Andrea was the best bomb maker the IRA ever had, until a bomb that was not even meant to kill anybody killed four boys and maimed another; for ten years she has been a wife and mother and has thought that the world of terrorism and loud explosions had forgotten her. Stephen Leather's The Bombmaker is a complicated intrigue plucked from today's headlines, where no loyalty is forever and terrorism is a business. Andrea's daughter is kidnapped and held hostage and Andrea finds herself compelled to build the biggest bomb of her career ... And, as she tries to find a way out of her situation that will leave both her and her daughter alive, old allies and old enemies form alliances to cope with new situations. Leather is informative and ingenious; his plotting is fierce and his capacity to build almost unbearable suspense remarkable. The technicalities of building a large bomb from everyday materials or bugging a household or dealing with a group of SAS men with orders to shoot to kill are all efficiently and clearly laid out for us in this gripping thriller. --Roz Kaveney