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Alexis Newkirk's Reviews > Northern Spy
Northern Spy
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by
Alexis Newkirk's review
bookshelves: contemporary, historical-fiction, thriller, irish-lit, fiction, reeses-book-club
Apr 13, 2021
bookshelves: contemporary, historical-fiction, thriller, irish-lit, fiction, reeses-book-club
A disappointing read that failed its historical context
As a pro, this book was somewhat entertaining and a quick and suspenseful read. However, the one thing I couldn't get past the entire book was that the historical context was so poorly set up. This book did a basic interpretation of common events of the Troubles in a modern setting and mentioned historical events as well as the 1998 Good Friday agreement, but then proceeded to write the story as if that event hadn't taken place and never explained the events that led to continued intense violence in the book. It never acknowledged the political parties the IRA has evolved into or the New IRA. It also failed to introduce the reason for the conflict other than a simple Catholic v Protestant perspective. I really felt like this would have been much better and more impactful if it had been set earlier on in the conflict or if it had tried to establish a more well explained what-if alternate scenario.
I just feel this book failed what is likely to be a largely American audience by giving a bare bones history lesson that didn’t come close to capturing the complexities of this conflict and wrapped it up in a thriller that left the reader with a ton of plot holes and lazily researched storyline.
I’m honestly disappointed that this was a Reese’s book club pick because it shows whoever picked it does not understand this conflict.
As a pro, this book was somewhat entertaining and a quick and suspenseful read. However, the one thing I couldn't get past the entire book was that the historical context was so poorly set up. This book did a basic interpretation of common events of the Troubles in a modern setting and mentioned historical events as well as the 1998 Good Friday agreement, but then proceeded to write the story as if that event hadn't taken place and never explained the events that led to continued intense violence in the book. It never acknowledged the political parties the IRA has evolved into or the New IRA. It also failed to introduce the reason for the conflict other than a simple Catholic v Protestant perspective. I really felt like this would have been much better and more impactful if it had been set earlier on in the conflict or if it had tried to establish a more well explained what-if alternate scenario.
I just feel this book failed what is likely to be a largely American audience by giving a bare bones history lesson that didn’t come close to capturing the complexities of this conflict and wrapped it up in a thriller that left the reader with a ton of plot holes and lazily researched storyline.
I’m honestly disappointed that this was a Reese’s book club pick because it shows whoever picked it does not understand this conflict.
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Reading Progress
April 6, 2021
– Shelved
April 6, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
April 7, 2021
–
Started Reading
April 13, 2021
–
Finished Reading
September 11, 2021
– Shelved as:
contemporary
September 11, 2021
– Shelved as:
thriller
September 11, 2021
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
April 17, 2022
– Shelved as:
irish-lit
January 12, 2023
– Shelved as:
fiction
July 24, 2023
– Shelved as:
reeses-book-club
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by
Bill
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rated it 1 star
May 12, 2021 04:56PM
I agree, Alexis. She rewrote history to serve her plot.
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Totally agree with that.
Totally agree Alexis except that I did not find the book entertaining or suspenseful.
I was so confused at the mention of whatsapp and vapes - could not figure out what was happening time-wise!
I remember flipping back pages in the book to try and figure it out and nothing was ever explained. Poor storytelling that didn’t do the history any justice.
I didn’t like this book. It was silly and weak and yes the historical context is off but the genre is fiction, suspense, crime fiction and the book jacket even states novel. I won’t fault the book on the historical context as it never represented itself as historical fiction. Those expecting historical accuracy or a resemblance of historical context should refer to historical fiction genres. It feels the author was trying to write a “sexy” story of two “strong” sisters and chose a conflict in history as the premise. Just another trope and poorly executed.
In the first chapter she said that they were young children in 1998. The story is set in 2018.
I will not finish the book, thanks saving me time, I am struggling to finish exactly for the reasons mentioned, holes in the plot, historically rubbish, and really incongruous. I am staying away from Witherspoon recommendations second highly bad fit for my taste in books
This is exactly how I felt when reading the book! I felt confused about whether this was supposed to be before or after the Good Friday agreement, then when I flipped back to confirm that the author had said it was after that, I felt so confused as to how it described the violence in the story or efforts to come to a peace deal without any reflection on how people must have felt that this was all occurring after the Good Friday agreement.
its a fiction not an historical document. Sure there were gaps but if you want that read the history as a non fiction.
DNF for me at about 1/3. The time setting was odd, but the biggest problem I had was that Marion openly discloses classified info to Tessa as if she's talking about the weather. Just not believable and I dropped it.
