In Belfast , September 1983 , in the middle of The Troubles , Sergeant Sean Duffy is drummed out of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on trumped up charges . At the same time , Dermot McCann , an IRA master bomber and ex-schoolmate of Duffy 's escapes from the Maze and becomes a prime target of British Intelligence . MI5 drags Duffy out of his drunken retirement to track down McCann . The novel follows Duffy 's attempts to solve a locked-room murder in order to obtain inside information on McCann 's whereabouts , which finally leads to the assassination attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Brighton
assassination attempt
Brighton hotel bombing
In the Morning I'll Be Gone