Misplaced Perspective Causes Neville's “Collusion” To Fail To Reach Elevated Expectations

“If he won’t tell me, why in God’s name would he tell you?”

“Fegan said, ‘Because I’ll ask harder.’”

There’s no question that Northern Ireland is fertile ground for crime fiction, and renowned author Stuart Neville revisits that territory in his highly anticipated novel “Collusion,” which is peppered with references to the political dealings that continue to dominate a generation after the Troubles.

A sequel to the much-heralded “Ghosts of Belfast” (which earned the No. 4 spot for the 2011 Scooties Awards), this book has a plot that follows three different stories: troubled copper Jack Lennon (“Some said that when you’re on your deathbed, it’d be the things you didn’t do that you’d regret. Lennon knew that was a lie.”); the Traveler, an unstoppable assassin; and Gerry Fegan, who represents what passes for an Irish superhero. Unfortunately, the otherworldly Fegan is relegated to the background through most of this story, and in my estimation, this book is never quite able to overcome that editorial decision.

Fegan’s old nemesis, Bull O’Kane, has managed to track down the elusive Fegan Stateside (“ ... he loved New York ... This city had no memory. No one cared who he was, what he’d done. He could walk through the crowds, as clean as the next man, his guilt buried.”), where our hero has escaped to allow would-be girlfriend Marie McKenna and her daughter Ellen to live their lives in relative peace and security. Enter the ominously named Traveler, who threatens all of that, plus Lennon, who had a bit role in the first book as McKenna’s former husband.

Along the way, the Traveler repeatedly gets the best of Fegan, resulting in an eye-opening bit of myth-busting. It’s a bit difficult to see a more vulnerable, weakened Fegan at work, though it is hinted that the exertions of the first book and his isolation have taken some toll on him.

“I can’t,” Fegan said. “I’m tired. I want to sleep. That was all I ever wanted. To sleep.”

Without giving away too much, one of the key characters makes a not-very-believable miraculous bid to cling to life, perhaps paving the way for a third book.

This novel features short chapters, and as a result is a rather quick read. However, that makes for less time to explain the intangible and emotional connections between Fegan, Marie and Ellen. One of the unexplored areas, to me, was the psychic connection between Fegan and Ellen, which seemed to me a bit of a lost opportunity on Neville’s part.

“She was safe.

“That was the most important fact in his world now, the one thing that made tomorrow better than yesterday, and he clung to it like a pillow in his sleep.”

While “Collusion” made for entertaining reading, it simply didn’t have the breadth, deeper meaning or resonance of “Ghosts of Belfast.” The lack of soul, for lack of a better word, within this novel made it more “just” a crime mystery story—though Neville’s writing talents make that work to a more-than-passable extent.