HARRY'S GAME - book review

 

Gerald Seymour’s debut novel Harry’s Game (1975) hit the ground running. It’s an accomplished piece of work for a first novel and established him as a top rank thriller writer, and he has yet to disappoint me – though some of his books have a downbeat ending – a reflection of life, of course, though I prefer my fiction to end upbeat.

It’s contemporary – 1974. A British minister is cold-bloodedly shot down in the street in plain view of his children and wife, and the IRA perpetrator gets away. The PM decides that rather than use the regular forces in the mainland and in Northern Ireland, he wants a man-hunter unaffiliated to any official organisation. Of several candidates available, Captain Harry James Brown is selected, flown back from Germany and undergoes three weeks training in Dorset before being sent to Belfast where he is to blend in and attempt to track the shooter and either arrange for his capture or death.

The shooter is Billy Downs. For no good reason Seymour refers to him as ‘the man’ for a considerable chunk of the book. Downs is married with children.

Seymour brings a mass of knowledge and detail concerning the IRA hierarchy, ‘the troubles’, the army in place, and the citizens on both sides of the religious divide. At the time the IRA has suffered several setbacks, with a number of leaders imprisoned, and now rules through fear in order to deter informers. This aspect is conveyed very well indeed.

To a certain extent, Harry views his tracking of Downs similar to a game of chess: some pawns – unsuspecting innocents – might be sacrificed, but the end result is justified. He has no qualms about eliminating a cold-blooded murderer. The danger is real, however: if he is caught by the IRA, he will be tortured and killed – and prove an embarrassment to the British government. Tension builds up to the end of the book.

Cold. Clinical. Thrilling.