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Say Nothing

A True Story Of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland

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Say Nothing

By: Patrick Radden Keefe
Narrated by: Matt Blaney
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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Now an FX TV series streaming on DISNEY+

'Unquestionably one of the greatest literary achievements of the 21st century' Nick Hornby

From the author of London Falling – a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.

One night in December 1972, Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was abducted from her home in Belfast and never seen alive again. Her disappearance would haunt her orphaned children, the perpetrators of this terrible crime and a whole society in Northern Ireland for decades.

In this powerful, scrupulously reported book, Patrick Radden Keefe offers not just a forensic account of a brutal crime but a vivid portrait of the world in which it happened. The tragedy of an entire country is captured in the spellbinding narrative of a handful of characters, presented in lyrical and unforgettable detail.

A poem by Seamus Heaney inspires the title: ‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’. By defying the culture of silence, Keefe illuminates how a close-knit society fractured; how people chose sides in a conflict and turned to violence; and how, when the shooting stopped, some ex-combatants came to look back in horror at the atrocities they had committed, while others continue to advocate violence even today.

Say Nothing deftly weaves the stories of Jean McConville and her family with those of Dolours Price, the first woman to join the IRA as a front-line soldier, who bombed the Old Bailey when barely out of her teens; Gerry Adams, who helped bring an end to the fighting, but denied his own IRA past; Brendan Hughes, a fearsome IRA commander who turned on Adams after the peace process and broke the IRA’s code of silence; and other indelible figures. By capturing the intrigue, the drama and the profound human cost of the Troubles, the book presents a searing chronicle of the lengths that people are willing to go to in pursuit of a political ideal, and the ways in which societies mend – or don’t – in the aftermath of a long and bloody conflict.

 20th Century Europe Freedom & Security Modern Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government True Crime War & Crisis Scary Exciting Thought-Provoking Disappearance
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Critic reviews

A Best Book of the Year: The Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Economist, GQ, Slate, NPR, Variety, Slate, Buzzfeed
WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING
ONE OF DUA LIPA'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
‘Breathtaking in its scope and ambition… Keefe has produced a searing examination of the nature of truth in war and the toll taken by violence and deceit… Will take its place alongside the best of the books about the Troubles’
Sunday Times, A Book of the Year
‘Keefe’s narrative is an architectural feat, expertly constructed out of complex and contentious material, arranged and balanced just so… This sensitive and judicious book raises some troubling, and perhaps unanswerable, questions’
New York Times, A Book of the Year
‘Unforgettable… Radden Keefe examines the profound human cost of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the lengths that people will go to in pursuit of a political ideal’
Dua Lipa, A Book of the Year
‘A gripping and profoundly human explanation for a past that still denies and defines the future… Only an outsider could have written a book this good … If conclusions are possible, Radden Keefe’s is that everyone became complicit in the terror… I can’t praise this book enough: it’s erudite, accessible, compelling, enlightening. I thought I was bored by Northern Ireland’s past until I read it’
The Times
‘An exceptional new book, Say Nothing explores this brittle landscape to devastating effect’
Wall Street Journal
‘The best book I’ve read for a while, it’s fantastic’
John Oliver
All stars
Most relevant
I haven't 'connected' to a book in a long time as I have this one. It's beautifully crafted, it pulls no punches, but doesn't glorify, justify or condemn the history. I remember the horrors of the Troubles as a child, hearing it on the news, and this is a perfectly pitched perspective on a few characters involved.
If you read or listen to one non-fiction book this year, make it this.

Immense, powerful, exquisite and raw.

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This book was not what I expected. I had read a review and thought I would give it a try. It’s not usually what I would choose, not to mention I didn’t really have any interest in learning about ‘the troubles’ but this book totally captivated me. I cannot recommend enough . It is a true story which enables the listener to gain an insight into real events.

A very good read

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Growing up in Scotland in the 1980s and ‘90s, I was always aware of the Troubles, and of the risks posed by the IRA, but didn’t know much about the detail. I remember the Brighton Bombing and dubbed-over Gerry Adams on the TV news. Keefe’s book neatly weaves together two stories: those of the IRA’s Dolours Price, and Jean McConville, the mother who was ‘disappeared’ by the terrorists as she was believed to be an informer. It’s a clever contrast. Price became disillusioned by the movement, while McConville’s family fought for years for justice (which remains elusive). At times, there’s a tendency towards language that will prove divisive, eg calling a terrorist a ‘soldier’; some might see this as a kind of glamorisation, or buying into the terror group’s sick perception of itself. I had some doubts about this, but not for long. The counterbalance of the McConvilles’ ordeal provides objectivity. Keefe has a theory about who pulled the trigger when McConville was murdered, and it’s a persuasive one. The Troubles claimed 3,500 lives, but at the end Keene reflects that the IRA’s goal of a united Ireland might be achieved after all — thanks not to violence and murder, but to Brexit and the strains it has placed on the bonds between Great Britain and Ireland. Indeed, he believes a united Ireland is inevitable. I don’t buy it… and his claim that Adams was a ‘sociopath’ seems to let him off a little too lightly. This is a relatively long and detailed study of the Troubles - possibly a little too long. I increased the narration speed towards the end (which greatly helped - I enjoyed listening far more at just under double speed). The narrator is clear but can be a bit halting in his delivery. That said, Say Nothing doesn’t get too bogged down with individual events and milestones; it moves on reasonably quickly. The most compelling passages are in the closing sections of the book. Keefe notes that history is ‘alive and dangerous’ in Belfast, and his description of the ‘feverish pathology’ at work in Ireland, driving its sectarian tensions - and his analysis of them - are powerful and deftly done. It’s accessible for all, regardless of your level of knowledge about Ireland, though it’d help to have some. Perhaps the greatest irony is that those who were at the forefront of the IRA’s bloody work, hunting down traitors, ultimately felt betrayed themselves - by their bosses who sued for peace… leaving them behind for lives of comfort and political respectability.

Blood-soaked history of a Troubled island

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The content of the book is so excellent. The 3rd Patrick Radden Keefe book I’ve listened to, and they’ve all been thoroughly researched, and then very well written.
Fantastic in this regard.


The narration isn’t great. Really slow (I put it to 1.25x for the whole book).
There are strange little gaps in sentences.

You can audibly hear the narrator tiring, becoming more quiet and less clear as some passages come to a close.

The worst part, which becomes quite distracting, is the dozens of mispronunciations!

Eg Enviable pronounced En-vye-able.
Draughtsman pronounced droughts-man.

Some really amateur mistakes which should have been picked up before publishing.

Excellent content. Frustrating narration

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One has to wonder what Patrick Radden Keefe thinks about how his exceptional narrative was mangled from time to time by Mr Blaney, who found the pronunciation of many relatively simple words, such as ‘enviable’ among others, confounding. An annoying distraction, really.

Distracting mispronunciations

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