For the Good Times - David Keenan

For the Good Times by David Keenan / ISBN 9780571340521 / 348-page paperback from Faber & Faber *** Award-winning author David Keenan’s second novel plunges the reader into the dark night of Belfast in the 1970s: an era of military terror and sectarian violence, of occult visions and religious intensity. ‘An exhilarating novel, burning with rage, danger and dark humour.’ Literary Review ‘Remarkable . . . demented brilliance.’ Scotland on Sunday Belfast, 1970s: Sammy and his three friends live in an impoverished area of the city that has become the epicentre of a country seemingly intent on cannibalising itself. They love sharp clothes, a good drink, and the songs of Perry Como, whose commitment to clean living holds up a dissonant mirror to their own attempts to rise above their circumstances. They dream of a Free State, and their methods for achieving this are uncompromising. But For the Good Times is not just a novel about the IRA. It is about the heartbreak and devastation tha