The Informer

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: A review of this book is most fair when it is broken into three sections of 60 pages each. The first two sections are fantastic as it takes us through the story of Gipo, a man haunted by informing on his best friend. O'Flaherty does a fantastic job of painting the scene of poverty in Dublin that would lead to someone informing on their buddy... and then we have the pleasure of watching him use the blood money. If it ended on page 120, I would definitely give the book 5 stars.

The last 60 pages are very boring and drawn out. Whereas the story could have been a fascinating tell of the above mentioned material, the last is so obvious, that it is physically painful waiting for the conclusion.

All in all, the book is a great study in the darker side of human behavior. I am glad that I read it for that reason. However, the climax leaves a lot to be desired.

Rating:
Summary: What was that?
Review: I don't understand what happened in this book. There was hardly any plot line. The characters did not develop well enough either. I wish I could have given this zero stars.

Rating:
Summary: almost, but not quite
Review: This book starts out good, but i must say that O'Flaherty did not give the characters enough motives. He never delved into the character of Gallager, explaining why he was so into the revolution. Also Mary McPhillip was a severely underplayed character. It was as if her only perpouse was to have a sick infatuation with a manipulative revolutionary. Please! She could have been much more. Why did she have such an infatuation anyway. My big beef however was that at the end Gypo needed forgiveness so much. He did not need it when he was drinking and hoaring around. But he did need it when he was dying. I'm not saying that when he was at the end of his life he couldn't experience remorse, but some character developement please! Otherwise it was a very engaging book that kept me reading. I suggest everyone read it for themself and make up their own mind, but keep my points in mind.