The One You Least Suspect By Brian McGilloway

‘The One You Least Suspect’ is the latest book by Northern Irish author, Brian McGilloway.

I’ve since Brian speak on three or four occasions and ‘The One You Least Suspect’ is the first book that I’ve read by the author and this book was so good that I consumed it in one day!

Katie lives a quiet life. She likes her small Derry neighbourhood. She likes her job as a barmaid at O’Reillys. And she loves her daughter, Hope. But everything changes when she is approached by two detectives. They want Katie to tell them the things she hears at work. To become their informant. In this city, Katie knows the dangers of talking to the police. Yet with Hope’s safety at risk should she refuse, she is trapped between two impossible choices. Crossing the O’Reilly brothers could cost her everything. Her only chance of survival is if she can remain the one that they least suspect.

The story is seen through the narrative of young mother Katie, who lives on the breadline scraping by with cleaning shifts O’Reilly’s, a popular pub in the city with an interesting clientele. Katie doesn’t mind the job until one day, the police ask her to become an informant. They know all about her life, particularly her daughter Hope and as soon as Hope is mentioned, Katie has a battle of conscience. She knows what goes on in O’Reilly’s and prefers to turn a blind eye and not question where the blood comes from that she has to clean. But then Mark, the younger and somewhat gentler of the brothers shows an interest in Katie and her involvement in the pub, Katie is caught right and wrong, but mostly what’s right for Hope.

As a resident of Northern Ireland, I immediately sank into this thriller and was engrossed in the political and drug related feuds as gangs tried to keep their power and ownership of the streets whilst the vulnerable and innocent tried to make ends meet and keep their heads down. I loved the colloquialisms of the story, the setting as well as the characters. Katie was a woman after my own heart, her daughter is her world and she will everything in her power to make sure that she is looked after and provided for and when these simple things are challenged and threatened to be taken away from her, she has to think rethink her morals and conscience and you could see throughout the story, how hard she found it all.

The story is gritty and bloody, with gory scenes in it, that do make it difficult to read at times, particularly the treatment of women in parts. Brimming with tension, twists and dramas that pulled me in from the first page, ‘The One You Least Suspect’ is a fantastic tense crime thriller about power, authority and a battle of conscience that is powerfully written.

You can buy ‘The One Tou Least Suspect’ from Amazon and is available to buy from local bookshops.