Veronica Guerin

In a vivid biographical portrait of slain Irish journalist Victoria Guerin, O'Reilly (Masterminds of the Right) tells a compelling story while thoughtfully exploring issues of journalistic ethics. When Guerin was shot dead in June 1996, she had been writing a series of investigative reports about the shadowy Dublin underworld for the Sunday Independent. She had interviewed notorious criminal Martin Cahill (subject of John Boorman's recent film, The General) shortly before he was killed in 1994. Cahill's death left Guerin free to describe his life and criminal associates in greater detail; still, those who knew the inner workings of Dublin's armed gangs feared for her safety. Guerin, writes O'Reilly, was uncommonly aggressive in pursuit of a story and ""showed no discrimination--an approach to a known or suspected psychopath was carried out as nonchalantly as an approach to a harmless politician."" Although O'Reilly believes that Guerin was reckless in ignoring the obvious warning signs, she concludes that Guerin was ultimately a victim of the tabloid tactics of her employers, whose sensationalist promotional stunts--picture bylines and personalized headlines such as ""I'm Threatened In Underworld Battle for City""--made her a very visible target. O'Reilly turns Geurin's case into a cautionary tale about what can happen when the media is determined to sell papers at any cost. (May)