01 Jul Book Review: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing is an immersive dive into the Northern Ireland Troubles, centering on the heartbreaking abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972. A masterclass in investigative narrative, it won the Orwell Prize and was named one of the New York Times’ Best Books of 2019. This nonfiction work reads like a thriller—rich in historical detail and emotional nuance—and unravels a web of silence, loyalty, betrayal, and the long shadow of political violence.

What’s it about?

The core of Say Nothing is the disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten, who was abducted from her Belfast flat in 1972 by members of the Provisional IRA. For years, her children had no answers, no body, and no justice. Keefe uses her story as a starting point to explore the deeper, murkier world of the Troubles: decades of guerrilla warfare, internal purges, and community trauma in Northern Ireland.

The book begins in the early 1970s with a deep dive into Belfast’s Catholic neighborhoods, where fear and resistance shaped everyday life. It introduces key figures: Dolours Price and her sister Marian—young, glamorous, and fiercely committed IRA volunteers; Brendan Hughes, a commander haunted by guilt; and Gerry Adams, the enigmatic political leader who claims never to have been in the IRA, despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

Through these individuals, Keefe reconstructs the IRA’s campaign: the London bombings, hunger strikes, secret cells, and the culture of absolute loyalty. The story unfolds with a thriller’s pacing but is grounded in journalism. You get vivid accounts of the Boston College Tapes—a confidential oral history project that eventually cracked open decades of silence and pointed toward answers in McConville’s case.

As the narrative progresses, Keefe circles back repeatedly to McConville’s children—especially her daughter Helen—who endured orphanages, poverty, and stigma while the rest of the world moved on. Their story becomes the novel’s emotional anchor, reminding you that this isn’t just about ideology or politics—it’s about real lives.

The final chapters tie together the covert acts, silences, and betrayals. There is no Hollywood-style closure. Instead, you get something more haunting: a portrait of a society still reckoning with its ghosts and a question that remains suspended in air—who has the right to tell the truth when everyone else has agreed to forget?

What This Chick Thinks

A Nonfiction Page-Turner That Feels Like a Spy Novel

Keefe writes with the narrative confidence of someone who knows just when to give you facts, when to give you feelings, and when to let the silence sit heavy. Every chapter feels necessary, every revelation earned. It’s rare to find nonfiction this taut.

The Ethics of Memory and Silence

What hit me hardest wasn’t just the violence—it was how people survived it. How whole neighborhoods functioned on a code of silence. How trauma was buried deep to protect a cause. The book doesn’t preach, but it makes you reckon with the emotional cost of political conviction.

Complicated, Flawed People—Rendered Honestly

Dolours Price is a standout. She’s charismatic, chilling, and utterly human. Keefe gives her depth without romanticizing her violence. Gerry Adams, meanwhile, is presented with restraint—his denials, his savvy, his contradictions all left open to reader interpretation.

If There’s a Flaw…

I wish there had been more space given to Protestant Loyalist voices—not for balance’s sake, but because it would’ve deepened the complexity even further. But Keefe is transparent about his scope and focus, and he doesn’t try to overreach.

Final Thoughts

Say Nothing is a landmark in narrative nonfiction. It’s brutal, beautifully written, and morally tangled in all the best ways. It doesn’t offer easy answers—and that’s what makes it so powerful. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in political history, true crime, or the way silence can echo louder than any bomb.

Rating: 9.5/10

Try it if you like:

• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham – A gripping, detail-rich account of another state crisis, blending human drama with historical sweep.
• Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe – His follow-up work about the Sackler family and the opioid epidemic, just as explosive and unflinching.
• The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman – While fiction, it similarly explores trauma, survival, and collective memory through multiple perspectives.