Trust Her by Flynn Berry

Published by ‎ Viking on June 25, 2024

Trust Her explores the depths of a 36-year-old woman from Northern Island whose life was upended after she helped her sister help the IRA before she became an informer for MI5. Now she lives in Dublin with her son, having separated from her husband because he had an affair during her pregnancy.

Tessa and Marian both assisted the IRA, but Marian built bombs while Tessa essentially acted as a courier. For reasons that aren’t revealed until late in the story, Marian turned on the IRA and became an informer. She passed on information to Tessa who passed it along to an MI5 agent named Eammon. Tessa was attracted to Eammon but managed to keep her pants on during her career as an informant’s helper. As the story progresses, it seems increasingly likely that her pants will come off.

When suspicious IRA members interrogated Tessa and Marian, they managed to survive. They fled to Dublin where they began new lives. Tessa took a job as a subeditor at a newspaper, married and started a family. Marian married a cameraman in the movie industry and has a newborn of her own.

Now an IRA operative named Royce is back in Tessa’s life. He wants her to make contact with Eammon and turn him into a double agent who will provide intelligence to the IRA. Why Eammon even dreams that is possible is something of a mystery, but when he threatens Tessa’s family, she feels she has no choice but to give it a go. Marian isn’t so sure but why the IRA hasn’t already killed Marian isn’t quite clear. She seems like an easy target.

I didn’t have much sympathy for Tessa, not because of her tenuous connection to the IRA, but because she confesses that connection to the police when her sister is a couple of hours late returning from a hike. Tessa makes needless trouble for herself (and for her sister) with little reason to believe that telling the police about her history with the IRA is either necessary or wise. Naturally, the cop begins to bully her.

The story leads to a climax that doesn’t merit its suspenseful buildup. A surprise near the end changes the game for Tessa a bit but doesn’t quite resolve all the issues that the novel develops. A final, much darker surprise promises to give the story some real weight, but Flynn Berry arguably cops out to deliver a softer ending that readers might prefer. Blowing up a suspense balloon and letting all the air out before it pops struck me as a copout.

Still, the character development in Trust Her is first rate. The plot is strong, and if the ending is a bit disappointing, a final feel-good chapter suggests the possibility of redemption when familial love displaces darkness. I can’t dislike that message, so my sense is that most readers will enjoy the story.

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