None Shall Divide Us: To Some He is a Hero. The IRA Want Him Dead. This is the True Story of the Artist Who was Ireland's Most Notorious Assassin...

Rating:
Summary: Loyalist warrior faces reality
Review: A very easy and compelling read, with insight into the situation in Northern Ireland impossible to find in the media.
Michael Stone achieved notoriety as an Ulster Loyalist ( Protestant ) paramilitary when, distrustful of the Loyalist hierarchy and acting alone, he crashed the funeral of the 3 IRA paramilitaries killed by the SAS at Gibraltar.

His intention was revenge for the IRA atrocity of bombing a WW2 Remembrance memorial at Enniskillen, when the IRA killed many innocent civilans. His intention was to assassinate IRA dons Gerry Adams & Martin McGuinness, amid thousands of hostile Republican mourners. Such a "suicidal" course of action earned him the title of "Rambo".

He describes how he was betrayed, had no getaway car, fought a rearguard action alone, while hundreds converged on him as he ran out of ammunition, how he was beaten within an inch of his life before the RUC ( police ) got to him, his subsequent imprisonment, trial, and sentence.

A book sparsely and unemotionally written, describing, without rancour, not only the dynamics of the inter-sectarian struggle in Northern Ireland, but the conflicts within the Loyalist movement itself - the officers who collaborated with the UK police, the hoods and gangsters, overtly Loyalist but out for themselves, even cooperating with the IRA.

A gripping tale, without padding, revealing a man resolved to sacrifice anything for his people, including his own family life, liberty, & life itself, as he acknowledges did his Republican adversaries. His description of the brief accord between IRA and Loyalist prisoners in the Maze prison adds a touch of wry humour to the raw seriousness of the book.

His refusal to utter a word in his own defence at his trial, and his defiant words finally breaking his silence after being sentenced to 850 years, are impressive, as is his determination to survive an imprisonment where he in more danger from assassination than on the outside.

Ultimately he lays down the sword, in the context of the peace agreemnent, takes up painting, and reveals his reflective side.

A unique and revealing book. Worth reading.