The Twelve by Stuart Neville: Out now in paperback.

For any aliens who've just landed on this planet or ex prisoners who've been banged up in solitary with only a Bible to read for the last year there's a book now out in mass market paperback you just have to read. I can't believe it's nearly a year since the book was first published, nearly a year since I enjoyed reading it. It's a book that I just might read again sometime.The book is entitled The Twelve and is written by Stuart Neville.
I've been reading Stuarts blog for a few years now and it's been great to see how the book started and progressed over the years. We even got to read snippets of the book on the blog. Like every good blogger Stuart found it hard to resist a blogging exercise.
Back in April 2007 he blogged...

 A few weeks back, Sex Scenes at Starbucks posted an interesting exercise on her blog. The idea is to go to page 123 of your work in progress, go to the fifth line, and take an excerpt from that paragraph. At the time I was at page twenty-something, so did it with page 23. Now I've reached page 123 I'm having another go. Here it is (complete with my customary foul language):

Campbell grinned as Toner dragged him out to the street.
"What the fuck are you at?" asked Toner, his watery eyes wide, his mouth gaping under his thick moustache.
"He was asking for it," said Campbell.
Toner straightened his black tie. "Jesus Christ, Davy! Eddie Coyle's an arsehole, everyone knows that, but you don't beat the shit out of him in front of his mates if you're looking to make friends around here."
Campbell pointed to the Jaguar at the kerb. "That yours?"
"Aye," said Toner, seeming to grow a full inch taller.
Campbell picked glass from his palm. "Well, quit yapping and take me to McGinty."

What I'm particularly pleased with is that I've written almost 100 pages just a few weeks. :)

 For the aliens, ex prisoners still reading, the blurb for the book reads...

Sooner or later, everybody pays – and the dead will set the price...

Former paramilitary killer Gerry Fegan is haunted by his victims, twelve souls who shadow his every waking day and scream through every drunken night. Just as he reaches the edge of sanity they reveal their desire: vengeance on those who engineered their deaths. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all must pay the price.

When Fegan’s vendetta threatens to derail Northern Ireland’s peace process and destabilise its fledgling government, old comrades and enemies alike want him gone. David Campbell, a double agent lost between the forces of law and terror, takes the job. But he has his own reasons for eliminating Fegan; the secrets of a dirty war should stay buried, even if its ghosts do not.

Set against the backdrop of a post-conflict Northern Ireland struggling with its past, The Twelve takes the reader from the back streets of the city, where violence and politics go hand-in-hand, to the country’s darkest heart. Stuart Neville’s gripping thriller marks the emergence of a brilliant new voice.

There are moments when reading the book it's nice to see something about Stuart that's recognisable. An example being his love of guitars. I was checking his blog tonight to try and find a photograph he'd posted displaying his  impressive collection of guitars but sadly couldn't find it.In the book in chapter six he writes...

Fegan picked up the whetstone and ran it along the fingerboard again, back and forth, the rhythm soothing him... lowered the guitar to the felt sheet that protected its lacquered finish...

Writing like that and his obvious love of that instrument make me want to hear him play, hopefully that will happen sometime soon somewhere here in NI, hint hint Stuart.Maybe a gig of some sort to launch your next book :-)

The reviews for his new book which is entitled Collusionare starting already The official UK launch of COLLUSION is due to be on the 29th July 2010 @ No Alibis Bookstore, Botanic Avenue, Belfast Check the No Alibis site or Stuarts site for more details.