Rating: 
Summary: one of the most underrated and unread great authors
Review: I wanted the book to read like a thriller, but to be something more, I didn't want to do a whole book about Northern Ireland, but I did want to talk about how often ordinary people are taken as hostages, their homes invaded - and the moral choices they're forced to make. I go back to Ireland often and no one ever talks about the hostages. We're in a position now where any of us could be hostages and that can create the dilemma of loyalty to family versus saving the lives of others. -Brian Moore, NY Times InterviewWhen Michael Dillon's mistress is offered a job in London, he is finally forced into a series of difficult decisions : to leave his insecure, bulimic wife; to request a transfer from his Belfast hotel manager's job; to finally flee an Ireland which he loathes. But, that night, after he has been unable to confront his wife with his decision, IRA gunmen break into their home. They hold her hostage and demand that he park his explosives laden car opposite a dining room in the hotel where a prominent Ulster Unionist clergyman will be speaking. Dillon finds himself on the horns of an appalling moral dilemma : do as the terrorists say and blow up dozens of friends, coworkers and other innocents; or alert the police and risk getting his unloved wife killed. His eventual choice sets in motion a chain of events which will require subsequent, intertwining moral choices and which can not end happily. In a century which gave us a near infinitude of horrifying statements and sentiments, I've always found the following, from E. M. Forster, to be the most disturbing : If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country. The monstrous selfishness of this remark, gussied up in the guise of loyalty, is a fitting epitaph for an era that lionized the Hollywood Ten and vilified Linda Tripp. All too few authors and other intellectuals were willing to seriously question the full implications of such an attitude; Brian Moore is the exception. Combining elements of everything from The Desperate Hours to The Informer to The Heart of the Matter, Moore explores a series of moral questions, and manages to do so in the midst of a compulsively readable thriller. One of the most insipid canards going, accepted even by conservatives who should know better, is that the Left produces all of the great literature. As we look back on the 20th Century, it seems increasingly evident that it is the small group of writers on the Right, many of them Catholic, who actually produced the Century's most important and enduring body of work, among them : T. S. Eliot; George Orwell; Evelyn Waugh; J.R.R. Tolkein; C. S. Lewis; Flannery O'Connor; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; Andre Dubus; Frederick Buechner; Tom Wolfe; and Brian Moore. (Even Graham Greene, who--when both were alive--referred to Moore as his "favorite living writer," was at his unintentional best in books like Heart of the Matter and End of the Affair, where he did not even realize that he was writing from a conservative viewpoint.) If you've never read anything by Brian Moore, truly one of the most underrated and unread great authors of recent years, Lies of Silence is as good a place to start as any. GRADE: A
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling to the end
Review: Lies of silence is a really thrilling story about a hotel manager, Micheal Dillon who has to choose between the life of his wife and that of about a hundred other people. What will he do?
Brian Moore is a terrific writer, he describes everything in such a detailed way, you can almost feel the wind in your face as Micheal is walking around. The book gives you a lot of background information about the troubles in Northern Ireland and is written in such a way that you are drawn immidiatelly into it. The best thing about this story is that it makes you think: What would I do if I had to make these choices, would you do the same as Micheal?
Rating: 
Summary: Better than I thought!
Review: Lies of Silence is about a man who has to make very difficult choices, concerning his own life and those of other people. When the IRA makes him park a car with bomb next to the hotel where he works, he has to decide whether he will risk his own life and that of his wife or the lives of many others. And after that he has to decide whether he will risk his life by testifying against one of the gun men or allow that man to strike again. He ends up risking his own life twice. When he finally decides not to risk his life anymore, it is too late... I really didn't feel like reading this book because I have never liked books that are about wars and conflicts all over the world. I'd rather read books that make me feel happy than books that make me feel depressed. This book left me a little depressed but I don't regret reading it! The book really got me thinking about all these issues and wondering about how I would react and which decisions I would make. I came to the conclusion that I should be very thankful that this is not happening over here, because it could happen to anyone. And I honestly don't know what I would do in a situation like this!
That is why I liked reading this book, it is not just a list of things that happened, it almost makes you feel the same things as the main character.
Rating: 
Summary: A great, interesting and exciting book!
Review: Lies of silence is one of the best books I have ever read. It is different, unpredictable and exciting. The story about the IRA and a man who gets involved in one of their actions while being in the middle of his strugle chosing between his wife and his mistress is quite realistic. I also think that you can learn more about the IRA and their actions by reading this book. I must admit that the book did not appeal to me at all when I started reading it. But as soon as I had read the first few pages I could hardly stop reading! I was really intrigued by the catchy story upon which the book is built.
Rating: 
Summary: Book review: Brian Moore - Lies of silence
Review: Lies of silence is the most boring book i've ever read. What Brian Moore discribes on ca.130 pages could have benn written on max. 2 pages. In this book nothing really intersting happens. Anti-IRA-tirades, changing attitudes and two main characters who don't know what they really want. And this on 130pages repeating itself...
Rating:
Summary: School Review
Review: Lies of silence, First of all, it's clear that this book is a real theme book. I'm convinced that people who don't care about the recent or historic happenings in Ireland won't enjoy it as much as the people who do. True, the story does have a personal drama in it. The main character needs to choose between his wife and his new girlfriend.
But this side of the story is in my opinion less important.
It is nicely woven into the main problem however, which is: Should the main character stand up against the IRA and be a possible martyr? or should he choose for himself( and the people he loves?
The book really captures the feeling of "troubles" in Ireland and what it must be like for society and the individual. All In all an interesting book to read if your interested in these sort of things. Certainly not superb however.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best but not the worst either.....
Review: Like some of the readers might agree, this is not the best book but not the worst book either. I think it wasn't too difficult too read like you would expect in a book containing a political issue. But then on the other hand you would think it would be more exiting and that was something I missed while reading this book. The IRA only appears at the beginning of the book and that's it. After that you get involved in the choices Dillon has to make and all of a sudden: there's the end. The whole story was nice too read though but I'm someone who likes to read a book with a more attractive story line.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting and surprising
Review: Michael Dillon has to make some difficult choices. When the IRA forces him to park a car containing a bomb under the window of a crowded hotel, he has to choose between: following their orders or risking the life of his wife. But even after that crisis has passed, Dillon has another decision to make: Must he testify against the IRA or can he hide and start a new life?
It is a very exciting book with an ending I did not expect.
Rating:
Summary: The Deadliest Sin
Review: Moore was a first-rate writer in the Graham Greene mode who failed to engage the interest of the literati and is slowly fading away as a result. "Lies of Silence" is as good an example as any as to why he deserves better. The theme is sloth, the unwillingness to spiritually engage with anything that matters. Moore takes a typical disoriented, rootless modern type and places him in a situation where he *must* engage, then ruthlessly portrays the consequences of his failure. Moore's inference that our inability to deal decisively with terrorism is directly related to the contemporary spiritual vacuum was years ahead of its time, and is not going to lose its pertinence any time soon. Other outstanding works by Moore include "The Doctor's Wife", "The Mangan Inheritance", and "Black Robe".
Rating:
Summary: The Deadliest Sin
Review: Moore was a first-rate writer in the Graham Greene mode who failed to engage the interest of the literati and is slowly fading away as a result. "Lies of Silence" is as good an example as any as to why he deserves better. The theme is sloth, the unwillingness to spiritually engage with anything that matters. Moore takes a typical disoriented, rootless modern type and places him in a situation where he *must* engage, then ruthlessly portrays the consequences of his failure. Moore's inference that our inability to deal decisively with terrorism is directly related to the contemporary spiritual vacuum was years ahead of its time, and is not going to lose its pertinence any time soon. Other outstanding works by Moore include "The Doctor's Wife", "The Mangan Inheritance", and "Black Robe".
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