"Turncoat" by Anthony J. Quinn

Desmond McGuire, 35, an RUC detective (catholic!), gets a tip-off from an old source, Ruby, and organises a raid on a border farmyard. The 4 policemen are ambushed, all of them killed except McGuire. He disappears for a day or so. Colleagues and the press think he must be a traitor. He tells people that his family were pacifist catholics who the IRA threatened. Hence his outsider stance.

Pearson, his line-manager, meets him off the record. An IRA ceasefire is in the offing. The powers that be don't want complications. McGuire's decided to track Ruby down. From McGuire's first-person PoV we continue following Pearson's PoV in the third-person.

He goes to Station Island, a religious retreat. He hasn't gone as a pilgrim for 3 days of fasting and rituals, barefoot all the time. On the morning of the raid he'd received a postcard with the times of Father Devine's confession session at Station island 4 days from then. The surroundings make him begin to examine himself nevertheless. And he's brought 3 bottles of vodka with him. Among the 90 or so pilgrims he assumes there are people following him. Maybe Ruby too. He thinks he's identified 2 male spies. He begins to fancy a woman. She approaches him and they start talking. "Suffering removes our disguises" she tells him. He's aware she might be a plant, maybe colluding with the 2 others. He tells her about his situation (his photo is on the front page of newspapers anyway).

We learn that there's no evidence for McGuire's tale about his parents, and the tip-offs he receives from Ruby are suspicious - unlikely to be from a single source.

Father Devine is in contact to the IRA. McGuire's told that the IRA had nothing to do with the ambush, but there are many splinter groups. McGuire asks for a meeting with them. In return he's prepared to give a confession.

He'd been getting calls from various IRA people, hints and tip-offs that turned out mostly true. They asked for nothing in return. They said they wanted him to be promoted to help with the peace process. If he ignored the tip-offs, more people would die. He invented a single informer to simplify matters.

He's offered an escape from the island by rowing boat. The rower threatens him with a gun. He's only interested in finding out who Ruby is. Maybe the rower's an IRA person? McGuire overpowers the rower and returns to the island. Next day he returns to the mainland on the usual ferry. Pearson's waiting for him. McGuire wants to come clean - a reporter's waiting to talk to him. Pearson tells him that the truth would help nobody. A gunman disguised as a nun kills McGuire. The reporter talks to Pearson, speculating on his innocence. Pearson, wondering if he's a pawn in a bigger game, makes an escape.

Other reviews

• Richard Fernandez
• Radmila May (Turncoat is not an easy read. The mists and shadows that envelope the island parallel the mists and shadows in Maguire’s mind, and I am not sure the story comes to a conclusion.)
• goodreads