Killing Rage

Set in Newry and South Down during the Troubles, Killing Rage by Eamon Collins is his autobiographical account of his years in the Provisional IRA. He wrote it with Mick McGovern, and Granta first published it in 1997. It is a first hand record for readers interested in the Troubles and the inner workings of the IRA.

Collins was born in Newry in 1954, studied law at Queen's University Belfast and later worked as a customs officer. By his own account, Eamon Collins's IRA role was that of an intelligence officer in the Newry and South Down area. Encyclopedia.com says he did not kill anyone himself but identified targets and helped organise attacks, including on off duty members of the security forces. After his arrest he confessed and agreed to give evidence against others, then withdrew it under family pressure. He later spoke out publicly against the IRA, and his car was burned and his house set on fire after the break.

Reviewers have valued the Killing Rage book as a rare inside view of how an IRA unit chose its targets, and of the moral cost to the man doing that work. Writing in the Guardian in 1997, Kevin Toolis described it as the record of an assassin. Christopher Owens, on The Pensive Quill in 2019, called it "one of the best books ever written about the IRA" but questioned how deep Collins's remorse went. Others disagree on that point, with Anthony McIntyre finding the book self serving and former police officer William Matchett believing the remorse genuine.

Collins was murdered near his home outside Newry in January 1999, and no one has been charged. The Pensive Quill places Eamon Collins's Killing Rage among a wave of 1990s memoirs by former IRA members.