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Anatomy of a Killing: Life and Death on a Divided Island
On the morning of Saturday 22nd April 1978, members of an Active Service Unit of the IRA hijacked a car and crossed the countryside to the town of Lisburn. Within an hour, they had killed an off-duty policeman in front of his young son.
In Anatomy of a Killing, award-winning journalist Ian Cobain documents the hours leading up to the killing, and the months and years of violence, attrition and rebellion surrounding it. Drawing on interviews with those most closely involved, as well as court files, police notes, military intelligence reports, IRA strategy papers, memoirs and government records, this is a unique perspective on the Troubles, and a revelatory work of investigative journalism.
In Anatomy of a Killing, award-winning journalist Ian Cobain documents the hours leading up to the killing, and the months and years of violence, attrition and rebellion surrounding it. Drawing on interviews with those most closely involved, as well as court files, police notes, military intelligence reports, IRA strategy papers, memoirs and government records, this is a unique perspective on the Troubles, and a revelatory work of investigative journalism.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 28, 2021
During the slow grinding horror of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, over 3,600 people were killed over the course of the 30-year conflict. Ian Cobain’s “Anatomy of a Killing” tells the story of just one of those deaths: the shooting of RUC officer (and photographer and pigeon-fancier) Miller McAllister by an I.R.A. volunteer called Harry Murray in Lisburn in 1978.
Unlike other histories of The Troubles which take more of a wide lens view of the era, “Anatomy of a Killing” takes this one murder and uses it as a microcosm of the three decade-long conflict. Cobain traces the killing back to McAllister and Murray’s adolescences during the outbreak of The Troubles in the 1960s, and their subsequent recruitment by their respective policing and paramilitary organisations. Cobain meticulously outlines the murder plot, from the identification of McAllister as a ‘legitimate target’, through to the assembly of the Provisional IRA squad who would pursue him, and on to the seemingly inexorable shooting and subsequent criminal trials. As the plot unfolds, Cobain weaves in many of the main themes of The Troubles; from the inter-community sectarian violence that scarred Belfast throughout this era, the evolution of the I.R.A.’s tactics (and descent into ever-bloodier violence) during the conflict, the increasing use by the security forces of interrogation techniques that bordered on torture, and the utter ineptitude of successive British secretaries of state when faced with devising a resolution to The Troubles.
“Anatomy of a Killing” is frequently an intense read, and convincingly captures the claustrophobic, paranoid nature of 1970s Northern Ireland. It grippingly depicts men – whether the gunman, soldier or police officer – who are at the mercy of forces far beyond their control. The squalid nature of so much of the conflict (such as the police cell beatings and the close-quarter assassinations) can rarely have been so harrowingly represented in Troubles literature.
Cobain is sensitive and scrupulously even-handed throughout the book, and he also exhibits a genuine empathy for the victims and the shattered lives of the grieving families, an aspect that – with the exception of David McKittrick’s incomparable “Lost Lives” – is often overlooked in histories of The Troubles. “Anatomy of a Killing” is not an easy or comforting read, but it is a worthy addition to the canon of writing on the Northern Ireland conflict – all the more so for the forensic approach of Ian Cobain.
Unlike other histories of The Troubles which take more of a wide lens view of the era, “Anatomy of a Killing” takes this one murder and uses it as a microcosm of the three decade-long conflict. Cobain traces the killing back to McAllister and Murray’s adolescences during the outbreak of The Troubles in the 1960s, and their subsequent recruitment by their respective policing and paramilitary organisations. Cobain meticulously outlines the murder plot, from the identification of McAllister as a ‘legitimate target’, through to the assembly of the Provisional IRA squad who would pursue him, and on to the seemingly inexorable shooting and subsequent criminal trials. As the plot unfolds, Cobain weaves in many of the main themes of The Troubles; from the inter-community sectarian violence that scarred Belfast throughout this era, the evolution of the I.R.A.’s tactics (and descent into ever-bloodier violence) during the conflict, the increasing use by the security forces of interrogation techniques that bordered on torture, and the utter ineptitude of successive British secretaries of state when faced with devising a resolution to The Troubles.
“Anatomy of a Killing” is frequently an intense read, and convincingly captures the claustrophobic, paranoid nature of 1970s Northern Ireland. It grippingly depicts men – whether the gunman, soldier or police officer – who are at the mercy of forces far beyond their control. The squalid nature of so much of the conflict (such as the police cell beatings and the close-quarter assassinations) can rarely have been so harrowingly represented in Troubles literature.
Cobain is sensitive and scrupulously even-handed throughout the book, and he also exhibits a genuine empathy for the victims and the shattered lives of the grieving families, an aspect that – with the exception of David McKittrick’s incomparable “Lost Lives” – is often overlooked in histories of The Troubles. “Anatomy of a Killing” is not an easy or comforting read, but it is a worthy addition to the canon of writing on the Northern Ireland conflict – all the more so for the forensic approach of Ian Cobain.
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May 2, 2023Literally read it in one sitting. Very good at what it sets out to do
December 5, 2020
I read lots of books, articles etc etc about the Troubles (documentaries too) and I studied history in N I/ keep up with politics/ have a general keen interest in the subject matter. As well as a personal interest being from N I and living in Lisburn. While reading I drove / walked past many of the places mentioned. I liked this book a lot. Unlike many books about the Troubles, I felt it was not biased. The author lays out the facts of the events and leaves it to the reader to draw from it what they will. They make clear all sources and contributers. This is hard to do with this subject material for many authors it seems. A sad but interesting read as with most books on this subject matter. Very well crafted book. Focuses on the impact of actions on individuals and their families, which is often missing when discussing this time.
November 27, 2021
Cobain, an English journalist, tells the story of the assassination of a Northern Irish member of the police, and by expanding on the entire context of the event in 1978, tells a captivating story. This is one of the best books I have read on Northern Ireland. By describing various neighborhoods and communities, he provides a landscape of the Troubles in Belfast and nearby. He details events that happened before and after this specific murder. The book also delves into the imprisoning of IRA members and other paramilitaries, and what happened when their political status was denied leading to the Blanket protests. He spends almost no time on Protestant paramilitary groups and perhaps this is because they are not part of this particular event. Instead the focus is on the Provisional IRA, and includes some of their most despicable actions such as the Le Mon Restaurant incendiary bomb attack. I felt that he was too light handed with Gerry Adams, when Patrick Raden Keefe's book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland was more critical. But Keefe was telling the story of the disappearance of Jean Mc Conville, the Belfast mother of 10 children, and Adams was a central suspect in her murder.
Highly recommended reading for those interested in the history of the Troubles.
Highly recommended reading for those interested in the history of the Troubles.
October 2, 2023
I don’t read non-fiction much but this was a gift and I know so little about the troubles, which I am fascinated by, that I tore through it. The geography and lingo were a bit of a hurdle but I put that out of mind and read through. It’s an incredibly interesting, depressing, and well written piece of Irish history that I’m glad that I read. It says as much about all of humanity as it does the specific conflict that is the book’s focus.
November 16, 2022
Recommended reading for insight into such a complex issue, but it just scratches the surface as it’s only really focusing on one particular event in the Troubles
September 2, 2021
A compelling and informative read, I learned a lot from it. The authors sympathies are clearly with the Republican side but he tells a balanced story. It's only failing is that the family of the murdered man did not want to speak to the author and so there is a gap in the story.
June 9, 2024
I really love things like this: complex historical and political periods analysed through a single event. It's a complicated thing to do and it takes great skill to get as much as possible from one event without stretching (this was the problem I had with Say Nothing, even though it was a decent read for other reasons) but this book does it well. Part of it had to be that this was very close to home – I spent a lot of time in Belfast and Lisburn as a teenager, had people in my group from multiple places named in this book, walked the same streets and saw some of the same things. But a bigger part of it is the fact that this is a masterful reconstruction of a time and place.
The chapters slowly introduce the reader to the context, focusing on the people, the place, and the time. Like setting a stage, they then move the reader through the details of the killing itself, and then on to the consequences. Every chapter builds on the one before, adding a different layer, and by the end of the book the whole thing is three dimensional. Through it all, it's impossible to forget that this killing was one of thousands; that for every person who had their life irreversibly changed by this killing, it played out over three thousand times across the North and, like the killing at the focus of this book, some of those ripples haven't yet stopped travelling.
In a situation as complex as the Troubles, it's very difficult to dive in without any prior knowledge. I come at this book as somebody who grew up in the North, who was deeply interested in the history of the Troubles and the politics behind it from an early age, and who spent my teenage years wading in up to my elbows and calling for revolution. Time and experience have mellowed that bloodlust but not my interest; as somebody who knows a lot about this subject already, I still found this a fascinating read full of things I did not know or had not considered. At the same time, I think it would be easy enough for somebody with very little idea of the Troubles to follow, as it really is an impeccably details case study that highlights so many of the issues, conflicts, and consequences. A relatively short book compared to others I've read, it manages to say just as much, if not more.
The chapters slowly introduce the reader to the context, focusing on the people, the place, and the time. Like setting a stage, they then move the reader through the details of the killing itself, and then on to the consequences. Every chapter builds on the one before, adding a different layer, and by the end of the book the whole thing is three dimensional. Through it all, it's impossible to forget that this killing was one of thousands; that for every person who had their life irreversibly changed by this killing, it played out over three thousand times across the North and, like the killing at the focus of this book, some of those ripples haven't yet stopped travelling.
In a situation as complex as the Troubles, it's very difficult to dive in without any prior knowledge. I come at this book as somebody who grew up in the North, who was deeply interested in the history of the Troubles and the politics behind it from an early age, and who spent my teenage years wading in up to my elbows and calling for revolution. Time and experience have mellowed that bloodlust but not my interest; as somebody who knows a lot about this subject already, I still found this a fascinating read full of things I did not know or had not considered. At the same time, I think it would be easy enough for somebody with very little idea of the Troubles to follow, as it really is an impeccably details case study that highlights so many of the issues, conflicts, and consequences. A relatively short book compared to others I've read, it manages to say just as much, if not more.
June 15, 2023
A highly readable, albeit flawed account of the events surrounding the murder of a policeman, who was shot dead on his own doorstep in front of his youngest child in late 70s Lisburn. For those familiar with the Troubles, they can take what they will from it. For those unfamiliar with events and seeking to learn more, this isn't a great place to start. A general rule of thumb for readers in the latter category is to check the index of any book on the Troubles and if it doesn't mention Operation Motorman or the Sunningdale Agreement, then put it back on the shelf.
The problems with this book are evident in the acknowledgements. The victims family did not cooperate with the book, the perpetrators did, which means as the chapters progress, there is far more of their viewpoint and considering the brutality of the crime and their utter lack of remorse, this can be hard to stomach.
Even more nauseating, is when one individual is given several pages without any challenge from the author, to justify the need for violence, even when he likely had some involvement in the Warrington bombing which killed two children and also included plotting to bomb the Crufts Dog Show (among other locations) in the early 90s, while the peace process was under way. Meanwhile there is no space made for the Nationalist condemnation of IRA violence. John Hume is not mentioned, despite his famous description of the IRA as ‘medieval savages weeping crocodile tears’.
As Cobain correctly states, a lot of people in Northern Ireland (and elsewhere) were directly impacted by the violence in the Troubles. Recent coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement shows a surprising number of people who regret voting yes. For many of whom, that regret is based on what they view as the prominent role in public life of people who still claim that terrorist violence was legitimate. So while it is fair for Cobain to accurately convey the viewpoints of those featured in his area of research, do so without any opposing viewpoints risks causing wider harm.
The problems with this book are evident in the acknowledgements. The victims family did not cooperate with the book, the perpetrators did, which means as the chapters progress, there is far more of their viewpoint and considering the brutality of the crime and their utter lack of remorse, this can be hard to stomach.
Even more nauseating, is when one individual is given several pages without any challenge from the author, to justify the need for violence, even when he likely had some involvement in the Warrington bombing which killed two children and also included plotting to bomb the Crufts Dog Show (among other locations) in the early 90s, while the peace process was under way. Meanwhile there is no space made for the Nationalist condemnation of IRA violence. John Hume is not mentioned, despite his famous description of the IRA as ‘medieval savages weeping crocodile tears’.
As Cobain correctly states, a lot of people in Northern Ireland (and elsewhere) were directly impacted by the violence in the Troubles. Recent coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement shows a surprising number of people who regret voting yes. For many of whom, that regret is based on what they view as the prominent role in public life of people who still claim that terrorist violence was legitimate. So while it is fair for Cobain to accurately convey the viewpoints of those featured in his area of research, do so without any opposing viewpoints risks causing wider harm.
May 27, 2021
This book tells of a killing in northern Ireland and its hard not to compare it to Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, in that it uses the framing of one killing to tell the wider story of the troubles of Northern Ireland. However it does differ in several respects. Firstly, this is a lot shorter and more concise, it does reach out from the main case, but it looks at particularly at all of the backstories of all of the elements of the killing and tries to understand how everyone involved in that day, got to that point. Physically, emotionally and politically.
Cobain does a good job of being pretty neutral. As he says in the foreword, in a part of the world where language and names are so politicised, even the words you use can demonstrate bias, so it’s a tricky line to walk.
If you have read a lot, or know a lot about NI, then I don’t think there is much that is new here, but what it does do really well is demonstrate just how many individual stories are still to be told and how deep the generational trauma goes.
September 1, 2022
I'm 58, so I lived through much of The Troubles. I'm in the US, so I've formed opinions based on media and some discussion with Irish and British citizens. I found the book well-written and while detailed, the details tended to be relevant to understanding. While I'm sure more knowledgeable reviewers will likely find faults, for me the author took a reasonably balanced approach to presenting both sides from a human perspective. For someone with a casual interest in obtaining a better understanding of The Troubles, I highly recommend this book.
December 9, 2022
This book about the Irish Troubles reads like a long series of news articles, which is not surprising given the author’s background. I appreciated the extreme effort it must have taken to cull these endless details into a coherent narrative, but I did at times feel like the book was a little too “matter of fact” to keep me going for long stretches. It was great to see an honest attempt to tell the facts without bias, unlike most books about the troubles, but I did not find it to be the most exciting or emotionally compelling work I have read on the topic. Still, a fine, informative read.
November 27, 2020
Brilliant book
This lays bare the seething hatred in Northern Ireland and the willingness of some of its inhabitants to commit the most dastardly deeds without troubling their conscience. Foul sectarian murders are dismissed as being part and parcel of an ongoing war
Barbarity pure and simple driven by bigotry and sectarianism
This lays bare the seething hatred in Northern Ireland and the willingness of some of its inhabitants to commit the most dastardly deeds without troubling their conscience. Foul sectarian murders are dismissed as being part and parcel of an ongoing war
Barbarity pure and simple driven by bigotry and sectarianism
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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October 25, 2021Not much to say on this one, other than that it complemented my reading of Bowen's 'The Last September', in offering a long view on Northern Irish history. In this case I don't especially want to give it a star rating, but would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the biographical roots and social contexts of Norther Irish history from the 1920s to the 1970s and beyond.
January 11, 2024
Focusing mostly on West Belfast this book felt a lot more personal to me than other books about the Troubles I’ve read. It is really interesting and informative without being too academic, and I really enjoy the focus on personal stories and the people involved. Overall a really interesting insight into the workings of the IRA and how they carried out their killings.
March 24, 2021
Compelling account of a tragic episode in the history of the Troubles. It brought back to me memories of the hatred, bigotry, bombings and killings of the time. RIP Millar McAllister and Brian Maguire.
October 10, 2021
Very data heavy; all names and places you may have never heard before that you now need to remember 50+ pages after they were last mentioned. Otherwise a great book. As impartial as it is possible to be
December 16, 2021
This is a very well researched book which looks at the killing of an RUC officer in the north of lreland. ln using a single killing it provides a snapshot of the conflict. A very interesting and well written book.
December 29, 2021
This was a great read giving some really good insights and understanding of the “Troubles” - this was a subject I knew very little about but after reading this it’s definitely something that I want to read more about
March 6, 2022
A fascinating insight into the Northern Irish Troubles. More broad ranging in terms of background, context and the wider fight than I expected. Made excellent use of real life interviews and contemporaneous records, bringing the reader into the lived experiences of all the people involved.
January 16, 2024
Class, well written and easy to digest history of the troubles. Uses the story of one murder to discuss the history of British colonialism in Ireland and the motivations of the people involved in the conflict
Want to read
January 19, 2021Recommended by The Economist, January 9, 2021 issue:
https://www.economist.com/books-and-a...
https://www.economist.com/books-and-a...
November 8, 2021
One of the best books I have ever read
May 21, 2023
Very well written and thoughtfully researched account
July 4, 2023
Wow, having spent time in Northern Ireland in the late 1970's this book helped me to understand the complexities of what I saw. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Troubles.
April 8, 2024
A specific story placed in context and well told from each person’s point of view
December 30, 2020
A scrupulously researched account, although does tend to offer excuses for IRA atrocities.
October 19, 2023
Dear god this book is upsetting
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews