Description

The sole survivor of a murderous ambush, a Belfast police detective is forced into a desperate search for a mysterious informer that takes him to a holy island on Lough Derg, a place shrouded in strange mists and hazy rain, where nothing is as it first appears to be.

A keeper of secrets and a purveyor of lies, the detective finds himself surrounded by enemies disguised as pilgrims, and is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the purgatorial island, where he is forced to confront a series of disturbing secrets and ghosts in his own life.

Haunting and unsettling,Turncoat probes the legacy of the Troubles, the loss of collective memories and the moral consequences for the individual. It is a story of guilt, survival and the terrible price of self-knowledge, told through the voice of a detective with a double life. Descending into paranoia, he uncovers a sinister panorama of cover-ups and conspiracies. The closer he edges to the truth, the deeper he is drawn into the currents of power, violence and guilt engulfing his country…

Publisher Review

"This is a novel to be read slowly and to be savoured sip by sip, as its spider's web slowly but surely snares you in its grip." --Daily Mail on Disappeared "The Troubles of Northern Ireland are not over. They may no longer reach the headlines, but they continue to damage lives and memories. This is the message so disturbingly, convincingly and elegantly conveyed in Anthony Quinn's first novel, Disappeared . . . Beautifully haunting." --Times "Quinn's knowledge of post-Troubles Northern Ireland effortlessly converts itself into an effective thriller." --Publishers Weekly "Hypnotically expressive . . . irresistible crime thriller." --Independent "A tough yet lyrical novel." --Sunday Times on Disappeared