“The Brighton bombing of 1984 was arguably the most potent attempt to decapitate the British state since the Gunpowder Plot. Rory Carroll’s brilliant reconstruction combines the heart-stopping intensity of a great thriller with an acute exploration of the political context. This was a moment on which history turned and Carroll brings it alive for us in all its horror, drama and humanity.”

—Fintan O’Toole, author of We Don’t Know Ourselves