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The Informer
In 1988 IRA terrorist Sean O'Callaghan walked into a police station and gave himself up. Sentenced to 539 years' imprisonment for IRA crimes including two murders and many terrorist attacks, O'Callaghan served six of those years before being released by royal prerogative.
The reason? For the previous sixteen years O'Callaghan had been the most highly placed informer within the ranks of the IRA and had fed the Irish Garda with countless pieces of invaluable information. He prevented the assassination of the Prince and Princess of Wales at a London theatre; he sabotaged operations, explained strategy and caused the arrests of many IRA members. He has done more than any individual to unlock the code of silence which governs the IRA's members, and in effect made it possible to fight the war against the terrorists.
The Informer is the story of a courageous life lived under the constant threat of discovery and its fatal consequences. It is the story of a very modern hero, who is not without sin but who has done and is doing everything in his power, and at whatever personal cost, to atone for the past.
The reason? For the previous sixteen years O'Callaghan had been the most highly placed informer within the ranks of the IRA and had fed the Irish Garda with countless pieces of invaluable information. He prevented the assassination of the Prince and Princess of Wales at a London theatre; he sabotaged operations, explained strategy and caused the arrests of many IRA members. He has done more than any individual to unlock the code of silence which governs the IRA's members, and in effect made it possible to fight the war against the terrorists.
The Informer is the story of a courageous life lived under the constant threat of discovery and its fatal consequences. It is the story of a very modern hero, who is not without sin but who has done and is doing everything in his power, and at whatever personal cost, to atone for the past.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Sean O'Callaghan
3 books1 followerSean O'Callaghan is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Between 1979 and 1988, he was also an informant for the Garda Síochána's Special Branch. In 1988, he resigned from the IRA and voluntarily surrendered to British prosecution. Following his release from jail, O'Callaghan published his memoirs, The Informer: The True Life Story of One Man's War on Terrorism.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 13, 2015
It became more and more difficult to understand or empathise with the author's decisions and reflections as I made progress with the reading.
There is some interesting information in the book about the IRA and the situation in Northern Ireland, but, as I said, I found the writer's stories confusing and too aimed at justifying himself. And yet, I couldn't help but find his explanations unclear and unsatisfactory. Disappointing.
There is some interesting information in the book about the IRA and the situation in Northern Ireland, but, as I said, I found the writer's stories confusing and too aimed at justifying himself. And yet, I couldn't help but find his explanations unclear and unsatisfactory. Disappointing.
March 27, 2020
Long-winded, self-aggrandizing and dry. I'm sure his real life activities warrant an account, but this version needs an editor.
January 7, 2016
Regardless of what your opinion of Sean O'Callaghan is, the book provides a good overview of the IRA as well as the attitude of the Irish and British security forces opposed to it. A worthwhile read if somewhat redundant at times.
December 30, 2023
This is one of the books that could be amazing, but it turns out the opposite; i find it very very uneventful, so many me's, mine's, i's... I'd say perhaps the book with the most I-me-i-me-me-me... there is no literary value to it, even though he said he liked poetry! it could be amazing...
March 20, 2016
Well worth reading, well written and informative.
February 12, 2021
Born into a republican family within Kerry's I.R.A network, The author's institutionalized movement through a closed religious one nation society, Surprised least of all himself. Disillusioned ,bitter and searching for meaning, The decision is made to commit the ultimate of sinn, Informer. From that moment the fascinatingly secretive curtain of tense faction and suspicion never closes. In a world of paranoia your only source in the "Official" story, Is the officially discredited and celebrated. Informer.
August 30, 2019
Apparently not always the most reliable account, this is nevertheless a very readable explanation of how an impressionable young man got entranced by self-styled 'freedom-fighting patriots', sucked into paramilitary murder leading to disillusionment and then worked to dismantle terrorist plots from within. Some important contemporaneous reflections on the then-emerging Peace Process from a lapsed republican perspective.
December 13, 2012
Complex and convoluted, is Sean O'Callaghan a hero or a criminal? It's hard to follow his reasonings and justifications. It almost reads as a disclaimer.
March 27, 2011
A tale of self aggrandisement from a particularly loathsome individual. Very difficult to tell fact from fiction.
March 23, 2015
Boring!
June 1, 2020
Long and dry. I feel if it had been concise, it would have been more meaningful.
March 5, 2021
People seem to want this to have been more exciting than it was. Go to Patriot Games if you want a tale spun. What he truly did and didn't do is lost now for all time, but a very interesting book.
May 8, 2021
A fascinating insight into the IRA and its mindset. Its very detailed and very honest - to the point of utter confusion three quarters of the way through because his thoughts were so confused.
His description of how the IRA operates and insights into some of its key figures - Gerry Adams, Brian Keenan, Martin Ferris, Kevin McKenna, it extremely interesting, as is his gradual disillusionment and the complexity of his double life, in which he has to not only stop many IRA operations, but also has to have a plausible alternative explanation for how it was twarted. I was really gripped by some passages - the killing of the Catholic Special Branch man and being blessed by a priest at the parochial house for doing so, the mortar bomb attack and his regrets afterwards, his tears after Kevin McKenna's appalling comments about a woman being killed.
Rarely has a book gripped me this much and I really couldn't put it down for the first three quarters of the story.
I find the confused passages about the Sean Corcoran killing plausible - he was in a very confused state at the time. The book really starts to lose me when he is released from prison after eight years - where is his partner, who begged him not to give himself up? How is their child? Where is his ex-wife and her baby? What do they think of what he did? It is never answered, instead we get a speaking tour and the Slab Murphy libel trial (fascinating) but so many questions left unresolved. Then he tags on some of his writings - some of which are word for word repeats of passages in the book, instead of addressing the emotional heart of the story. A very important book, very well written but its dry musings on the peace process towards the end could have been replaced with personal narrative.
His description of how the IRA operates and insights into some of its key figures - Gerry Adams, Brian Keenan, Martin Ferris, Kevin McKenna, it extremely interesting, as is his gradual disillusionment and the complexity of his double life, in which he has to not only stop many IRA operations, but also has to have a plausible alternative explanation for how it was twarted. I was really gripped by some passages - the killing of the Catholic Special Branch man and being blessed by a priest at the parochial house for doing so, the mortar bomb attack and his regrets afterwards, his tears after Kevin McKenna's appalling comments about a woman being killed.
Rarely has a book gripped me this much and I really couldn't put it down for the first three quarters of the story.
I find the confused passages about the Sean Corcoran killing plausible - he was in a very confused state at the time. The book really starts to lose me when he is released from prison after eight years - where is his partner, who begged him not to give himself up? How is their child? Where is his ex-wife and her baby? What do they think of what he did? It is never answered, instead we get a speaking tour and the Slab Murphy libel trial (fascinating) but so many questions left unresolved. Then he tags on some of his writings - some of which are word for word repeats of passages in the book, instead of addressing the emotional heart of the story. A very important book, very well written but its dry musings on the peace process towards the end could have been replaced with personal narrative.
January 31, 2025
Had to believe somebody that would turn on his own people and work for the British government who raped his country for 800 years
March 31, 2016
Chilling, brilliant, and a bit of insight into a world of violence and terror close to home, that I hope won't be seen again. There's more than enough going on elsewhere!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews