The Trigger Men
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Product Description
Product Description
In The Trigger Men, bestselling author Martin Dillon delves into the dark and sinister world of Irish terrorism and counter-terrorism. Over three decades he has interviewed and investigated some of the most professional, dangerous and ruthless killers in Ireland. Now Dillon explores their personalities, motivations and bizarre crimes.Many of Ireland's assassins learned their trade in fields and on hillsides in remote parts of Ireland, while others were trained in the Middle East or with Basque separatist terrorists in Spain. Some were one-target-one-shot killers, like the sniper who terrorised the inhabitants of Washington State in the autumn of 2002, while others were bombers skilled in designing the most sophisticated explosive devices and booby traps. Another more powerful group of 'trigger men' were the influential figures in the shadows, who were experts in motivating the killers under their control. All of these men, whether they squeezed the trigger on a high-powered rifle, set the timer on a bomb or used their authority to send others out to commit horrific and unspeakable acts of cruelty, are featured in this book. The Trigger Men takes the reader inside the labyrinthine world of terrorist cells and highly classified counter-terrorism units of British Military Intelligence. The individual stories are described in gripping, unflinching detail and show how the terrorists carried out their ghastly work. Dillon also explores the ideology of the cult of the gunmen and the greed and hatred that motivated assassins in their killing sprees. There are penetrating insights into the mindset of the most infamous assassins: their social and historical conditioning, their callousness......
About the Author
Martin Dillon has won international acclaim for his unique investigative reporting and is regarded as one of the foremost experts on global terrorism. He is the author of 14 books. His bestselling trilogy The Shankill Butchers, The Dirty War and God and the Gun, from his non-fiction work, is regarded as the definitive account of the Ireland conflict. He also co-authored Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne Legend and The Assassination of Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy. He lives in New York.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although this book covers the same ground as Dillons previous ones,it contains information that couldn't be put in before because of legal reasons. For instance the chapter on the loyalist UVF unit known as the Shankhill Butchers,names one of the members which he couldn't do in his 1989 SHANKHILL BUTCHERS book because the member died in 1997. There are chapters on LVF leader Billy Wright(Dillon interviewed him), UDA hitman Michael Stone, 'mad dog' Johnny Adair, INLA leader Dominic 'mad dog' McGlinchey, british agent Brian Nelson,the Kincora sex scandal and its security force links.Much more including Dillon's own view on the STAKEKNIFE affair(IRA informer working for the british). It's not his best book but he's one of the best writers on Northern Irelands paramilitary conflict. Recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Martin Dillon is a fantastic analytical writer who does not shy away from the use masses of relevant detail. Instead of regurgitating pieces of text and information by passing it through his own editorial, he often includes the original transcripts of interviews, documents and even a complete printing of the IRA's 'Green Book', which is difficult to come by.
The book deals with snippets from the 40 years of Troubles in Ulster, and chronicles the lives of some of the key players involved in both the Republican and Loyalist sides. Dillon's research cannot be faulted - he is one of the most meticulous writers on the subject of the Troubles and I would find it difficult to question his integrity. He looks into aspects of the lives of killers such as Billy Wright by following them from childhood onwards, offering a truly impressive amount of detail on these otherwise shadowy figures.
'The Trigger Men' is something of a culmination of Dillon's works on the Troubles, and he does often quote and expand on his earlier books. My only criticism of Dillon is that there is more than a whisper of bias to his writings when he discusses mainstream Unionist politicians - he seems to have some sort of personal vendetta against DUP leader Ian Paisley, and his assertion that Paisley was essentially the political catalyst for actions of people like the Shankill Butchers is, in my view, unfair.
For anyone wishing to learn more about the Ulster Troubles, this is a very good starting point. It gives excellent, accurate information about Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries, and unapologetically dismisses false information included in other books on the subject (most notably the 'authorised' autobiographies released by former paramilitaries like Michael Stone). This is an excellent history book, it is engagingly written and enjoyable to read. Certainly a definitive piece of work.
The book deals with snippets from the 40 years of Troubles in Ulster, and chronicles the lives of some of the key players involved in both the Republican and Loyalist sides. Dillon's research cannot be faulted - he is one of the most meticulous writers on the subject of the Troubles and I would find it difficult to question his integrity. He looks into aspects of the lives of killers such as Billy Wright by following them from childhood onwards, offering a truly impressive amount of detail on these otherwise shadowy figures.
'The Trigger Men' is something of a culmination of Dillon's works on the Troubles, and he does often quote and expand on his earlier books. My only criticism of Dillon is that there is more than a whisper of bias to his writings when he discusses mainstream Unionist politicians - he seems to have some sort of personal vendetta against DUP leader Ian Paisley, and his assertion that Paisley was essentially the political catalyst for actions of people like the Shankill Butchers is, in my view, unfair.
For anyone wishing to learn more about the Ulster Troubles, this is a very good starting point. It gives excellent, accurate information about Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries, and unapologetically dismisses false information included in other books on the subject (most notably the 'authorised' autobiographies released by former paramilitaries like Michael Stone). This is an excellent history book, it is engagingly written and enjoyable to read. Certainly a definitive piece of work.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Have to agree with the negative reviews.
This and the author's "Dirty War" start with the ludicrous claim that the author has daringly exposed what was actually fairly well-known British colonial counterinsurgency doctrine and how this led to all sorts of dirty tricks. There are much, much better accounts of this area, including Peter Taylor's "Brits" and the excellent "The Irish War" by Tony Gerraghty. These show, without the shallow "look what I found!" sensationalism, how the Security Force's covert tactics really evolved (stumbling fairly regularly)- from the amateurish but for a time effective Four Square Laundry to the sophisticated tactics described in "the Operators" by James Rennie, which finally succeeded in really closing down on the terrorists and helped convince them they had reached the end of that long and bloody road.
There's really nothing much secret about counterinsurgency doctrine, British or otherwise, tho states tend to struggle to re-invent and apply it to successive conflicts, as in Vietnam, NI, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even if you started off believing all you ever heard about "British-Loyalist collusion", this author doesn't do a very good or convincing job, technically. His affectations of insight and expertise ring very hollow. Instead, the book reads more like a hack reporter trying to string together a lot of tabloid journalism with some rather weak efforts to claim some sort of "shock, horror" exposé.
Not recommended.
This and the author's "Dirty War" start with the ludicrous claim that the author has daringly exposed what was actually fairly well-known British colonial counterinsurgency doctrine and how this led to all sorts of dirty tricks. There are much, much better accounts of this area, including Peter Taylor's "Brits" and the excellent "The Irish War" by Tony Gerraghty. These show, without the shallow "look what I found!" sensationalism, how the Security Force's covert tactics really evolved (stumbling fairly regularly)- from the amateurish but for a time effective Four Square Laundry to the sophisticated tactics described in "the Operators" by James Rennie, which finally succeeded in really closing down on the terrorists and helped convince them they had reached the end of that long and bloody road.
There's really nothing much secret about counterinsurgency doctrine, British or otherwise, tho states tend to struggle to re-invent and apply it to successive conflicts, as in Vietnam, NI, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even if you started off believing all you ever heard about "British-Loyalist collusion", this author doesn't do a very good or convincing job, technically. His affectations of insight and expertise ring very hollow. Instead, the book reads more like a hack reporter trying to string together a lot of tabloid journalism with some rather weak efforts to claim some sort of "shock, horror" exposé.
Not recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Book
This is a great read from someone who obviously knows his stuff. I just wish it had been a little more balanced and included some IRA trigger men. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Mr. Kevin Sprake
Old material recycled under false pretences
The bulk of this book is a recycling of material published by Dillon elsewhere. The stories of Lennie Murphy, Michael Stone plus a variety of 'Dirty War' figures are presented in... Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by Pablo
Service
Have not read this book yet but looking forward to it, the service of getting it to me was brilllllllllllllllllllll
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by Mr. J. Fitzgerald
The Loyalist Trigger Men
The book should have been called "The Loyalist Trigger Men". Eleven of the thirteen chapters deal with loyalist terrorists. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2006 by bibliobiblio
Good but biased
Make no mistake - this is a good book on the Troubles. But it is also heavily biased in favour of Irish Republicanism, with deliberate omissions included to favour Dillon's... Read more
Published on 18 Aug 2004 by Peter McGuiness
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