I hadn't realised until I finished this book that it was the fourth in a series, but it worked as a standalone for me. Not my usual genre and I did find it a little confusing at first because it is a multi-layered complicated tale but it was a very well written and compulsive read. Some of the events were taken from real-life events apparently and fitted in well and brought reality to the story. There were scenes in the book that were quite dark and hard to read but again brought a sense of reality to the story. I will definitely be reading the earlier books in the series.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Michael Russell/Little Brown Book Group UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is thrilling piece of historical fiction, set within the context of one of the most violent times in recent history of these islands.

Although the fourth in the series this is the first I've read, and it works fine as a stand alone novel. Very interesting insight to a neglected part of WW2 with lots of great period detail of both Ireland and Germany. So so plot, you feel you've read similar, but a solid read for fans of this genre.

Stefan Gillespie works in law enforcement in Dublin. Ireland is a neutral country but both the British and the Germans circle round each other and Gillespie is charged with watching both sides. In a remote house a family group of four is found dead and Gillespie is asked to look into the murders. He finds a German radio and is concerned that there may be a link to a Nazi spy ring involving the IRA. Before he can investigate further Gillespie is given a mission to act as a diplomatic courier to Berlin where he finds that neutrality is no protection for Irish citizens as the German atrocities are beginning.
This is the fourth book in a series about Stefan Gillespie and the first that I have read. This made for some difficulties as there is a lot of backstory from previous outings that is not fully explained, eg. Gillespie is a fluent German speaker and has some German connections. The plot itself is rather disjointed. One part concerns the Nazi/IRA actions in Dublin and the multiple murders (apparently a true story), the other the link to the Nazi treatment of homosexuals and the disabled in Berlin. Despite all of this I found myself really enjoying the book as Russell is a convincing writer.

City of Lies us the 4th book in the Stefan Gillespie series by Michael Russell but the first that I have read.

The story is mainly set in Dublin during the early part of the Second World War but Germany and London also feature.

The writing is very descriptive and kept me absorbed throughout

Despite this being part of a series I had no problems reading it as a standalone book as there was sufficient backstory

Overall a very good historical thriller

This is the 4th in the Protestant DI Stefan Gillespie historical series set in WW2 in 1940, but the first I have read. It worked perfectly fine as a standalone with a depressingly bleak picture of de Valera's Ireland. It is a multi-layered, intricately plotted story of the complexity of the war years, a mixture of fact and fiction, a world in which truth has little currency, putting flesh on that saying that the first casualty of war is truth. Gillespie works in Dublin's Special Branch tracking the German Press Attache, he is not the only one, Irish Intelligence, British and Military Intelligence are all showing their interest. Ireland is ostensibly neutral, but there are aspects, such as the IRA, that are willing to support German interests, willing to do anything that undermines the British war effort, this means many IRA members are in an internment camp. Politically, Germans see Ireland as part of a potential strategy to invade Britain or create difficulties for them, with German agents known to be in the country. This is a story of spies, double agents, political intrigue, betrayal, deception, rogue elements and a glimpse of the terror, havoc and horrors in Berlin and Europe.

An attempt to grab a British diplomatic bag by the IRA leaves a guard dead in Dublin. There is an all out orchestrated battle between gangs at Curragh, the most important horse racing fixture. The burnt bodies of a family of four, living in a remote and rural part of Ireland, are discovered, the house subject to an arson attack. As Gillespie slowly finds out, all these disparate events turn out to be closely connected. A Catholic German officer, Johannes Rilling, on the frontline in Poland becomes privy to German efforts to increase their capacity to kill en masse, disturbed and unsettled, he documents what he knows in his diary. Gillespie is dispatched as a diplomatic courier to Berlin, where he gets involved in trying to clear an innocent woman accused of the murder of a German hero, Johannes Rilling. Nazi infiltration and atrocities everywhere, with kangaroo courts, daily executions of innocents, fear and terror rampant, with gays, Poles, Jews, and the 'mentally unfit' targets for elimination. In London, he begins to understand more of what happened in Ireland. Gillespie is unable to save all those he knows that are not guilty, he simply does not have the power, and it is inevitable that what he sees and knows begins to break him.

Michael Russell captures the essential truths of war, that lies and propaganda are far more important that truth, it is patently clear that this is true in Dublin, Berlin and London. Characters talk about the real truth is that no-one needs the truth or that people do not want to know the truth. This is always going to claim the lives of the innocent, in Dublin and Berlin, a price that is accepted by those who hold power. However, as we can see, it creates emotional and mental stress in the lives of those such as Stefan Gillespie. A highly complex and insightful novel of Ireland's place and impact in WW2 which is bleak, compelling and gripping. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

Irishmen Abroad

This is the fourth Stefan Gillespie novel and a strong if rather depressing addition to the series. Gillespie is a Protestant Guard (policeman) in De Valera’s Ireland during the Second World War, or as the Irish were encouraged to term it, the ‘Emergency’. Apart from his religious denomination, associated with the British former masters, he has a German mother and is an active member of Special Branch, tasked with anti-terrorist duties. Given that the IRA continue to be active against the Irish State, that Special branch is filled with former IRA men, that the IRA see Nazi Germany as a natural ally, that the British see Ireland as a potential back-door for a German invasion, Gillespie’s job is not an easy one.

Russell constructs a very complex plot here, linking a murdered family in rural Ireland, IRA acts of terror and Nazi atrocities against Jews, Poles and homosexuals. Gillespie moves from Dublin to Berlin and back by way of London. His position is uneasy and dangerous. While he has some minor success in each location, the reader is aware of the powerlessness of one man against evil tyranny, especially in Berlin. There are lies in all three cities mentioned: some of them may be white; most are very black indeed.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for a review copy of The City of Lies, the fourth novel to feature Inspector Stefan Gillespie of Dublin's Special Branch.

It's 1940 and the Irish Free State is having trouble maintaining its neutrality with the IRA teaming up with the Germans. Stefan spends much of his working life following the German press attaché until he is taken off that duty to investigate the security aspects of a quadruple murder in Kildare. This probably saved his life as it also meant abandoning his usual run with the British diplomatic bag, the run that was attacked by the IRA, killing one Garda and seriously injuring another. He finds more intrigue when he is sent to Berlin as a diplomatic courier.

I enjoyed The City of Lies which is quite a complex, dense read. Having read the first two novels in the series I had a good idea of the complexity I would be getting, although maybe not the politics because this is a novel of spies, double crosses and intrigue with very little straightforward police work.

I am familiar with most of the intrigue and politics in the novel so very little of it was new or surprised me. I am, however, very impressed with Mr Russell's delivery and attention to detail. The writing is sharp and the concise, unemotional descriptions of the violence, especially in Berlin, give it an impact and immediacy which is in stark contrast to the spies' convolutions. I found myself shocked and emotionally jerked. I found myself less interested in all the political jockeying for position. It's interesting to a point but there's only so much to be said in any novel about spy craft and secrecy for the sake of it.

The plot rattles along at a good rate but seems more like a series of set pieces for Stefan than a continuous narrative. I particularly liked the twist near the end but thought the final chapter superfluous as its contents had been hinted at throughout the novel and it spoiled the atmosphere of ambiguity that had built up throughout the novel.

I'll be interested to see where Mr Russell takes Stefan Gillespie next as he's not particularly happy in this novel and sometimes seems at breaking point. I didn't feel I connected with him in this novel as I did in previous novels.

The City of Lies is a bit of a mixed bag for me with some excellent descriptions and atmosphere, notably in Berlin, but too much emphasis on politics and spying to be a really absorbing read. 3.5*