Web of Betrayal: Murder in Ireland’s Brutal Gangland

by Nicola Tallant

A murder in Belfast of gangland's most wanted man, Robbie Lawlor, uncovers a web of betrayal that spans out across the Irish underworld and beyond. Follow a bloody trail that leads all the way into the heart of one of the worst gang feuds Ireland has ever seen which culminates in the Narco style dismemberment of a teenage boy, Keane Mulready Woods. And as the curtain is pulled back on the inner workings of the world of organised crime, a cast of ruthless characters take centre stage for their place in a double cross plot that reads like a fast paced thriller.

Genres: True Crime

288 pages, Paperback

Expected publication September 8, 2026

Reviews

[Don Dealga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tallant divides opinion. Is she a public interest chronicler of Irish gangland in the tradition of Veronica Guerin or a ghoulish purveyor of 'true crime porn'? On her podcast she can come across as flippant - not with her reporting, but with her occasional 'banter' with co-host(s) which is often casual, facetious and playful, then segues abruptly into some horrendous story of gangland murder and mayhem! I find her reporting to be extremely well informed and insightful - at times I wonder about her own personal security as she extensively documents the gangland personalities and their activities. I think overall she provides a tremendous public service through her journalism and often the breadth and detail of her well sourced intelligence is circumscribed by legal limitations. However, this book I listened to under the impression it was an investigation into the life and times of notorious hitman, Robbie Lawlor who himself fell victim to an assassin's bullet(s) in Ardoyne, Belfast. The cover of some editions of this work reinforces the impression that Lawlor is the main focus of the work. It features Lawlor and the young Keane Mulready-Woods, a victim of a horrendous torture-murder and dismemberment the chief suspect for which was aforementioned Lawlor. A portion of the book is indeed about Lawlor, but there is also a large amount of material on the history and 'development' of modern Irish gangland rightly pivoting around the illicit drugs trade which helped turbo-charge Irish organized crime into the 'world leader' it has become as best manifested in the form of the Kinahan Crime Group. All this introductory background may well be superfluous for many readers. The book seems to be made up largely of a lot of the author's reportage reworked and rehashed. There is some glaring repetition of content and information that suggests a rather 'hurried' editing process. Overall, this is a useful overview of some quite familiar territory, with some added coverage of the Lawlor story. Perhaps later editions will feature improved editing and some tighter structuring and rewriting, reducing the redundancy that is apparent in this version.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Web of Betrayal is the latest book from Irish crime journalist Nicola Tallant. Nicola details the connections of gangland Ireland and how the interconnected gangs go about their day to day business with all of their goal being top of the crop.
I really enjoyed this. I'm a big fan of Nicola and her podcast CrimeWorld so found the book gave me a bit of detail about the connections of all the things she discusses in her podcast. I didn't realise just how connected everyone was.

[Shaun Hand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook version after watching the excellent Kinahan documentary series on BBC. This audiobook, narrated by the author, tells an intriguing story and is well-researched but I also found it somewhat padded out and repetitive in places.

[Steven Dunican · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well researched and put together. Gives a very good summary of what happened in Irish gangland in the last ten years. If you are interested in Irish Crime this is a must read. I ended up reading the whole book in two days.

[Senan Carberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

audiobook.. good story.. could get a lil lost with so many names ..

[gareth cahoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dispointed

Not a lot of fresh news in this book and also not really alot about lawlor that we didn't already know. The book was spread out too much on other things

[Stephen McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the chaos in Irish gangland. You would need a whiteboard to keep track of all the names and association’s mentioned.