The Testing Ground

by G.F. Newman

'Everyone knew that the alternative to relieving Assistant Commissioner Bentham of his duties was the government's guts hanging out from Whitehall to Belfast...'The time - the recent past. The place - Northern Ireland. Jack Bentham is called to Belfast to investigate RUC members who have been acquitted of murdering members of the IRA amidst a 'shoot to kill' policy.But why are a judge, an innocent boy and Bentham's informer also brutally shot? And why does a certain 'pillar of the community' believe they have AIDS?Bentham is no stranger to corruption within the force. But this time, as his investigations unravel a disturbing web of conspiracy and corruption penetrating the police and the government, he faces an excruciating dilemma as his conscience challenges his professional integrity... And as the threatened establishment closes in on him so Northern Ireland becomes Bentham's personal TESTING GROUND'G. F. Newman throws a bucketful of icy reality, scepticism and sheer anger on the warm and cosy assumptions encouraged by television'' Financial Times

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Gordon Frank Newman is an English television producer and writer. He is known for his two series Law and Order and The Nation's Health, each based on his books.

Reviews

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in modern Northern Ireland, some RUC officers are acquitted on charges of murder of supposed IRA members. Assistant Commissioner Jack Bentham of the Met is sent to investigate and the search for truth takes on the flavour of a personal crusade - but the establishment is tightening its grip.