The Twelve (sold in America as The Ghosts of Belfast) by Stuart Neville fizzes with energy from its first paragraph. Irish paramilitary killer Gerry Fegan is dizzingly portrayed as an alcoholic has-been tormented by twelve ghosts of his brutal past, ghosts who torment him to exact vengeance on other Sinn Fein heavies. After the first action-laden section, I wondered if Neville had trapped his antihero in a predictable sequence of killings, but the plot constantly lurches sideways, and by the middle of the novel I was truly hooked. An action thriller, The Twelve also illuminates modern Northern Ireland and the unresolved consequences of generations of deaths.
Rich characterization, gripping action scenes, even a convincing romantic subplot . . . this is a rare modern thriller that delivers on all fronts. 4 stars.