The Serpent's Tail by Martin Dillon

Martin Dillon is one of Ireland’s foremost journalists and one of the best writers on the troubles. His seminal title, Dirty War, masterfully analysed the intelligence war that encompassed informers and special forces, while his title The Shankhill Butchers, shone a light on one of the darkest periods of the conflict, a band of loyalist paramilitaries that were more like serial killers. The Serpent’s Tail is Dillon’s first foray into fiction, albeit a novel loosely based on real events. 

Stephen KirkPatrick and Michael McDonnell are two Catholic teenagers working as informants for the RUC’s Special Branch. Kirkpatrick is a sensitive lad who just wants to escape to the United States for a new life with his girlfriend, Bernadette. McDonnell is a cocky and arrogant womaniser, who just wants money. Together, they’re recruited by a shadowy intelligence and military operation to do lasting damage to the IRA

I’m a huge fan of Dillon’s non-fiction work and so I really, really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, The Serpent’s Tail just didn’t do it for me. There’s a risk when someone who’s spent their career writing non-fiction turns to fiction, the two are very different skills. Martin Dillon isn’t the first heavyweight journalist to fall at the hurdle – various BBC journalists have tried their hand at writing fiction, and while some have succeeded, more have not, and included in the latter are some of the corporation’s stars. 

The Serpent’s tail labours under unconvincing characters. I just didn't find many of the characters in this book particularly believable. To be sure, some were well written, Stephen Kirkpatrick, the more sensitive of the two boys in particular. His cocky partner, Michael Mcdonnell, was simply implausible. Throughout the book, he’s fearless in the face of IRA interrogation, MI5 and the SAS. This is just an ordinary kid from the streets of Belfast and yet nothing fazes him. Then there are characters who seem to have no purpose whatsoever. Jimmy Carson, a neighbour to Stephen, who takes him under his wing, is one example. Clearly, Dillon meant him to be a foil to Stephen, someone who Stephen could confide in and who could guide him, but the parts of the book Jimmy features in seem just padding, and he spends his time dispensing cod psychology.

A final issue in this book is Dillon’s propensity to tell rather than show. Any good creative writing course will teach the budding author the power of “Show don’t Tell”. Simply put, instead of writing “so and so was angry”, the author describes their anger, how it manifests. On a larger scale, this can apply to a character’s motivations as well as the broader plot. Dillon appears not to have learnt that lesson and too much of this title is spent telling the reader what is going on. 

The Serpent’s Tail isn’t a bad book, but neither is it particularly good. There are flashes of brilliance here, the novelist Dillon could be. I hope he writes a second novel, for he has the potential to become as good a novelist as he is a non-fiction author, though I think he should hone his craft further first.

3 out of 5 stars