchett, which describes the police-led intelligence effort referenced in this book.