The Ghosts of Belfast

I recently finished The Ghosts of Belfast, a first novel by Stuart Neville.  The story is set in Northern Ireland after the truce that brought relative peace following "the troubles."  The protagonist is Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary hitman, recently released from 12 years in prison.  He is a broken man, a drunk who talks to himself and is generally considered to be insane.  In fact, he is tortured by guilt and is haunted by the ghosts of 12 of his victims who follow him, demanding that he atone by taking revenge on the men responsible for the orders that resulted in their deaths. And so he goes about more killing until the ghosts are finally satisfied.  The book is well written and gripping.  Bad as Fegan is, he emerges as a sympathetic figure here. The treatment of the ghosts is very effective:  they don't speak, but appeal to Fegan with gestures and expressions to identify the men they want killed. They have the moral force to make him act, and as each is avenged he drops out of the picture and no longer haunts Fegan.  This actually works, and it is very powerful.   

In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin

I read Ian Rankin's latest, "In A House of Lies." The story is very complicated and sometimes hard to follow.  But I don't read Rankin for the story.  I read him for the characters, and the regulars are all here: Rebus, Siobhan, Malcom and Cafferty.  They have come to be like good friends.  I did notice a tic in the writing that grated.  Over and over again, one character "watched [another character] nod."  Once I start noticing it I seem to see it everywhere.