Veronica Guerin

This is a riveting account of the life and death of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin. Criminals in Ireland had much to fear from the relentless journalist, and despite their increasingly violent attempts to silence her, she refused to back down from their intimidation. I couldn't help but wonder if a public hungry for sensational stories contributed to her unfortunate demise. The cold-blooded murder in broad daylight of Ms Guerin caused a national outrage. The public outcry to the brazen crime brought about much-need reform to Ireland's drug trafficking laws, providing some solace and a reminder that triumph is often borne of tragedy.

This book is as good as it gets if you want to know the Veronica Guerin story. It is thoroughly researched, clearly presented, and as balanced as possible under the circumstances. It offers extensive interviews with Jimmy Guerin, Veronica's younger brother, and has good interview material from many others who knew and worked with her, such as Damien Kiberd, former boss and editor of the Sunday Business Post. There was some unfortunate pre-press publicity by the publisher that got up the nose of her employers at the Sunday Independent, and they refused to contribute, as did her husband, so if the book is in any way one-sided, it's simply because the other side (if there can really be such a thing) refused to be interviewed. The Sunday Independent was the paper where she built her reputation as a crusading anti-crime journalist, and was her employer at the time of her death. Others that were working there at the time, notably Eamon Dunphy, did however contribute, and I believe sufficient fact is presented that readers can make their own judgements as to Emily's thesis. She believes that the Sunday Independent, and Veronica herself were largely to blame for her own death. Personally, I don't really see the point of trying to apportion blame, and the only criticism I would have of the book is that it spends a bit too much time obsessed on that issue.One of the reasons Veronica's husband was against the book was that he felt it was being written too soon after her death. Given that it was ultimately published nearly two years after the murder, I find that sentiment a bit odd (the Sunday Independent was using her image in its advertising a month after her murder, and the husband apparently had no problem with that). Whatever about the actual date of publication, it was vital to at least do the research as soon as possible, while the facts were fresh in people's minds. To date, no other book I know of has been written about Veronica, apart from one focused more on John Gilligan, the man ultimately blamed for, but not convicted of her murder (he was sentenced to twenty-eight years for importing cannabis - one might be forgiven for suspecting that he was sentenced for the murder regardless of the fact that there was no case strong enough to convict him).In my six years in Ireland, I've found Emily O'Reilly to be the most consistently excellent journalist working here today. Her writing is always clear, complete, balanced, and accurate. This (unfortunately) puts her head and shoulders above almost all other journalists working in Ireland, and it's a great loss to Irish journalism that she has recently accepted the post of Information Commissioner and Ombudsman. Veronica appears to have been quite excellent herself, but she died the year before I moved here. It sounds like her talents were rather wasted on the crime journalism, and it's ironic that she in fact began her career with some truly groundbreaking stories on business and politics.