Stephanie Jane reviewed Lies of silence by Brian Moore
A tense Northern Irish novel
4 stars
Lies Of Silence is a tense Northern Irish novel that examines not only Michael Dillon's immediate dilemma of whether to save dozens of strangers or whether to save his wife, but also looks at the aftermath of such an impossible decision. How would your friends, family and community react? Would home still be home?
I was strongly reminded of Cal by Bernard MacLaverty which also follows a young man dragged unwillingly into Northern Irish violence and I think readers who appreciated that novel would also like this one (and vice versa). Here, Moore manages to maintain a strong sense of atmosphere throughout and I particularly liked pragmatic characters such as Moira, Michael's wife, and Peg, her best friend. From the beginning, I was pretty sure that Lies Of Silence wasn't going to end happily ever after and this is certainly the case so if you like novels to close on …
Lies Of Silence is a tense Northern Irish novel that examines not only Michael Dillon's immediate dilemma of whether to save dozens of strangers or whether to save his wife, but also looks at the aftermath of such an impossible decision. How would your friends, family and community react? Would home still be home?
I was strongly reminded of Cal by Bernard MacLaverty which also follows a young man dragged unwillingly into Northern Irish violence and I think readers who appreciated that novel would also like this one (and vice versa). Here, Moore manages to maintain a strong sense of atmosphere throughout and I particularly liked pragmatic characters such as Moira, Michael's wife, and Peg, her best friend. From the beginning, I was pretty sure that Lies Of Silence wasn't going to end happily ever after and this is certainly the case so if you like novels to close on a positive note, this probably isn't the book for you! For a thought-provoking read whose questions linger however, this is an interesting choice.
