This was my first time reading a book from the author but I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more books from the writer in the future!

I enjoyed this book and found it a very quick read, finished it in two nights.While I was absorbed in story as someone from Ireland. I found the story represents Northern Ireland in this era inaccurately.I felt book was set in present times with mobile phones mentioned and that story in book does not occur in Ireland now.

Set in Northern Ireland this book follows single mum journalist Tessa when she discovers a shocking different side to her sister, paramedic Marian. It is a different premise for a book and sometimes too realistic to be comfortable to read but nether less a story which needs to be told. A very sensitive topic handled well although some might find this a controvercial read..

I loved Flynn Berry's last novel, A Double Life , so was very excited to read Northern Spy. It has a contemporary Northern Ireland setting and despite the Good Friday agreement, tensions and the activity of the IRA continues. Tessa is a BBC journalist and her sister Marian a paramedic. Tessa's life focuses around her work and her son Finn and she is shocked to discover that the police believe Marian has joined the IRA. This is a short , sparely but beautifully written novel. At times it did feel that Tessa was lacking in emotion due to the writing style but this was a minor point for me. Berry writes so well and convincingly of Tessa's love for her son and the bond between the sisters. I found this to be a highly original novel with a completely unexpected plot and would highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

A fast paced and exciting political thriller that kept me on the edge.
It's gripping and highly entertaining, well developed characters and a tightly knitted plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

With the recent resurgence of tensions, this book feels quite timely. Set in Northern Ireland, it follows single mum Tessa when she discovers a shocking different side to her sister. Conflict, politics and family are all covered here, along with the struggles of normal life and parenting.

This was a thrilling political read that had me on the edge of my seat. I found the plot interesting but I was a bit confused over the events that took place, talking of a ceasefire and peace agreement and crossing the boarder with boarder patrol, however, I put that aside as this is a work of fiction. I think it would have worked really well being set in the 1990’s. Saying that I did really enjoy it. I found it to be full of suspense and I couldn’t put it down. The writing style flowed and the characters were believable.

After her thrilling debut Under the Harrow and strong follow up novel based on the Lucan Affair, A Double Life, Flynn Berry’s third novel, Northern Spy could not be more timely. With sectarian tensions and violence on the rise again in Northern Ireland, Berry takes readers into the continuing and ongoing struggle between the British forces and the IRA, a struggle that did not end with the 1998 Good Friday Peace Accords.
Tessa is a new single mother living outside of Belfast with her infant son Finn and working on a news program for the BBC. Her world is turned upside down when security footage of an IRA robbery of a petrol station is broadcast and her sister Marian’s face is prominent. Marian admits to Tessa that she has been in the IRA for many years and needs her help. Against her will, and putting both herself and her son in even greater danger, Tessa is drawn into the shadowy world of paramilitaries and British spies. At the same time Tessa is trying to manage her son, her relationship with her ex, Tom, and live a normal life.
While the subject matter is wildly different, readers of Berry’s earlier work will recognise her protagonist. A young woman dealing with a complex family situation and a tense situation that makes her question everything she does. The political becomes personal as Tessa also deals with her sister’s betrayal, and all of the regular pressures of early motherhood for a single mother. On the flip side of this, all of Tessa’s actions are informed for her deep love for her son and her desire to give him a peaceful future, and loyalty to her family.
Northern Spy is full of cliffhangers and tense situations as Tessa starts on the periphery but is slowly drawn further and further in to her sister’s world. Berry has delivered another page turning, read in one sitting thriller and is becoming more assured with every book.

Northern Spy is incredible. A compulsive and exceptionally tense political thriller. I read it in two sittings (and that was only because work got in the way of one sitting). I genuinely couldn’t put it down.

Tessa is a BBC radio producer in Belfast. With an eye on rolling TV news as one of her programmes goes to air, she is surprised to see her paramedic sister on screen. Thereafter she is catapulted into the potential reality that her sister has participated in an armed robbery as a member of the IRA.

The writing is smart and the tension is maintained throughout, not least because Flynn Berry hasn’t padded the narrative out with superfluous detail. This is a succinct book that will have you up late and reading with your heart beating faster. The prose is rich and the pacing is masterful. It gives an insight into Northern Ireland in the troubles and those who consider they are fighting for a cause.

With thanks to Orion and Netgalley for the advanced copy. I’m now going to download Flynn Berry’s Double Life!

Northern Spy is a fast paced thriller that really kept me on the edge of my seat. I ended up finishing this book in 1 day because I just couldn't put it down! The story is told from the point of view of Tessa, a producer at the BBC in Belfast and single mother of a baby boy. While reviewing news footage at work, Tessa is shocked to see her sister Marian participating in an IRA robbery. At first she thinks Marian must have been kidnapped and forced at gunpoint, but the truth is a lot more complicated than that. As the story emerges she feels torn between protecting her infant son and loyalties to her sister, mother and country. I know very little about politics in Northern Ireland or the IRA so it was interesting to learn about and I thought Flynn Berry did a great job of showing how difficult it is to determine the right thing to do, or to avoid getting involved in politics or even just to protect your family. She writes with a calmness that contrasts well with the violence and urgency of the story, alternating between paragraphs about IRA attacks and Tessa's longing to spend every waking moment with her baby boy. Her writing reminded me fondly of how this stage of parenthood is simultaneously wonderful and exhausting. This is the first of her books that I have read but it definitely won't be the last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Northern Spy is a riveting novel of how two sisters become dangerously entangled with the Irish Republican Army. Political news producer and mother to a six-month-old baby boy, whose custody she shares with her ex-husband, Tessa Daly is at work at the BBC Belfast bureau one day when the news of another IRA raid comes on the air. It's 2019, and although the IRA may have gone underground since 1998 and the two decades since the Good Friday Agreement, they never really went away; the zeitgeist in Northern Ireland remains at a constant simmer. Lately bomb threats, security checkpoints, and helicopters floating ominously over the city have become features of everyday life. As the news reporter requests the public's help in locating those responsible for the latest raid - a robbery at a gas station, security footage reveals Tessa's sister, the bohemian paramedic Marian, pulling a black ski mask over her face. She was one of the gun-toting trio involved. The police believe Tessa’s younger sister has joined the IRA, and Detective Fenton and his team decide to interrogate Tessa on the basis that she must have known about her sister’s involvement with the resurgent IRA and even that she herself may also be one of them. But Tessa is convinced Marian must have been abducted or coerced; the sisters have always opposed the violence enacted in the name of uniting Ireland. And besides, Marian is vacationing on the north coast; Tessa just spoke to her yesterday. When the truth about Marian comes to light, Tessa is faced with impossible choices that will test the limits of her ideals, the bonds of her family, her notions of right and wrong, and her identity as a sister and a mother.

She is shocked when Marian confesses to being an IRA member for the past 7 years, yet after a bomb she made failed to explode she is being carefully watched by her counterparts and viewed with suspicion. And all for good reason since she's been feeding information to MI5 but is now no longer able to meet her British handler. Once the shock of the revelations wear off, Tessa agrees to become a double agent too and is accepted into Marian’s crew. She's asked to take part in some pretty dangerous tasks for the IRA and then reports these to her British handler. But Tessa isn't as cut out for deceit, deception and espionage as her free-spirited sister and struggles to balance her life as mother of young Finn in a small, remote town and walking the tightrope between terrorist and informer hoping for a brighter, safer and more secure future for both Ireland and her precious son. This is a scintillating spy thriller set against a volatile Belfast backdrop and featuring a wickedly twisty plot with a theme of sisterhood at its heart. Taut, moving and palpably tense, this is a tale of tested and conflicting loyalties in a deeply divided Northern Ireland still experiencing reverberations from the dreaded days of The Troubles. Through the use of short, pithy chapters, Berry ratchets up the suspense and at times it becomes almost unbearably perilous. Fighting their way through a minefield of loyalty, betrayal and chilling ideology, this claustrophobic and oppressively atmospheric work of lyrically written Irish noir is an exploration of the contemporary IRA, the love we hold for family, the trials and tribulations of motherhood and the sacrifices we must make to achieve peace. Highly recommended.

Set in Northern Ireland, at the time of The Troubles. Northern Spy is centred around two sisters who become involved with the IRA. It reflects on family ties, motherhood and the desire for peace. It was moderately paced and was well written with good characterisation and a good plot twist but just lacking in a bit of detail. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Been a while since I read a book based on the political events in Northern Ireland and I found this one a good read and one that I was uncertain as to how it would come to a conclusion, and I have to say, it didn’t end like I thought it would.

Tessa works for the BBC in Belfast on a weekly political programme and gets the shock of her life when her sister Marion appears on TV participating in an IRA robbery of a petrol station. What unfolds is a scary journey for Tessa whose overriding thoughts are about protecting her baby son Finn. The story is told by Tessa.

First of all, the book definitely grabs your attention and there are certainly some scary and tense scenes as the threat level in Northern Ireland escalates. I like the premise of just how well do you actually know someone as Marion sure fools Tessa for years and it also about how a parent will do all they can to survive in order to protect a much loved child.

However, I have major issues with the book. The writing is very dispassionate except when describing Finn but I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt on that one and assume that is deliberate and that Tessa’s actions are out of numbness rather than lack of emotion. I think the book would have been much more interesting and revealing if we’d had Marion’s perspective, after all its mostly her story. There are big plot holes such as Marion’s unmasked revealed face at the petrol station (she did put it on), that’s a rookie error that someone with seven years experience in the IRA would not make. Once the NI police know that Marion is IRA then no way would the cell ask Tessa to scout for them as they know Tessa would be under surveillance nor would Marion then attend a wedding for the same reason. I could go on as there’s at least one more especially towards the end. My biggest problem is that it describes the province during the Troubles and not years on from the Good Friday Agreement. I checked three times that it is set post GFA! I absolutely acknowledge this is a work of fiction and also that the problems have not magically gone away but I think it’s misleading. However, that’s just my opinion and others may feel differently. On a smaller point although I really like how the book gets its title, Northern Spy apples are not widely available in the UK and I’d never heard of them before!!

Overall, I really liked Flynn Berry’s previous books and I’ll always want to read what she comes up with but this one is not for me. There are some very good sections in it however not sufficient to outweigh my issues.

With thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the arc in return for an honest review.