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Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland
An explosive expos(r) of how British military intelligence really works, from the inside. The stories of two undercover agents -- Brian Nelson, who worked for the Force Research Unit (FRU), aiding loyalist terrorists and murderers in their bloody work; and the man known as Stakeknife, deputy head of the IRA's infamous ?Nutting Squad', the internal security force which tortured and killed suspected informers.
- GenresHistory
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 27, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 30, 2017
This was actually a re-read, but I hadn't read it for quite some years so it felt entirely new.
I decided to re-read it after watching a documentary on the hunger striker Bobby Sands. It's a superb book and the allegations it makes are earth-shattering. According to the authors, all the high-ups in the UDA were British agents and the organisation and its murders were essentially aided and abetted by the security forces.
Stakeknife (sic) himself was the top IRA man in the disciplinary unit responsible for torturing, extracting confessions and then executing suspected informers. Ironically, he was himself an informer. The book relates the difficulties when one informer had to eliminate others in order to preserve his cover...
I have also watched Panorama's The Spy in the IRA which is a 2017 documentary, so has appeared some 10 years after the book. It confirms the book in most details, so although the allegations are momentous, they appear to be true.
The book is riveting, hence it only took me a day to read the 260 pages. Essential reading if you want to find out what really went on in Northern Ireland. As with the entire recent history of the place, it's not pretty.
I decided to re-read it after watching a documentary on the hunger striker Bobby Sands. It's a superb book and the allegations it makes are earth-shattering. According to the authors, all the high-ups in the UDA were British agents and the organisation and its murders were essentially aided and abetted by the security forces.
Stakeknife (sic) himself was the top IRA man in the disciplinary unit responsible for torturing, extracting confessions and then executing suspected informers. Ironically, he was himself an informer. The book relates the difficulties when one informer had to eliminate others in order to preserve his cover...
I have also watched Panorama's The Spy in the IRA which is a 2017 documentary, so has appeared some 10 years after the book. It confirms the book in most details, so although the allegations are momentous, they appear to be true.
The book is riveting, hence it only took me a day to read the 260 pages. Essential reading if you want to find out what really went on in Northern Ireland. As with the entire recent history of the place, it's not pretty.
February 5, 2018
Britain's murky past in 1970/80s exposed. Allowing their agents to kill without any fear and allowing certain incidents they should have stopped to happen so their agents would not be exposed. It really was a dirty time 😡 Makes you wonder if similar tactics are now being used against the current organisations involved in terror against the uk establishment.
March 25, 2019
An interesting, but disturbing read.
May 3, 2023
Agoriad llygad!
A real eyeopener!
A real eyeopener!
March 31, 2016
Excellent book about events I lived through and on occasion was close to without realising.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews