In Crossing the Line, former BBC journalist and best-selling author Martin Dillon recalls his courageous journalistic career spent 'on the edge' during the worst years of the modern Troubles. Following his childhood on Belfast's Falls Road and his wild, rebellious teenage years, Dillon's move into the world of journalism lead him down dark paths of extreme danger, putting himself in harm's way to reveal the shocking truths of the conflict. His astonishing story details his encounters with a roll-call of major political figures, paramilitaries, and Irish literary greats: Conservative Prime Ministers Ted Heath and John Major, John Hume, Gerry Adams, Freddie Scappaticci, John McMichael, Joe Doherty, Denis Johnston, Sean O'Faolain, Ben Kiely, and JP Dunleavy. Dillon's memoir is as compelling as it is exhilarating, a roller-coaster of drama, action and emotions, and a riot of revelations on the political and sectarian conflict that rocked Belfast during the 1970s and '80s. But it's his former paymasters in the BBC who get both barrels as Dillon launches a scathing attack on the 'ethics' of the British state broadcaster, while lifting the lid on the Machiavellian manoeuvres of a unscrupulous Dublin art dealer, with his eye on a lucrative deal. [Subject: Memoir, Irish Studies, Politics]
Martin Dillon Book order
Martin Dillon is an internationally acclaimed author whose investigative works delve into the heart of the Ireland conflict. His writing is lauded for its unique ability to combine rigorous historical research with a thriller-like narrative, offering readers compelling and compassionate accounts of the terror and horror of recent Northern Irish history. Dillon is regarded as one of the most important voices on the conflict, with his books deemed essential for understanding this tumultuous period.






- 2017
- 2012
Rogue Warrior of the SAS
- 304 pages
- 11 hours of reading
He was the most decorated British soldier of the Second World War, receiving four DSOs, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'honneur, and he pioneered tactics used today by the SAS and other special operations units worldwide.
- 2004
The Trigger Men
- 336 pages
- 12 hours of reading
In The Trigger Men, bestselling author Martin Dillon delves into the dark and sinister world of Irish terrorism and counter-terrorism.
- 1996
A survey of the IRA's bombing campaign in Britain before and after World War II. The text looks at the IRA's flirtation with Nazism and Eire's wartime neutrality and how that conditioned subsequent British policy towards Ireland, and examines the campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s. It also discusses the political and military mistakes which made British cities the most vunerable in Europe to terrorist attack and why Government agencies failed to eradicate the threat. This book includes material on what the IRA called its England Department, on how that IRA cell fuctioned and its objectives, and what was behind the IRA's reluctance to denounce the Downing Street Declaration.
- 1994
Martin Dillon, a Belfast journalist regarded as an authority on Irish terrorism, presents material on the IRA's "England department" - how it has functioned and what its objectives are. He also provides evidence of political and military mistakes which he argues have made British cities the most vulnerable in Europe to terrorist attack. He explains why he believes that the various government agencies combating the IRA have failed to eradicate the threat, and describes the intrigue which led to MI5 taking responsibility for co-ordinating the war against the Provos. Dillon's other books include "The Shankill Butchers" and "The Dirty War".
- 1991
The Dirty War
- 544 pages
- 20 hours of reading
He unravels the mystery of war in which informers, agents and double agents operate, revealing disturbing facts about the way in which the terrorists and the Intelligence Agencies target, undermine and penetrate each other's ranks.
- 1990
The Shankill Butchers
- 338 pages
- 12 hours of reading
This book retells the story of a series of murders by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland in the 70s. When convicted, the killers received over 2000 years in jail, the longest sentences ever given in a single trial in British legal history.