Crossing the Line: My Life on the Edge

by Martin Dillon

In Crossing the Line, former BBC journalist and best-selling author Martin Dillon recalls his courageous journalistic career spent 'on the edge' during the worst years of the modern Troubles. Following his childhood on Belfast's Falls Road and his wild, rebellious teenage years, Dillon's move into the world of journalism lead him down dark paths of extreme danger, putting himself in harm's way to reveal the shocking truths of the conflict. His astonishing story details his encounters with a roll-call of major political figures, paramilitaries, and Irish literary Conservative Prime Ministers Ted Heath and John Major, John Hume, Gerry Adams, Freddie Scappaticci, John McMichael, Joe Doherty, Denis Johnston, Sean O'Faolain, Ben Kiely, and JP Dunleavy. Dillon's memoir is as compelling as it is exhilarating, a roller-coaster of drama, action and emotions, and a riot of revelations on the political and sectarian conflict that rocked Belfast during the 1970s and '80s. But it's his former paymasters in the BBC who get both barrels as Dillon launches a scathing attack on the 'ethics' of the British state broadcaster, while lifting the lid on the Machiavellian manoeuvres of a unscrupulous Dublin art dealer, with his eye on a lucrative deal. [ Memoir, Irish Studies, Politics]

278 pages, Paperback

Published August 25, 2017

About the author

Martin Dillon has won international acclaim for his unique, investigative works on the Ireland conflict. Dr. Conor Cruise O’Brien, the renowned historian and scholar, described him as “our Virgil to that inferno.” The Irish Times hailed him as one of the most creative writers of our time and the Guardian compared him to John Le Carrie and Len Deighton. Martin Dillon’s trilogy, The Shankill Butchers, The Dirty War & God and the Gun, sold over a quarter of a million copies in the British Isles. His twelve non-fiction works are considered definitive accounts of the conflict. He began his distinguished career as a newspaper reporter and later became a programme editor with the BBC and a writer/producer with its award winning Timewatch. Throughout his BBC career he campaigned against its flawed interpretations of what constituted balance. He has been a terrorism expert for news outlets in Europe and North America. His play The Squad was one of the first about The Troubles and was produced on BBC radio and television by the late Ronald Mason, the esteemed Head of BBC Radio Three Drama. Dillon’s books include The Enemy Within, an account of the IRA’s terror campaigns in Britain, starting at the outbreak of World War II. Stone Cold was a portrait of a natural born killer and in The Trigger Men he delved into the lives of the most notorious assassins. Dillon exposed the IRA’s secret burials, the use of State-sponsored assassins and the phenomenon of sadistic torture by paramilitaries. He helped prepare the way for peace in Ireland by bringing together Nobel Prize winner, John Hume, and Gerry Adams, the IRA’s political leader. His help and advice were sought by the Margaret Thatcher and John Major governments. As a journalist and writer his life has been intertwined with the history of the Irish Troubles and its darkest days. He is often described as one of the most important voices of the conflict.
His latest book is his the memoir, Crossing the Line- My Life on the Edge.
According to Irish Times, the memoir “details a life that’s involved many incredible moments: witnessing the horrors of the Troubles; encounters with major political figures and paramilitaries; rubbing shoulders with Irish literary greats; a successful broadcasting career, but one where he butted heads with BBC management; and having to leave Northern Ireland because of death threats.
Henry McDonald; author, journalist and Ireland correspondent for The Guardian says the memoir is replete with such colourful stories involving the politicians, terrorists, artists and writers he met while covering the conflict in Northern Ireland”.
Readers of this book, and of Dillon’s other works, will agree that “He has that unique knack of combining forensic historical fact-based research with the art of thriller-like writing. His books have accurately chartered the terror and the horror of recent Northern Irish history but always in a tone of compassion for the innocent victims caught up in conflict. Works like his 'The Shankill Butchers' and 'The Dirty War' stand the test of time and will be essential reading for generations to come for those trying to make sense out of the madness that was 'The Troubles'.
Author and journalist, Hugh Jordan, had this to say about Martin Dillon in 2017:
Martin Dillon is a renowned world expert on terrorism. He has written and spoken extensively on this modern day phenomenon, which continues to hit the headlines on a daily basis.

As a journalist, he came well-equipped to cope with the subject. Born in Belfast – the citadel of Ulster unionism at the heart of the divided society that is Northern Ireland - Martin Dillon understood from an early age, the causes of political conflict which if left unaddressed manifests itself in violence.

And as young reporter he stood out among his peers, because he quickly identified the line where politics ended and terrorism began.

Martin’s professional life began on a leading Irish newspaper in 1968.

Reviews

[Houdi McCabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of this audacious writer for decades and he was my conduit into the darkness and horrors of sectarian Northern Ireland in the late 80s. This work is practically in two sections, the first dealing with his early years in Belfast and the familial rivalry and the machinations of his artistic gay relatives. He also seems to have issues with his siblings especially his twin. He then segues into his apprenticeship in the Irish News Newspaper where he cut his teeth and then inveigled a path into off the books investigative journalism. He then manages to publish his first cogent work Co-Authored with Denis Lehane, namely; Political Murder In Northern Ireland. The establishment and colleagues knew there was a new kid on the block. He appears to grow fearless or foolish in his pursuit of a story and indeed attracts enemies from all quarters, including big named politicians such as Edward Heath and the taste of gun metal al la John Bingham UVF kingpin, and of course all incarnations of ‘The Ra’.. He also shows us his talent as a TV producer covering entertainment programming as well as current affairs, but again seems to rub his bosses up the wrong way and the peripatetic scribe emigrates to investigate and annoy more of his employers. His concomitant stoicism or indifference acquired over the years even extends to his personal life when he refers to one of his three marriages like he was changing his choice in the KFC in Shaftesbury Square ‘I subsequently divorced Mildred and married Catherine’. Conor Cruise O Brien said that Dillon was the Virgil of the Inferno of The Troubles. I can’t top that appellation from the inventor of GUBU but I can say that Dillion is undoubtedly talented, valiant, foolhardy, singleminded, selfish and in this book he doesn’t hold back, as it is a solid honest read. I will definitely look forward to his next work but I’m glad he’s not married to my sister.