Book Report Lies of Silence
by Eva Sijtsma
Business data
Title: Lies of Silence
Author: Brian Moore
Publisher: Vintage Books London
Year of publication: 1990
Point of view/perspective
Lies of silence is written from a third perspective. Quote: ‘At a quarter to nine, just before going off work, Dillon went down to reception to check the staff roster for tomorrow. Two of the six women who came in to make breakfasts were reporting sick, so room service would be short staffed in the morning. He told Eileen, the clerk on the front desk, to ask Duffy to ring around and see if he could find replacements. But it would be a wasted exercise. He then went down the hall and had a word with Collis, the banquet manager.[1]’ The actions of the main character, Michael Dillon, are always indicated with ‘He’ or ‘Dillon’.
Genre
Lies of silence is a thriller. You can recognize this by the following characteristics: high storytelling rate, the main character is a hero and beside the action there is also a romantic storyline.
Chronology
The story has a chronological time sequence. There are no flashbacks and no flash-forwards.
Time span
The story takes place within around one and a half week. Pretty quickly it becomes clear that one chapter tells about one day most of the time.
When and where
Most of the story takes place in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. The last chapter of the book takes place in London. This becomes clear in the following quotes.
Quote 1: ‘ ’This American hotel group I’m working for has just bought the Clarence Hotel. They want me to manage it for them. And it’s the last thing I want.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
I’m going. If I go to Belfast now and make a go of it, they’ve promised they’ll bring me back to London and put me in charge of one of their hotels here. Which is what I do want.’ ‘[2]
Quote 2: ‘An hour later he stood in Heathrow terminal watching the Ulster passengers collect their luggage and move off into the crowd, swallowed up in this kaleidoscope of different sights and sounds. He and Andrea found a taxi and drove to the Hampstead address where her friends had their flat. It was on the upper floor of a large Victorian house in a street just of Primrose Hill.’[3]
The story probably takes place just after the second World War. In the story the main character Michael Dillon is taken hostage by the IRA and forced by them to place a bomb in his own hotel. After the Second World War the IRA is known for its bomb attacks in Northern Ireland against public buildings.
Quote: ‘As he spoke, he remembered the boy outside. He looked out the window. The boy was still there. He was now standing behind the peering children at the toyshop next door, pretending to watch the display of moving mechanical cars. ‘Look over there,’ he said to her. ‘See the one in the U2 T-shirt. He’s following me. This is the IRA we’re mixed up with. You know very well we could be killed. Is that what you want?’
‘That’s a good question,’ she said, ‘coming from you. What do you want? Did you want to see me killed the other day? Supposing it had been your girlfriend the IRA were holding in the house? Would you have picked up the phone and called the police? Would you?’ Suddenly, the tea-shop noises seemed unbearably loud.’[4]
Title explanation
At the ending of the book Michael is asked by the police to testify against one of the IRA members. After a lot of doubt Michael decides it is better to keep his mouth shut, it will prevent him from a lot of trouble. But by being silent Michael is actually lying. As an alternative title I thought of something like ‘Every second counts’. Aside the time while placing the bomb in the hotel, time keeps a main role during the whole story. Literally every second counts.
Main characters
Michael Dillon:
- Heroic
- Thoughtful
- Easy to persuade
- Unfaithful
- Caring
- Quiet
- Workaholic
- Distrustful
- Friendless
- Unselfish
The following quotes describe the character of Michael Dillon:
Quote 1: ‘It is happening just as they planned it. We are all part of the team, I, the delivery boy, that girl, the people in the white Ford, the masked ones at my house. The bomb is in place. It will go off any minute now. I have one more thing to do. Buy something here, cigarettes, sweets, so that they will have time to bring the taxi up. When I get in the green taxi it will all be over. The people in the check-out queue moved forward. He looked around the shop. He saw no pay phone. He looked out of the shop window. The girl in the yellow muffler was standing outside on the pavement, her back to him. Suddenly, in a rush, he pushed past the people in the check-out line and leaned over the woman at the cash register. She looked up at him, a stout, red-faced woman with bad teeth. ‘Is there a phone in here somewhere?’ He said. ‘Please, it’s an emergency.’ She looked at the other people in the queue, then looked at him. ‘There’s a phone in that wee room back there. That wee office. Go ahead.’ He ran down the aisles of tinned goods. At the far end of the store was a white door, its upper panel clear glass. Inside, he saw rows of shelves, a jumble of cartons on the floor, and in the middle of the room a cluttered desk with a phone on it. He pushed the door open. He picked up the receiver. In that instant it was as though he heard the flat Belfast voice say, Do a nut job on her. Trembling, he looked back at the door. Framed in the glass panel, staring in at him, was the girl in the yellow muffler. At once he bent over and dialled 999. He looked again as the phone began to ring. She was gone. On the third ring a voice said, ‘Belfast Central.’ ‘I want to report a bomb.”[5]
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