Four Shots in the Night

“[A]n exciting, at times astonishing read... Hemming’s book is an evenhanded account of the clandestine murders that still haunt so many.”

“The best book about the Troubles since Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing. Both unwind painful stories of old political murders. What unites the two books is outstanding reporting and an unflinching focus on the facts at hand.”
 

"Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written. Henry Hemming unfolds a true story of violence, politics and spycraft that sits right at the edge of journalism and history."

“Hemming artfully unspools this complex tale with the skill of a suspense novelist.”
 

"One of the most compelling books I've read in a very long time. An absolutely extraordinary tale of secret intelligence, infiltration and murder, FOUR SHOTS is a brilliantly pieced-together psychological drama that is all the more gripping - and unsettling - for being real rather than fiction. The story is expertly woven together, exploring the characters and motivations of the four main characters into a truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb."

"Both a sinewy spy thriller and a wider history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Four Shots in the Night is edge-of-seat stuff: beautifully crafted, shrewdly observed, frighteningly immersive and utterly compelling."

"A masterly achievement and a riveting read."

"Meticulously researched and brought to life with the finesse of a first-class storyteller, Four Shots in the Night is an absolutely gripping tale of murder, The Troubles, and the good and bad that lurks inside us all. I was in its thrall from the first page to the last."

"A superb portrait of the Troubles . . . Gripping and revelatory."

"If another book has been written that has zoomed in so closely on the relationship between handler and agent, I have yet to find it. A not-so-chance meeting on an isolated Road to Perdition ends in ultimate destruction for one of the parties. What began in silence morphs into staccato, as Four Shots in the Night enter the brain of a once lonesome dog walker. Henry Hemming with sublime clarity peels away an opaque film allowing the reader to stare through a humane window into the horrendous world of espionage."