Book Review: Newsdeath by Ray Connolly

This is a terrific thriller, with a nasty but plausible twist in the tail.

I will admit, having grown up on ‘The Professionals,’ that I have a weakness for “pulp” fiction of Eurotrash terrorists terrorising Western European cities for – seemingly – the hell of it. This, however, is a cut above (or several cuts above) ‘pulp’. It deals with a newspaper reporter called John Hucklestone (or ‘Huckle’ to his friends) who happens to be in the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time – a car bomb explodes and he catches enough of a glimpse of the woman who deposited it to be involved in the hunt for the gang – called “PUMA” – which has a sub-Gramscian grasp on the role of the media in delaying The Revolution by mystifying the glorious masses (Connolly has some fun with a tonally-perfect parody of the verbiage the PUMA lot spew).

Connolly writes with deep knowledge of the newspaper industry (still in the 1970s publishing multiple editions daily, with competition between the morning and evening papers!). He writes with sympathy but also an unsparing eye for the moral failings of his lead characters, while never leaving the reader more than a few pages from a bombing, kidnapping or particularly gruesome murder. The minor characters are well-drawn (including the women, who have more agency than you normally see in this kind of book).

The final set piece – a siege in a radio station, where All Is Revealed – is a bravura performance of ratcheted tension. It’s not entirely clear who will live and die, and – until the final pages – what is actually going on.

The novel is not perfect – there’s a good black character who is built up and then left with not enough to do outside the siege – but overall, this book delivers much more than the cover would lead you to expect.

Connolly has written other well-received novels (so far I’ve only read ‘Sunday Morning’) and a lot of non-fiction, especially about the Beatles and music. His website is here.

See also

Clare Francis Red Crystal

Michael O’Shea Tomorrow’s Men.