Killer Intent by Tony Kent

When the US president comes to London and addresses a large, open-air crowd, a shot rings out, misses, killing one of the other dignitaries instead. The gunman is arrested, Joe Dempsey, of the fictional Department of Domestic Security, interceding.  Things quickly don’t add up and Dempsey, the gunman’s lawyers - solicitor, Daniel Lawrence, and barrister, Michael Devlin - and CNN journalist, Sarah Truman, all investigate having each pulled on a thread. These investigations all eventually converge in a complicated plot that takes in terrorism and Ulster’s dark history, threatening to expose a secret in Michael Devlin’s past as it does so. 

Plotwise this is a labyrinthine tale with twists and turns galore and political intrigue at every level. Character-wise, the author creates four compelling personalities, each of which could hold a story on their own. It’s clear that Michael Devlin, with his complex back story, and Joe Dempsey, his special forces operative, are going to be the mainstay however and these two get the most focus.

It’s often said of a thriller that its storyline could be ripped straight from the news pages. Normally, this implies that the plot is set against the backdrop of real-world events, such as the so-called War on Terror. The plot of Killer Intent is not so easy to categorise, being the conspiracy thriller that it is, but when considering the strange times in which we live it does have the feel of the authentic. When one looks across the Atlantic, at a President accused by some of being a Russian asset, of blackmailing the Ukrainian government to dig dirt on his political opponents; when one looks at claims that disinformation from many quarters influenced the Brexit vote; then conspiracies, real or imagined, seem much more likely.

As a former current affairs journalist, I tend to dismiss conspiracy theories. Having covered government and international affairs professionally, it's obvious to me that incompetence and f**** up are far more commonplace. But conspiracy fiction is brilliant fun and deeply compelling. Personally, I think that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy, and was likely a lone gunman, but I consume alternative history fiction - from James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy, through Lou Berney’s November Road, and Tim Baker’s Fever City, to Oliver Stone’s JFK - with voraciousness. Killer Intent fits firmly into this mold. While set in the current day and not a historical counterfactual, it’s a rip-roaring conspiracy thriller and an absolutely brilliant read.

5 out of 5 stars