I like thrillers, and I like books set in Northern Ireland. Given that this book is a thriller set in Northern Ireland, I expected to enjoy it. It’s a well-written page-turner about a former IRA killer, recently released from prison, who is haunted – literally – by his dead victims. Naturally the victims want revenge. The setting is interesting: Ireland is at peace and newly prosperous and some of the former combatants are thriving while others struggle and old divisions still exist. The big flaw – a fatal one – is that there is not a single good person in the book. The protagonist isn’t a hero and his life, while sad, isn’t really tragic. Everyone’s motives are suspect and no one earns the reader’s affection or even sympathy. I enjoyed reading it but its grimness left a bad aftertaste.