Ed's Reviews > Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

Finally getting to this one after owning it for years, but buoyed by its recent renaissance having seen Patrick Radden Keefe at the 2024 Santa Fe Literary Festival, having this book named one of the NY Times Top 100 books of the 21st Century (by both editors and readers), and preparing for the limited series that just dropped on FX/Hulu/Disney+. Glad to finally have a bit of a better understanding of The Troubles in Ireland (and Ireland history itself) and so wonderfully done in the hands of Raddent Keefe's always impressive and immersive narrative non-fiction.

While learning about the IRA and The Troubles was interesting, I almost was more interested in the aftermath and legacy and lives of some of the main players and particularly how he threaded the story of "disappearance" of Jean McConville throughout the book. I'm knocking off a star (probably less if fractional stars were allowed here), as I still found keeping the characters straight other than again the main players of the Price sisters and Gerry Adams and maybe still didn't totally understand all the history and politics involved (which granted was not Radden Keefe's purpose/intent here). But still a very good b0ok that was both an education and a captivating read.

p.s. One other humorous thing I learned here was, after having seen the cover of this book for years, that it's a picture of a young woman not a young man!