Henry McDonald’s books both fiction and non-fiction have been praised in reviews across a range of global news organisations ranging from The Financial Times to GQ magazine. His topics have included the Middle East to the Northern Ireland Troubles with forensic and unprecedented insights into a number of terrorist organisations.
Henry is currently working on three separate book projects: a novel based partly on his great grandfather’s experiences on the Western Front in World War One in parallel with a 21st century ghost story; a book provisionally entitled “Against History” about the fall out from the Boston College Tapes controversy and a co-authored investigative work on the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the foundations of Glasgow Celtic Football Club. McDonald has also written a screenplay version of his first novel ‘The Swinging Detective.’
Fiction
Henry McDonald's two novels have been singled out for critical praise in The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Irish Times and The Irish News among other publications.
Two Souls
Robbie McManus is tortured. His psychopathic comrade 'Padre Pio' McCann is never far from wreaking havoc, his punk cousin 'Rex Mundi' has arrived from England and is getting in the way, his father is imploring him to finish his A-levels and get the hell out of Belfast - and then there's Sabine, the mysterious loner in The Pound who shimmers, trancelike, on the dancefloor to the opening track of David Bowie's Low. Her hair dyed jet black in a Cleopatra cut, she is a moving hieroglyphics that Robbie is desperate to decipher.
The Swinging Detective
Martin Peters finds himself in Berlin. Once a British spy involved in a controversial loyalist shooting in Belfast, he spent time in Berlin infiltrating the Punk scene just before the Wall came down. Now in his thirties, he is a detective in the local police force and hunting a serial killer who has become a national celebrity with his own fan club. The novel is set in the decadent underworld of Berlin's swingers clubs, brothels, sex shops and seedy pubs. Peters is the Anglo-German swinging detective who is literally haunted by his past a military intelligence officer in Northern Ireland now confronting a new ghost in the German capital, a spectre from the Cold War.
Northern Ireland, The Troubles and other conflicts.
For more than three decades Henry McDonald has reported at the sharp end of the Northern Ireland Troubles as well as other conflicts including Lebanon. Henry has been able to move between the lines and cross a media 'no man's land' to speak to all sides. He has interviewed IRA, UDA and UVF commanders as well as a senior Hezbollah figure and Israeli generals. However, he has never lost his focus on the stories of the ordinary people caught up in these wars and how violence impacts on their lives.
UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror
This is the first definitive history of the UDA and follows its trajectory from mass loyalist movement in the early 1970s to the lethal hotbed of feuding and criminality it is today. It includes the real Johnny Adair story - a tale symptomatic of the essential fault line running through the UDA since its inception.Written by two distinguished journalists, The UDA is a work of rigorous research and analysis, and also a riveting yarn of sex, drugs, murder and mayhem.
I.N.L.A. - Deadly Divisions
The Irish National Liberation Army was one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations during the troubles in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1974 as a splinter group of the Official IRA, the INLA's campaign of murder throughout the 1970s and 1980s included such notorious acts as the bombing of the Droppin' Well in Derry in 1982 and, perhaps most infamously, the kidnapping and mutilation of Dublin dentist by former member, the "Border Fox".
Colours: Ireland - From Bombs to Boom
Henry McDonald's childhood and teenage years were dominated by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Growing up in the Markets - a working-class Catholic district of central Belfast - he witnessed IRA men and British soldiers being shot down outside his door.
Trimble
This work looks at the life and work of David Trimble, from his childhood in Bangor, County Down, through his university years and early involvement with extreme unionism, to his maturing into a politician seeking reconciliation and the power it might bring. The author has been granted a number of exclusive interviews over the years, and he reports on Trimble's relationships with Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and examines his two marriages.
UVF - The Endgame
Now that Northern Ireland’s “troubles” appear to be over, with old enemies the DUP and Sinn Féin sharing power, what will happen to the hard men of loyalism?
Martin McGuinness: A Life Remembered
Few public figures have made such a journey from violence to peace as Martin McGuinness, and many people will acknowledge the contribution and commitment to the common good which he made in the latter part of his life.
Irishbatt
The story of Ireland's blue berets peacekeeping in Lebanon. It includes an exclusive interview with an ex-soldier who killed 3 of his own comrades on peacekeeping duty.
Gunsmoke and Mirrors
How Sinn Fein dressed up defeat as victory. A book that shatters myths about the peace process challenging the fiction that the 'war' in Northern Ireland ended in some kind of 'honourable' draw.