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Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Stakeknife, Murder and Justice in Northern Ireland
'A truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb.' JAMES HOLLAND
'Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written' DAN JONES
'A gripping and pacey book that reads like a thriller. I found it shocking in a world where I didn't think I could be shocked any more. Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.' JOHN O'FARRELL
HOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY.
On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope
tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history.
In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both. He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.
'a compelling story' - The Times
'[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller' - Observer
'Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written' DAN JONES
'A gripping and pacey book that reads like a thriller. I found it shocking in a world where I didn't think I could be shocked any more. Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.' JOHN O'FARRELL
HOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY.
On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope
tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history.
In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both. He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.
'a compelling story' - The Times
'[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller' - Observer
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2024
184 people are currently reading
2542 people want to read
About the author
Henry Hemming
10 books108 followersHenry Hemming is the author of 7 works of non-fiction including the New York Times bestseller 'The Ingenious Mr Pyke', and the Sunday Times bestseller 'M'. He has written for publications including The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, The Economist and The Times, and lives in London with his wife and children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
July 27, 2024
This was a really fascinating book – eye-opening I would say - and I would have given it five stars but for one aspect I will mention later.
The book focuses on British intelligence efforts during The Troubles and in particular on two British agents within the IRA, one a man called Frank Hegarty and the other codenamed “Stakeknife” (it was originally “Steak Knife” but was recorded incorrectly by the press and the new version stuck). The identity of “Stakeknife” is not exactly a secret any more, but the author writes this book as a mystery and I will honour that intention, for those who might read the book without prior knowledge.
The author considers what he calls “the spymaster’s dilemma”. Whenever the handler of an agent receives information, he or she has to consider the risk that acting on that information might let the enemy know that (a) there is an agent within their organisation and (b) who they are. As the author says, the dilemma is not unlike that famous thought experiment about the runaway train and the workers on the track, where an individual can pull a lever that will divert the train, saving some lives but killing others.
The other dilemma concerns the actions required of an undercover agent in an organisation like the IRA, whose business was murder and mayhem. The agent can only retain the confidence of their fellow-members by carrying out the tasks expected of an IRA volunteer. Any refusal to carry out an order would immediately raise suspicions about their loyalty. The question arises, how far can an agent go without going too far? In this case the question is whether “Stakeknife” may have participated in murder.
More generally, the author claims that there was extensive penetration of the IRA by British agents, so that by the early 1990s, about 80% of planned IRA operations were being broken up in advance, and senior IRA members were left not knowing who they could trust. The author also suggests that, from the early 80s onwards, the British identified Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams as the two IRA figures most likely to be persuaded to swap violence for politics, (which of course was exactly what happened in the end) and thereafter promoted their influence within the organisation. McGuinness was protected from arrest despite copious evidence of his involvement in murders, and on two occasions the authorities broke up assassination attempts on Gerry Adams by Loyalist gunmen. I found all this extremely interesting.
If there is anyone in this book that the author regards as the good guy, it is a senior police officer, Jon Boutcher, who led an investigation into the activities of “Stakeknife”. The author portrays him as the archetypal “honest cop.” In 2007 Boutcher was second-in-command of a surveillance operation into suspected Islamist terrorists, which resulted in the shooting dead of a Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, in a case of mistaken identity. The Police believed him to be a suicide bomber but he had no connection with Islamism or any other form of terrorism. The author claims that de Menezes “ran away when he was approached.” To say this claim is contentious would be putting it mildly, and I was disappointed that the author chose to describe the incident in this way. Later he refers to a subsequent Inquest in which Boutcher, when asked what went wrong replied, “I am not sure anything did actually go wrong”. Hemming seems to praise Boutcher for this statement. To me, it takes a startling level of arrogance to make such a claim at the end of an operation in which an innocent man is shot dead.
This sort of thing bothers me because the author seems to have “spun” a version of this incident to bolster his argument about Boutcher’s merits. That to me raises the question as to whether other aspects of this book might also have been presented in a lopsided way.
I felt the author’s final conclusions were also a bit speculative. The scenario he outlines seems possible, perhaps even likely, but the evidence presented in this book seemed circumstantial.
In summary, a very interesting book, but one that left me not quite convinced.
The book focuses on British intelligence efforts during The Troubles and in particular on two British agents within the IRA, one a man called Frank Hegarty and the other codenamed “Stakeknife” (it was originally “Steak Knife” but was recorded incorrectly by the press and the new version stuck). The identity of “Stakeknife” is not exactly a secret any more, but the author writes this book as a mystery and I will honour that intention, for those who might read the book without prior knowledge.
The author considers what he calls “the spymaster’s dilemma”. Whenever the handler of an agent receives information, he or she has to consider the risk that acting on that information might let the enemy know that (a) there is an agent within their organisation and (b) who they are. As the author says, the dilemma is not unlike that famous thought experiment about the runaway train and the workers on the track, where an individual can pull a lever that will divert the train, saving some lives but killing others.
The other dilemma concerns the actions required of an undercover agent in an organisation like the IRA, whose business was murder and mayhem. The agent can only retain the confidence of their fellow-members by carrying out the tasks expected of an IRA volunteer. Any refusal to carry out an order would immediately raise suspicions about their loyalty. The question arises, how far can an agent go without going too far? In this case the question is whether “Stakeknife” may have participated in murder.
More generally, the author claims that there was extensive penetration of the IRA by British agents, so that by the early 1990s, about 80% of planned IRA operations were being broken up in advance, and senior IRA members were left not knowing who they could trust. The author also suggests that, from the early 80s onwards, the British identified Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams as the two IRA figures most likely to be persuaded to swap violence for politics, (which of course was exactly what happened in the end) and thereafter promoted their influence within the organisation. McGuinness was protected from arrest despite copious evidence of his involvement in murders, and on two occasions the authorities broke up assassination attempts on Gerry Adams by Loyalist gunmen. I found all this extremely interesting.
If there is anyone in this book that the author regards as the good guy, it is a senior police officer, Jon Boutcher, who led an investigation into the activities of “Stakeknife”. The author portrays him as the archetypal “honest cop.” In 2007 Boutcher was second-in-command of a surveillance operation into suspected Islamist terrorists, which resulted in the shooting dead of a Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, in a case of mistaken identity. The Police believed him to be a suicide bomber but he had no connection with Islamism or any other form of terrorism. The author claims that de Menezes “ran away when he was approached.” To say this claim is contentious would be putting it mildly, and I was disappointed that the author chose to describe the incident in this way. Later he refers to a subsequent Inquest in which Boutcher, when asked what went wrong replied, “I am not sure anything did actually go wrong”. Hemming seems to praise Boutcher for this statement. To me, it takes a startling level of arrogance to make such a claim at the end of an operation in which an innocent man is shot dead.
This sort of thing bothers me because the author seems to have “spun” a version of this incident to bolster his argument about Boutcher’s merits. That to me raises the question as to whether other aspects of this book might also have been presented in a lopsided way.
I felt the author’s final conclusions were also a bit speculative. The scenario he outlines seems possible, perhaps even likely, but the evidence presented in this book seemed circumstantial.
In summary, a very interesting book, but one that left me not quite convinced.
February 7, 2024
When I think of the word quagmire, I often associate it with the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Growing up in an Irish Catholic family, it is something I never personally experienced but heard a lot about. As complicated a subject as it was during my youth, it has become even more complex in a post-9/11 world.
Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming tries to reckon with the Troubles and the crimes committed during that terrible time. Specifically, he frames the story around the execution of British agent. What makes this crime so singular is that the execution might have been done by another British agent.
Let's get this out of the way. If you are thinking of reading this book, you might have already read Patrick Radden Keefe's amazing book Say Nothing. There are similarities. Both are set around an unsolved crime, both use a non-linear timeline to tell their story, both extensively dig into IRA leadership, and both are excellent. Hemming's focus is more concentrated on the world of spies within the IRA and their British handlers.
One of the criticisms around Keefe's book is that the disappearance mentioned in the synopsis ultimately takes up very little space in the overall narrative. It is true, but the Troubles require an extensive accounting of the sides everyone is on and why. Hemming hews much closer to the murder throughout the book, but, like Keefe, he has to take extensive detours to help the reader understand the lay of the land. Hemming is more succinct, but I think both authors do a brilliant job just in different ways.
If you loved Say Nothing, you will love this. If you didn't read Say Nothing, you should still read this.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and PublicAffairs.)
Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming tries to reckon with the Troubles and the crimes committed during that terrible time. Specifically, he frames the story around the execution of British agent. What makes this crime so singular is that the execution might have been done by another British agent.
Let's get this out of the way. If you are thinking of reading this book, you might have already read Patrick Radden Keefe's amazing book Say Nothing. There are similarities. Both are set around an unsolved crime, both use a non-linear timeline to tell their story, both extensively dig into IRA leadership, and both are excellent. Hemming's focus is more concentrated on the world of spies within the IRA and their British handlers.
One of the criticisms around Keefe's book is that the disappearance mentioned in the synopsis ultimately takes up very little space in the overall narrative. It is true, but the Troubles require an extensive accounting of the sides everyone is on and why. Hemming hews much closer to the murder throughout the book, but, like Keefe, he has to take extensive detours to help the reader understand the lay of the land. Hemming is more succinct, but I think both authors do a brilliant job just in different ways.
If you loved Say Nothing, you will love this. If you didn't read Say Nothing, you should still read this.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and PublicAffairs.)
February 18, 2024
It dawned on me while reading this that I don't think I've ever met a book about the Troubles that I haven't liked. I dunno, is that a bit morbid, actually? There's just something about it, as an historical conflict, that has always slightly blown my mind: the sheer number of factions involved, the scale of the violence, how it seems to distort our sense of time (it happened so long ago, and yet also, so recently), the many ways in which it utterly defies conventions. There's something about it, as an historical conflict, that feels like it should be starting to feel overwritten by now, and yet writers and historians continue, unceasingly, to exhume new avenues of intrigue and interest.
FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT by Henry Hemming explores one such avenue. On its most general level, it tells the story of the life and career of Frank Hegarty, a local Derry man who was executed by the IRA in 1986 for "informing" to the British; but while Hemming's narrative seems to seek to unravel the mystery of Hegarty's murder—how he came to be a British agent, how his "betrayal" was discovered, and, of course, the identity of the person or persons responsible for his death—it also, critically, examines the role of the intelligence services in the conflict, and ruminates on the crucial questions that such a conflict raises among non-civilian factions involved. To what extent could the actions of British undercover agents during the Troubles be reasonably protected by the law? Did looser protections equal more, or worse, acts of violence? Is it worth allowing mass casualty events to occur if doing so means the identity of undercover agents will be protected, and their services maintained? If it means preventing a worse event further down the road?
And also, with such powerful forces working behind the scenes, who really ought to bear the responsibility for the human cost of the conflict?
While reading, I found it impossible not to draw some comparisons with Patrick Radden Keefe's fantastic book SAY NOTHING, which also invokes one of the Troubles's most notorious and controversial crimes as a jumping off point from which a wider history of the period can be told. I loved PRK's book when it was released, because despite it being Irish history, the circumstances of its central disappearance, plus its concluding revelations, imbued it with a darker "true crime" vibe, which is what I was most captivated by while reading; by comparison, I would say that FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT was more traditionally historical in tone, and its narrative structure meant that while Hegarty's murder was a central focus at all times (I will allow that the same cannot necessarily also be said of Jean McConville in PRK's book), its perpetrators were a bit of a foregone conclusion, meaning the mystery was not exactly a mystery.
I will say that despite PRK's book reading darker, Hemming was much more effective at conveying the occasional (for lack of a better word) hopelessness of ordinary people's lives during the period. I cannot begin to fathom the daily trauma of division as existed in Northern Ireland during this period, and what was made clear most effectively by Hemming's book was there was no shortage of shadowy forces and factions at hand, ready and willing to manipulate the numerous social, cultural, religious, and political arguments of the time as a means of turning neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend, ostensibly in service of a greater "cause". It blows my mind how many families of victims, including Hegarty's, have never found satisfactory justice for the violences perpetrated against their loved ones; and I wish I could say it equally blows my mind how many of the great and powerful men on both sides who worked exclusively behind the scenes during this time, planning the violence and deaths and disappearances, have remained prominent within the public consciousness even to this day, despite the wealth of public evidence and knowledge proving their misdeeds, but it doesn't.
No, that bit doesn't surprise me in the least.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT by Henry Hemming explores one such avenue. On its most general level, it tells the story of the life and career of Frank Hegarty, a local Derry man who was executed by the IRA in 1986 for "informing" to the British; but while Hemming's narrative seems to seek to unravel the mystery of Hegarty's murder—how he came to be a British agent, how his "betrayal" was discovered, and, of course, the identity of the person or persons responsible for his death—it also, critically, examines the role of the intelligence services in the conflict, and ruminates on the crucial questions that such a conflict raises among non-civilian factions involved. To what extent could the actions of British undercover agents during the Troubles be reasonably protected by the law? Did looser protections equal more, or worse, acts of violence? Is it worth allowing mass casualty events to occur if doing so means the identity of undercover agents will be protected, and their services maintained? If it means preventing a worse event further down the road?
And also, with such powerful forces working behind the scenes, who really ought to bear the responsibility for the human cost of the conflict?
While reading, I found it impossible not to draw some comparisons with Patrick Radden Keefe's fantastic book SAY NOTHING, which also invokes one of the Troubles's most notorious and controversial crimes as a jumping off point from which a wider history of the period can be told. I loved PRK's book when it was released, because despite it being Irish history, the circumstances of its central disappearance, plus its concluding revelations, imbued it with a darker "true crime" vibe, which is what I was most captivated by while reading; by comparison, I would say that FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT was more traditionally historical in tone, and its narrative structure meant that while Hegarty's murder was a central focus at all times (I will allow that the same cannot necessarily also be said of Jean McConville in PRK's book), its perpetrators were a bit of a foregone conclusion, meaning the mystery was not exactly a mystery.
I will say that despite PRK's book reading darker, Hemming was much more effective at conveying the occasional (for lack of a better word) hopelessness of ordinary people's lives during the period. I cannot begin to fathom the daily trauma of division as existed in Northern Ireland during this period, and what was made clear most effectively by Hemming's book was there was no shortage of shadowy forces and factions at hand, ready and willing to manipulate the numerous social, cultural, religious, and political arguments of the time as a means of turning neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend, ostensibly in service of a greater "cause". It blows my mind how many families of victims, including Hegarty's, have never found satisfactory justice for the violences perpetrated against their loved ones; and I wish I could say it equally blows my mind how many of the great and powerful men on both sides who worked exclusively behind the scenes during this time, planning the violence and deaths and disappearances, have remained prominent within the public consciousness even to this day, despite the wealth of public evidence and knowledge proving their misdeeds, but it doesn't.
No, that bit doesn't surprise me in the least.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
July 31, 2024
Eye-opening and chilling, this book is a factual account of how British intelligence agencies infiltrated the IRA during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The book focuses on one Irishman from the city of Derry, Frank Hegarty, a longtime IRA member who was persuaded to become a British spy. After secrets he reported to the British were leaked, he was found out, interrogated by the IRA and brutally murdered. Turns out that his killer, a ranking IRA member, was also a British spy. The final chapters detail the decades-long efforts to bring Frank’s killer to court and to bring closure and truth to families of hundreds of others killed during that violent time. This thoroughly researched account read like a spy novel, yet was thought provoking, informative, sobering.
Read
September 2, 2024Non-fiction is hard to rate but this is certainly a very good one. Four Shots in the Night mostly reads like a thriller - the pace picks up as the story develops. Hemming does a great job at clearly explaining and keeping you on track with the characters and shifting perspectives of the different eras and personalities of the IRA.
August 5, 2024
This felt so speculative and hyperbolic and definitely not impartial. I agree with his point in the foreword that non-fiction can’t be truly impartial… but don’t think I am a fan of a partiality that is so celebratory of the role of the British State in Ireland sorry. Also, definitely not referenced properly.
April 30, 2025
I found this book fascinating and also gripping, it read like a novel and from time to time I had to remind myself that this all happened in my lifetime.
May 11, 2024
I already can’t remember how I found this book and I am only vaguely convinced it was the LitHub newsletter, but I found myself putting in a library request for a new nonfiction release: Henry Hemming’s Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Spies, Murder, and Justice in Northern Ireland. This book appealed to multiple of my interests, mainly Irish history and spy shit.
This book tells the story of Frank Hegarty, IRA quartermaster and British informer, and his murder, most likely by the high-ranking British secret agent codenamed Stakeknife. A double agent getting whacked by another double agent! Juicy stuff!
And it is juicy but it is also profoundly sad. Frank seemed like a nice, regular guy, not at all the sort of hardened psycho that you’d picture spending years as a double agent (Freddie Scappaticci does seem to fit that vibe a little more, though). He seems to have become vulnerable to something as taboo and dangerous as informing because he had actually lost faith in the IRA militants’ strategy of a “long war” and wanted the violence to stop, and genuinely thought that helping the British would save lives. There are strategic notes to be taken, here, about the cost of violence, and the limits on the efficacy of terror to achieve political goals, but mostly the note in question is this: the same thing that gives a terror campaign its efficacy–mainly, that it’s terrible–also means that even people on your “side” may run out of stomach for keeping it going. By the time the Troubles ended, the IRA was absolutely lousy with spies. Most notoriously, Agent Stakeknife, the Brits’ most valuable spy, was the most valuable spy because he had infiltrated the Nutting Squad, the internal enforcement unit tasked with identifying and eliminating spies.
Though most of the action in this book takes place over the course of the Troubles itself–which was certainly long enough, dragging on for about thirty years–Four Shots in the Night takes us all the way up to the present day, through the murder investigation known as Operation Kenova, an attempt by one high-minded (by police standards) faction of the British police to identify and expose Agent Stakeknife and, in essence, solve all the murders that were attributed to him. This operation in some ways succeeded, in that it gathered a lot of information, enough to put a case together against the man they’d identified. However, the other police units–mainly MI5, the infamously shadowy intelligence organization that wasn’t used to answering to anyone about anything–were less than cooperative, and after the case against Stakeknife was submitted to whatever government body decides if the state is going to prosecute the case or not (I returned the book to the library already, sorry), two things happened before a verdict could be rendered. One was that Stakeknife died, under completely non-fishy circumstances, due to just being old by this point. And the other was that the British government introduced a bill to essentially make it impossible to prosecute anyone of any faction for any crimes committed during the Troubles whatsoever. This has been highly controversial and fits within a longstanding and infuriating British tradition of doing a bunch of war crimes and then immediately getting all “let’s not bicker and argue about ‘oo killed ‘oo” about it and making it illegal to remember anything they did because, you know, these situations are very complicated and we’re terribly concerned about reopening old wounds and at some point we’ve all got to coexist and move on with our lives, and other sentiments that are both true and clearly being abused here.
This book follows well in the vein of Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mystery in Northern Ireland and Rory Carroll’s There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes that Changed History. All three books are engaging narrative nonfiction that explore one notorious IRA action and trace its history throughout the entire development and resolution of the Troubles. Some familiar faces and events start cropping up once you’ve read more than one of these, but since they each focus on events that are far enough away from each other–the murder of Jean McConville in Belfast, the Brighton Bombing in England, the murder of Frank Hegarty right on the border in Derry–they don’t get too repetitive. After having read the other two, it was interesting to get a much deeper dive into the British infiltration operation and into the IRA’s Nutting Squad, both of which had been only briefly addressed in the other two books, focused as they were on people who were not spies (even the McConville story, in which she was accused of being a spy, could only get so deep into Nutting Squad lore, given that it’s almost certain she wasn’t a spy and the story was therefore not in fact about spies). Writing-wise I found this one a little bit less tight than the others–I don’t necessarily mind a book that bounces around a lot, especially when it’s detailing a complicated story–but the bits that seem to be overdoing the melodramatic stage-setting are few and far between compared to the amount of just genuinely dramatic material, and it didn’t get in the way of being able to follow the story. I think this book maybe does a little bit less hand-holding on the public parts of the Troubles than, for example, Say Nothing does, which is carefully written to be accessible to even the most geographically ignorant American who can’t find Northern Ireland on a map. Overall, I would highly recommend it to anyone who has enough of an interest in the Troubles that they already sort of know what they are, and especially to anyone who liked Keefe’s or Carroll’s books.
Originally published at Informers, infiltrators, and an infamous murder
This book tells the story of Frank Hegarty, IRA quartermaster and British informer, and his murder, most likely by the high-ranking British secret agent codenamed Stakeknife. A double agent getting whacked by another double agent! Juicy stuff!
And it is juicy but it is also profoundly sad. Frank seemed like a nice, regular guy, not at all the sort of hardened psycho that you’d picture spending years as a double agent (Freddie Scappaticci does seem to fit that vibe a little more, though). He seems to have become vulnerable to something as taboo and dangerous as informing because he had actually lost faith in the IRA militants’ strategy of a “long war” and wanted the violence to stop, and genuinely thought that helping the British would save lives. There are strategic notes to be taken, here, about the cost of violence, and the limits on the efficacy of terror to achieve political goals, but mostly the note in question is this: the same thing that gives a terror campaign its efficacy–mainly, that it’s terrible–also means that even people on your “side” may run out of stomach for keeping it going. By the time the Troubles ended, the IRA was absolutely lousy with spies. Most notoriously, Agent Stakeknife, the Brits’ most valuable spy, was the most valuable spy because he had infiltrated the Nutting Squad, the internal enforcement unit tasked with identifying and eliminating spies.
Though most of the action in this book takes place over the course of the Troubles itself–which was certainly long enough, dragging on for about thirty years–Four Shots in the Night takes us all the way up to the present day, through the murder investigation known as Operation Kenova, an attempt by one high-minded (by police standards) faction of the British police to identify and expose Agent Stakeknife and, in essence, solve all the murders that were attributed to him. This operation in some ways succeeded, in that it gathered a lot of information, enough to put a case together against the man they’d identified. However, the other police units–mainly MI5, the infamously shadowy intelligence organization that wasn’t used to answering to anyone about anything–were less than cooperative, and after the case against Stakeknife was submitted to whatever government body decides if the state is going to prosecute the case or not (I returned the book to the library already, sorry), two things happened before a verdict could be rendered. One was that Stakeknife died, under completely non-fishy circumstances, due to just being old by this point. And the other was that the British government introduced a bill to essentially make it impossible to prosecute anyone of any faction for any crimes committed during the Troubles whatsoever. This has been highly controversial and fits within a longstanding and infuriating British tradition of doing a bunch of war crimes and then immediately getting all “let’s not bicker and argue about ‘oo killed ‘oo” about it and making it illegal to remember anything they did because, you know, these situations are very complicated and we’re terribly concerned about reopening old wounds and at some point we’ve all got to coexist and move on with our lives, and other sentiments that are both true and clearly being abused here.
This book follows well in the vein of Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mystery in Northern Ireland and Rory Carroll’s There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes that Changed History. All three books are engaging narrative nonfiction that explore one notorious IRA action and trace its history throughout the entire development and resolution of the Troubles. Some familiar faces and events start cropping up once you’ve read more than one of these, but since they each focus on events that are far enough away from each other–the murder of Jean McConville in Belfast, the Brighton Bombing in England, the murder of Frank Hegarty right on the border in Derry–they don’t get too repetitive. After having read the other two, it was interesting to get a much deeper dive into the British infiltration operation and into the IRA’s Nutting Squad, both of which had been only briefly addressed in the other two books, focused as they were on people who were not spies (even the McConville story, in which she was accused of being a spy, could only get so deep into Nutting Squad lore, given that it’s almost certain she wasn’t a spy and the story was therefore not in fact about spies). Writing-wise I found this one a little bit less tight than the others–I don’t necessarily mind a book that bounces around a lot, especially when it’s detailing a complicated story–but the bits that seem to be overdoing the melodramatic stage-setting are few and far between compared to the amount of just genuinely dramatic material, and it didn’t get in the way of being able to follow the story. I think this book maybe does a little bit less hand-holding on the public parts of the Troubles than, for example, Say Nothing does, which is carefully written to be accessible to even the most geographically ignorant American who can’t find Northern Ireland on a map. Overall, I would highly recommend it to anyone who has enough of an interest in the Troubles that they already sort of know what they are, and especially to anyone who liked Keefe’s or Carroll’s books.
Originally published at Informers, infiltrators, and an infamous murder
August 17, 2025
Overall very interesting and more importantly, well written.
February 6, 2024
Could it be possible that a British agent murdered another whilst they were working undercover? It seems rather implausible, but when you consider that their sphere of operation was Northern Ireland in the 1980s, at the height of ‘The Troubles’, it becomes a possibility.
On 26 May 1986, the body of Frank Hegarty, an undercover agent was dumped in a muddy lane, with his hands tied and packing tape across his eyes. It has all the hallmarks of a gangland execution, this gang being the Provisional IRA. Their executions were carried out by the notorious Internal Security Service, known to all and sundry as the ‘Nutting Squad’. Nutting in this sense is not a headbutt but rather a bullet to the head. Executions carried out in the night with a trademark four shots. At the time of this execution the British had an agent in the Nutting Squad codenamed ‘Stakeknife’. Had Stakeknife been ordered to kill Hegarty?
The British Security Services, the Army and MI5 decided that inside information was the key to saving innocent lives. They began a push to recruit low level IRA members, often men who were sick of the violence, to become informants. This is not a role to be taken lightly as discovery and capture would not lead to a trade off of agents across a bridge (a scene so loved by film makers) but certain torture and execution. However, such was the success of the venture a plan was developed to try and place an insider close to the decision-making centre of the IRA the ‘Army Council’ and attempt to steer them to peace. In Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness MI5 believed they had identified the men to negotiate a settlement, fail and the likelihood was they would be replaced be younger hard liners and the chance would be lost for a generation.
This is a book that lays out the salient facts, covering the history of ‘The Troubles’ from 1969 to the Good Friday agreement, in a cogent way and exposes a series of moral dilemmas throughout. It is clearly meticulously researched, being fully referenced and indexed, but is far from a dry academic tome. The writing is accessible and in the style of modern true crime reporting but coupled with the critical analysis of a true investigative journalist. Embellishments are subtly used to get a feel of storytelling such as the first approach to Frank whilst he is out walking his greyhound Blue, giving a warm human touch. At the start the author is at pains to explain that he has no personal connection with either side of the conflict and this is reflected in the writing, this is a fair and honest account of what he has discovered. I would also recommend reading the author notes to get an idea of the task he faced.
So, what will the reader discover?
Perhaps the most surprising thing for me was the lack of legal back up for agents in the field. James Bond 007 famously is licenced to kill, but the reality was up until a couple of years ago they had no more protection than that of the man in the street. Any illegal activity they participated had the potential for prosecution, as could be seen by Operation Kenova the biggest murder investigation in British history which centred upon Stakeknife.
Countless dilemmas were faced and generally settled by taking the choice that results in the greater overall good, no matter how unpalatable it may be. This is demonstrated by the police investigation into the murder of Frank Hegarty. He didn’t pull the trigger but Martin McGuinness’ ‘fingerprints’ were all over the operation, however a prosecution was prohibited so as not to scupper peace talks..
Martin McGuinness’ codename was 'Penguin'!
The road to peace was a long an arduous one. It initially began in secret, with both sides wishing to deny they were happening, right back to the times of Margaret Thatcher’s government trying to end the 1981 Hunger Strikes in which ten men died.
Peace could only come once both sides had worked themselves into a stalemate position, neither side could enforce a quick victory and had fought themselves to a standstill. Big compromises were made and the author gives a great background to what happened and the concessions made. The process was far from perfect as can be seen by the pursuit of old soldiers through the courts, but the solution was a much-needed peace which has largely held.
Four Shots in the Night is a gripping insight into the role of covert agents during ‘The Troubles’ and their crucial role in the overall peace process.
On 26 May 1986, the body of Frank Hegarty, an undercover agent was dumped in a muddy lane, with his hands tied and packing tape across his eyes. It has all the hallmarks of a gangland execution, this gang being the Provisional IRA. Their executions were carried out by the notorious Internal Security Service, known to all and sundry as the ‘Nutting Squad’. Nutting in this sense is not a headbutt but rather a bullet to the head. Executions carried out in the night with a trademark four shots. At the time of this execution the British had an agent in the Nutting Squad codenamed ‘Stakeknife’. Had Stakeknife been ordered to kill Hegarty?
The British Security Services, the Army and MI5 decided that inside information was the key to saving innocent lives. They began a push to recruit low level IRA members, often men who were sick of the violence, to become informants. This is not a role to be taken lightly as discovery and capture would not lead to a trade off of agents across a bridge (a scene so loved by film makers) but certain torture and execution. However, such was the success of the venture a plan was developed to try and place an insider close to the decision-making centre of the IRA the ‘Army Council’ and attempt to steer them to peace. In Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness MI5 believed they had identified the men to negotiate a settlement, fail and the likelihood was they would be replaced be younger hard liners and the chance would be lost for a generation.
This is a book that lays out the salient facts, covering the history of ‘The Troubles’ from 1969 to the Good Friday agreement, in a cogent way and exposes a series of moral dilemmas throughout. It is clearly meticulously researched, being fully referenced and indexed, but is far from a dry academic tome. The writing is accessible and in the style of modern true crime reporting but coupled with the critical analysis of a true investigative journalist. Embellishments are subtly used to get a feel of storytelling such as the first approach to Frank whilst he is out walking his greyhound Blue, giving a warm human touch. At the start the author is at pains to explain that he has no personal connection with either side of the conflict and this is reflected in the writing, this is a fair and honest account of what he has discovered. I would also recommend reading the author notes to get an idea of the task he faced.
So, what will the reader discover?
Perhaps the most surprising thing for me was the lack of legal back up for agents in the field. James Bond 007 famously is licenced to kill, but the reality was up until a couple of years ago they had no more protection than that of the man in the street. Any illegal activity they participated had the potential for prosecution, as could be seen by Operation Kenova the biggest murder investigation in British history which centred upon Stakeknife.
Countless dilemmas were faced and generally settled by taking the choice that results in the greater overall good, no matter how unpalatable it may be. This is demonstrated by the police investigation into the murder of Frank Hegarty. He didn’t pull the trigger but Martin McGuinness’ ‘fingerprints’ were all over the operation, however a prosecution was prohibited so as not to scupper peace talks..
Martin McGuinness’ codename was 'Penguin'!
The road to peace was a long an arduous one. It initially began in secret, with both sides wishing to deny they were happening, right back to the times of Margaret Thatcher’s government trying to end the 1981 Hunger Strikes in which ten men died.
Peace could only come once both sides had worked themselves into a stalemate position, neither side could enforce a quick victory and had fought themselves to a standstill. Big compromises were made and the author gives a great background to what happened and the concessions made. The process was far from perfect as can be seen by the pursuit of old soldiers through the courts, but the solution was a much-needed peace which has largely held.
Four Shots in the Night is a gripping insight into the role of covert agents during ‘The Troubles’ and their crucial role in the overall peace process.
April 16, 2024
Fairminded, measured, thoughtful
This has been compared to Patrick Radden Keefe's investigation of the murder of Jean McConville, which focused on Gerry Adams and the IRA from their Belfast perspective in the early 1970s. By the Eighties, much of the guerrilla warfare between paramilitaries, the Northern Irish government entities, and the British forces had settled into a relentless grinding down of republican resistance due to the superior technology surveillance combined with infiltration of Irish "physical force" operatives at least in their chain of command. Frank Hearty became a quartermaster to the IRA in Derry. Under the leadership of Martin McGuinness. This relationship itself tangles as British intelligence manipulates both men, and the feared "nutting squad" henchman Freddie Scappatici, as the path towards the cessation of "The Troubles" by the mid-Nineties gradually swerves away from the armed conflict towards tentative reconciliation.
Sounds good, right? Well, Hemming is too skilled an analyst to fall for any pat party line. His research, interviews, and helpful distance from any personal bias as a journalist-type of narrator crafts a storyline where the traditionally despised informer of Irish lore may be perceived in a more nuanced, morally torn, legally fraught, politically sensitive, diplomatically deployed, and ethically compromised set of clashing contexts and labyrinthine schemes which may be engineered beyond the power of any one powerplayer in such a small space of more than one island under the purview of the Crown. Hemmings commendably eschews platitudes, demonstrates erudite and clever analogies to a diverse range of historical and contemporary parallels in spycraft and psy-ops, and offers a many-layered excavation of the impact of one agent's death and the reverberations which resonate for decades after. Recommended choice...
This has been compared to Patrick Radden Keefe's investigation of the murder of Jean McConville, which focused on Gerry Adams and the IRA from their Belfast perspective in the early 1970s. By the Eighties, much of the guerrilla warfare between paramilitaries, the Northern Irish government entities, and the British forces had settled into a relentless grinding down of republican resistance due to the superior technology surveillance combined with infiltration of Irish "physical force" operatives at least in their chain of command. Frank Hearty became a quartermaster to the IRA in Derry. Under the leadership of Martin McGuinness. This relationship itself tangles as British intelligence manipulates both men, and the feared "nutting squad" henchman Freddie Scappatici, as the path towards the cessation of "The Troubles" by the mid-Nineties gradually swerves away from the armed conflict towards tentative reconciliation.
Sounds good, right? Well, Hemming is too skilled an analyst to fall for any pat party line. His research, interviews, and helpful distance from any personal bias as a journalist-type of narrator crafts a storyline where the traditionally despised informer of Irish lore may be perceived in a more nuanced, morally torn, legally fraught, politically sensitive, diplomatically deployed, and ethically compromised set of clashing contexts and labyrinthine schemes which may be engineered beyond the power of any one powerplayer in such a small space of more than one island under the purview of the Crown. Hemmings commendably eschews platitudes, demonstrates erudite and clever analogies to a diverse range of historical and contemporary parallels in spycraft and psy-ops, and offers a many-layered excavation of the impact of one agent's death and the reverberations which resonate for decades after. Recommended choice...
May 14, 2024
Whilst the killing of Frank Hegarty, an IRA member turned British informant, is the main focus of the story, this book also explores the relationships between British intelligence and their agents which became a huge factor in infiltrating the IRA and ending the violence. That, and working on and encouraging the main leaders, Gerry Adams and with a strong focus in this book, Martin McGuiness, to move towards a political settlement instead of a military one.
But therein lay a major ethical complication for British intelligence because McGuiness may have been personally involved in the murder of Frank Hegarty. But keeping McGuiness out of prison was something that the British felt would pay dividends in the long run to help bring an end to the violence. It was the 'spymaster's dilemma'; a battle between holding on to information to protect their agent and in the hope of maybe bringing in something more substantial in the longer term but which may potentially cost lives in the short term. Or acting on that information and potentially having to remove your agent from the city or watch as they end up getting killed if he's found out to be an informer, as well as ending any chance of further intel from that particular person. In the case of Hegarty his role as an agent ultimately cost him his life.
And that brings us to Freddie Scappatici and the identity of the infamous IRA executioner, and British spy, Stakeknife. What was his involvement in the murder of Hegarty and what did he know about who gave the order?
An interesting read and a worthy addition to some of the very good books recently released about the Troubles.
But therein lay a major ethical complication for British intelligence because McGuiness may have been personally involved in the murder of Frank Hegarty. But keeping McGuiness out of prison was something that the British felt would pay dividends in the long run to help bring an end to the violence. It was the 'spymaster's dilemma'; a battle between holding on to information to protect their agent and in the hope of maybe bringing in something more substantial in the longer term but which may potentially cost lives in the short term. Or acting on that information and potentially having to remove your agent from the city or watch as they end up getting killed if he's found out to be an informer, as well as ending any chance of further intel from that particular person. In the case of Hegarty his role as an agent ultimately cost him his life.
And that brings us to Freddie Scappatici and the identity of the infamous IRA executioner, and British spy, Stakeknife. What was his involvement in the murder of Hegarty and what did he know about who gave the order?
An interesting read and a worthy addition to some of the very good books recently released about the Troubles.
June 21, 2024
As a young American civil rights and anti-war activist in the 60s and 70s I was aware of the IRA and things going on in Ireland--but not very. It wasn't until a couple of years ago, visiting Belfast and Derry, that I really gained a consciousness of what The Troubles was all about. Sure, I knew about all the killings and bombings while they were happening and later saw various Hollywood movies, but I didn't connect to it until I took a tour of Belfast with a Republican Irishman in a Black Taxi tour. Then in Derry, at the Museum of Free Derry, it all came together and I left in tears. But even so, I knew I was getting one side of the story. I had been told that the story told to the world was highly filtered by the British Government and the media arm, the BBC., and I believe that. So I approached reading Four Shots in the Night with great skepticism. That said, it was very interesting. And while I take it with a grain of salt, it is one more piece in a large and complex mosaic that was The Troubles. If you know little about The Troubles it is a poor primer. But if you have some background, it is a very interesting perspective on an aspect that few would naturally think of exploring--but turns out might have been a major component of how things unfolded and eventually ended.
April 19, 2024
Best book on the troubles since “Say Nothing”.
June 6, 2024
Really 4.5 stars. I deducted a half star for some minor historical inaccuracies, which are more sins of omission rather than errors. These errors are:
1. Not explaining the strategy of the armalite and ballot box as a synthesis of terrorism as a war strategy developed (by accident?) by Danny Morrison and Gerry Adams.
1a. Northern Ireland was NOT ignored by London in 1974-79. In that era many of the PIRA activists were interned and the IRA was somewhat dealing with its three way split (PIRA, OIRA and INLA) which involved not a few assassinations. Also supplies were less than half what they had been in 1972/3. The level of violence somewhat decreased and London attempted to recreate police primacy to deal with the chaos.
2. Deliberately cherry picking events/factoids from varied ex-civil servants with axes to grind to portray Thatcher as far more removed/ignorant/buffoonish than she actually was about Northern Ireland. Arguably she did most of the political heavy lifting by politically isolating the Unionists (esp. the DUP) and John Major acted to cap it off.
3. Not mentioning the role of General Sir Frank Kitson and his influence on Brigadier Glover. The Intelligence role and MI5s’ strategy of politicization came directly from Kitson-and his experiences in Kenya and Cyprus (Read his book,” Bunch of Five”). The British overall strategy AS SET by Kitson in 1971 was 1. Calm the situation (avoid a civil war) 2. Gradually Empower the militants politically 3. Defang the militants by giving them power (eliminate the more radical/violent factions) 4. Leave.
4. Underplaying the massive role of Libya and the PLO in supplying training and arms (where does the author think the cell system came from?)
5. Not mentioning ONCE the similar issues with the Loyalists-esp. their paramilitaries. I would wager big money MI5 knew about John McMichaels’ murder before it happened and would give my eye teeth to see the file on Andy Tyrie and his role as Commander of the UDA. Admittedly the Loyalists are not directly part of the Stakeknife story, but much of what the PIRA did was a reaction to Loyalist direct military threats.
6. Odd as it may seem today, but forty-fifty years ago The Republic if Ireland (Eire) was VASTLY different than it is today-abortion was illegal, birth control was illegal, unemployment was about 35%, most uni graduates emigrated, the Catholic church had enormous power, including in the government and most schools were Catholic. There were only about 3 million people and Protestants south of the border were rarer than tourists from Germany. The living standard was about 70% of Englands and the population was 99.9% white. Going over the border was not unlike crossing between two worlds ( Dervela Murphy wrote a great book on this).
A bit of a strange read for this reviewer, as forty (! How can it be so long ago?) years ago I met and knew many of the people mentioned in this book. The author did a great job capturing McGuiness’ character: charming and scary.
In 1988 this reviewer accompanied a joint RUC/UDR midnight raid on a house the Ardoyne. Not finding guns, what we did find was a pair of berets, green army jumpers, gloves, a very large Republican tricolor and a xerox copy of the Green Book. In the Green book the PIRA’s strategy of using violence to augment its political stance was explicitly laid out. Terrorism was realized to not be a military strategy (be a large enough danger and the Brits will leave) but a political one. Media loves controversy and that is sex and violence. Political violence was used to garner attention and amplify political power. “ Kill people and the government pays attention to you” quipped Ivor Bell. Without violence, the issue of unification was not a major issue and Sinn Fein was a small, fringe party that garnered 7% of the vote and no attention nor respect. Violence was tailored to keep the issues alive and promote the political cause. Terrorism and the world-wide media attention it garnered kept the movement alive and moving forward. To quote: “ Republicanism can only thrive from within violence”.
After the Hunger Strikes, which permanently weakened the SDLP’s hold on the Nationalist/Catholic vote, there was a mood of inevitability in Sinn Fein as the Armalite and ballot box strategy was proven to work. Danny Morrison said as much to me on tape:” T’Chocky Ar La’” (“our day will come” in Gaelic).
Well worth reading.
Should yoou ever get a chance to listen to Clannads’ “Harrys’ Game” -it captures the era perfectly.
1. Not explaining the strategy of the armalite and ballot box as a synthesis of terrorism as a war strategy developed (by accident?) by Danny Morrison and Gerry Adams.
1a. Northern Ireland was NOT ignored by London in 1974-79. In that era many of the PIRA activists were interned and the IRA was somewhat dealing with its three way split (PIRA, OIRA and INLA) which involved not a few assassinations. Also supplies were less than half what they had been in 1972/3. The level of violence somewhat decreased and London attempted to recreate police primacy to deal with the chaos.
2. Deliberately cherry picking events/factoids from varied ex-civil servants with axes to grind to portray Thatcher as far more removed/ignorant/buffoonish than she actually was about Northern Ireland. Arguably she did most of the political heavy lifting by politically isolating the Unionists (esp. the DUP) and John Major acted to cap it off.
3. Not mentioning the role of General Sir Frank Kitson and his influence on Brigadier Glover. The Intelligence role and MI5s’ strategy of politicization came directly from Kitson-and his experiences in Kenya and Cyprus (Read his book,” Bunch of Five”). The British overall strategy AS SET by Kitson in 1971 was 1. Calm the situation (avoid a civil war) 2. Gradually Empower the militants politically 3. Defang the militants by giving them power (eliminate the more radical/violent factions) 4. Leave.
4. Underplaying the massive role of Libya and the PLO in supplying training and arms (where does the author think the cell system came from?)
5. Not mentioning ONCE the similar issues with the Loyalists-esp. their paramilitaries. I would wager big money MI5 knew about John McMichaels’ murder before it happened and would give my eye teeth to see the file on Andy Tyrie and his role as Commander of the UDA. Admittedly the Loyalists are not directly part of the Stakeknife story, but much of what the PIRA did was a reaction to Loyalist direct military threats.
6. Odd as it may seem today, but forty-fifty years ago The Republic if Ireland (Eire) was VASTLY different than it is today-abortion was illegal, birth control was illegal, unemployment was about 35%, most uni graduates emigrated, the Catholic church had enormous power, including in the government and most schools were Catholic. There were only about 3 million people and Protestants south of the border were rarer than tourists from Germany. The living standard was about 70% of Englands and the population was 99.9% white. Going over the border was not unlike crossing between two worlds ( Dervela Murphy wrote a great book on this).
A bit of a strange read for this reviewer, as forty (! How can it be so long ago?) years ago I met and knew many of the people mentioned in this book. The author did a great job capturing McGuiness’ character: charming and scary.
In 1988 this reviewer accompanied a joint RUC/UDR midnight raid on a house the Ardoyne. Not finding guns, what we did find was a pair of berets, green army jumpers, gloves, a very large Republican tricolor and a xerox copy of the Green Book. In the Green book the PIRA’s strategy of using violence to augment its political stance was explicitly laid out. Terrorism was realized to not be a military strategy (be a large enough danger and the Brits will leave) but a political one. Media loves controversy and that is sex and violence. Political violence was used to garner attention and amplify political power. “ Kill people and the government pays attention to you” quipped Ivor Bell. Without violence, the issue of unification was not a major issue and Sinn Fein was a small, fringe party that garnered 7% of the vote and no attention nor respect. Violence was tailored to keep the issues alive and promote the political cause. Terrorism and the world-wide media attention it garnered kept the movement alive and moving forward. To quote: “ Republicanism can only thrive from within violence”.
After the Hunger Strikes, which permanently weakened the SDLP’s hold on the Nationalist/Catholic vote, there was a mood of inevitability in Sinn Fein as the Armalite and ballot box strategy was proven to work. Danny Morrison said as much to me on tape:” T’Chocky Ar La’” (“our day will come” in Gaelic).
Well worth reading.
Should yoou ever get a chance to listen to Clannads’ “Harrys’ Game” -it captures the era perfectly.
August 4, 2025
Terrific Book. Hemming uses the 1986 murder of an Irish informant for the British who had infiltrated the highest levels of the IRA to tell the broader story of the how the British used their vast intelligence network to help bring an end to the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Reading at times like a political thriller, Hemming's manages to tell the story from various perspectives, including the informants, the British intelligence units such as MI5 and leading IRA figures like Martin McGinness. By highlighting both the "tactical" use of intelligence to prevent IRA attacks and the "strategic" use of intelligence to gradually shift the IRA's focus away from terrorism to politics, Hemming's is able to highlight how Britain was eventually able to weaken the IRA and, at the same time, strengthen political figures such as Gerry Adams and McGuinness. Achieving these goals, however, often came at great cost, as Hemming's describes the difficult ethical choices that informants and the British often needed to make, since using the intelligence gathered by informants to prevent an attack or even a murder might risk "outing" that informant whose intelligence might prevent even greater losses in the future. In the end, Hemming's is able to present both the intensely personal stories of the informants and their British handlers, while at the same time placing the work of these informants and handlers in the broader context of the "Troubles". This makes for a great read.
August 7, 2025
It’s been a while since a book has shaken me as much as this one. The Troubles were a dark and harrowing time: politicians directed hit squads, double agents who helped stop bomb plots were seen as traitors to their own people, and neighbors would get on their knees and promise mothers their children would be safe if they came back to town, only for them to be shot in the middle of the night.
I’m sure people in Northern Ireland have complicated feelings about figures like Martin McGuinness, but what’s especially wild is that many top IRA leaders, men widely known to have killed, went on to have long political careers.
I appreciated that the author didn’t hold back in judging both sides of the conflict. It’s such a complex period that I definitely feel like I need to read more about. I didn’t give four shots in the night five stars, though, because the book doesn’t provide much broader context. I had to do some research online to understand the Troubles as a whole and what the Belfast Agreement actually contained. Still, the core story of Frank Hagerty and the lack of justice in his murder is going to stay with me for a long time.
I’m sure people in Northern Ireland have complicated feelings about figures like Martin McGuinness, but what’s especially wild is that many top IRA leaders, men widely known to have killed, went on to have long political careers.
I appreciated that the author didn’t hold back in judging both sides of the conflict. It’s such a complex period that I definitely feel like I need to read more about. I didn’t give four shots in the night five stars, though, because the book doesn’t provide much broader context. I had to do some research online to understand the Troubles as a whole and what the Belfast Agreement actually contained. Still, the core story of Frank Hagerty and the lack of justice in his murder is going to stay with me for a long time.
June 15, 2025
As long as you do the research, it’s quite hard to write anything other than a five-star book about the Troubles - the source material is fascinating and the levels of secrecy around what actually happened means that there’ll doubtless be many more years of books like this.
Where this book is strongest is peeling back the question of *just how far the IRA had been penetrated by UK intelligence* ahead of the Good Friday agreement: coming primarily through the lens of the ethical quandaries that throws up and also the strategic dilemma of what you do when you can, in effect, help set direction for a terrorist organisation.
As you’d expect, there are no firm answers - albeit vastly differing levels of detail depending on whether the author is writing about someone who is still alive or someone who is dead. The books coming in the 2030s should be very enlightening…
Where this book is strongest is peeling back the question of *just how far the IRA had been penetrated by UK intelligence* ahead of the Good Friday agreement: coming primarily through the lens of the ethical quandaries that throws up and also the strategic dilemma of what you do when you can, in effect, help set direction for a terrorist organisation.
As you’d expect, there are no firm answers - albeit vastly differing levels of detail depending on whether the author is writing about someone who is still alive or someone who is dead. The books coming in the 2030s should be very enlightening…
June 13, 2025
Four shots in the night by Henry Hemming
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Heavy, Honest, and Worth It
Four Shots in the Night isn’t the kind of book I usually go for, but I picked it up because I realized I knew next to nothing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland — and wow, there’s a lot to take in.
It tells the story of ‘Stakeknife,’ an alleged British agent inside the IRA, and dives deep into the world of spying, betrayal, and violence. It’s pretty dense and definitely not a fast read — I’ve had to take it in small chunks — but it’s incredibly eye-opening.
This isn’t a book you read for twists and thrills. It’s one you read to try and understand something complex and real. Not easy, but definitely worth the effort.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Heavy, Honest, and Worth It
Four Shots in the Night isn’t the kind of book I usually go for, but I picked it up because I realized I knew next to nothing about the Troubles in Northern Ireland — and wow, there’s a lot to take in.
It tells the story of ‘Stakeknife,’ an alleged British agent inside the IRA, and dives deep into the world of spying, betrayal, and violence. It’s pretty dense and definitely not a fast read — I’ve had to take it in small chunks — but it’s incredibly eye-opening.
This isn’t a book you read for twists and thrills. It’s one you read to try and understand something complex and real. Not easy, but definitely worth the effort.
January 3, 2026
Undoubtedly very well researched, well written, and genuinely fascinating.
It did strike me throughout that perhaps Hemming and I have different definitions of ‘bias’. For example, he describes a British police officer as unbiased when it came to investigating crimes in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. I, and I think a great many people, would disagree with that kind of description. It also read, to me, that Hemming was far more critical of the IRA than of the British forces in NI at the time of the Troubles and, I feel, far less interested in trying to understand them or their views.
This all sounds very negative - I really did enjoy reading the book and found it very interesting but couldn’t shake the above.
It did strike me throughout that perhaps Hemming and I have different definitions of ‘bias’. For example, he describes a British police officer as unbiased when it came to investigating crimes in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. I, and I think a great many people, would disagree with that kind of description. It also read, to me, that Hemming was far more critical of the IRA than of the British forces in NI at the time of the Troubles and, I feel, far less interested in trying to understand them or their views.
This all sounds very negative - I really did enjoy reading the book and found it very interesting but couldn’t shake the above.
October 9, 2024
The Troubles are a seriously fascinating conflict. This book makes obvious the very ethical / moral dilemmas that arise in the real world life of spies. It’s a very utilitarian exercise. How many innocent lives will the State sacrifice to (potentially!) save many others? How often will the State turn a blind eye? What crimes will they stop, who will they prosecute? In this story perhaps the most guilty was allowed to stay free ‘for the greater good’ while some of the least guilty were martyrs (Frank Hegarty).
I need to do more reading about Martin McGuinness because this book really paints him as this evil, diabolical lying murderer, but for so many people to respect him by the end of his life (Obama, the Queen??) there must be a lot missing from his story.
I need to do more reading about Martin McGuinness because this book really paints him as this evil, diabolical lying murderer, but for so many people to respect him by the end of his life (Obama, the Queen??) there must be a lot missing from his story.
December 6, 2024
A unique look into the intelligence apparatus that developed around the conflict in the North of Ireland. This likely was the original staging ground for the playbook most governments run against insurgencies globally in the post-9/11 world. These tactics are complicated by the fact that the United Kingdom was conducting these operations against its own citizens. It strikes at the balance between freedom and security. Can a government allow its own people to suffer in the short term when they believe the information they have obtained would be more useful in the long run? Who gets to make that decision? Hemming asks these questions while also not shying away from the human element of this story. Whatever the choice, these decisions will have costs. These costs often came in the loss of life, many times the lives of the innocent. When the goals of these operations are achieved, will we as a society seek justice by asking questions or are they just better left unanswered?
June 5, 2024
It's almost trying to cover too much in a single span...though this is glossed over by the incredibly easy-to-read writing style and the speed at which events fly by in this novel. It might still be a bit dense for those not even somewhat familiar with the Irish Troubles, but I enjoyed this dip into the past immensely...and as one of my final university essays was on the Good Friday Accord, it brought back some interesting memories.
September 9, 2025
As someone who knows very little other than the grand details of The Troubles, this book felt like an intimate story of that period of time that covers all the complexities of conflict. This book did not try to sway the reader into following a single narrative of the conflict, but simply revealed how a single murder case was the product of multiple sides trying to control the narrative.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2025
An excellent read about the intelligence side of the Troubles and how much it impacted the overall conflict in Northern Ireland—and ultimately, its end. I consider Say Nothing and Four Shots in the Night a great one-two punch. It definitely helped to have some background knowledge of the IRA and the conflict going into this book. While Say Nothing was also primarily Belfast-based, it was interesting to learn about the other main zone of conflict, which took place in Derry. A riveting and tragic story—unfortunately, an all-too-familiar one when discussing the Troubles.
January 31, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I felt like it was a good companion to Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing. (I would recommend reading Say Nothing first, personally.) I highly recommend it.
September 17, 2025
not as good as other books on the troubles
November 19, 2025
This is described as the best book about The Troubles since Patrick Radden Keefe’s ‘Say Nothing’ and I would agree. A must read for anyone interested in the topic.
December 25, 2025
A brilliant insight into an extremely complicated subject. Hemming has produced a novel that reads like a fictional spy thriller, and at times, you forget this all happened.
March 19, 2025
So good, really delves into the intense spy scene during the Troubles in an easy to read way…
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