His latest novel 1691 brings to life a seminal year in Irish history, following two generals through the year that saw the battle of Aughrim and the siege of Limerick and whose consequences still influence Irish life. It’s the book his father, a historian of the battle of Aughrim, where the family lived, meant to write but never got around to during his lifetime.
He has written five thrillers: Echoland, Echobeat and Echowave (all set during the Second World War in neutral Dublin); The Trigger Man (set during the Irish ‘Troubles’ in the late 1980s) and Off The Record (set in the 1970s world of Irish journalism). Echoland was Dublin city library’s choice for its annual One City One Book in 2017.
He is also the author of a history/biography of The Guinnesses and a critically acclaimed play, The Tower, about James Joyce and Oliver St John Gogarty.
With co-author Peter Murtagh, he wrote The Boss (the classic account of Charles Haughey in government) and Blind Justice (about a miscarriage of justice).