The 'Say Nothing' Trailer Is a 1970s-Set Thriller

Patrick Radden Keefe’s critically adored true crime/nonfiction book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland has been one of the most revelatory deep dives into the 1970s history of “The Troubles.” However, some readers were concerned when it was first announced that FX had boarded a TV series version. The last thing anyone should do with the book is turn it into some kind of Northern Ireland Horror Story. where the IRA violence is idolized. But with the first trailer, it seems like the goal is to market the show's violence.

Say Nothing is an oddity of a book. It opens as a mystery of the kidnapping of Jean McConville in 1972, who was “disappeared” by the IRA, before pulling back to a wider overview of the historical record of those who participated in a fight for freedom that suddenly vanished out from under them in 1997. But the book hooks you with the present-day search for anything on McConville and the discovery of a treasure trove of documents tucked away at Boston College that the Irish government wishes had stayed buried in the college's library basement.

Say Nothing is an account of the tragedy of the “armed struggle” using the story of one mother who never came home to capture a larger truth. But perhaps it was inevitable that any trailer would focus on the young 1970s-era IRA members whose names would be recognizable to anyone who lived through it: Gerry Adams, Brendan Hughes, Marian, and Dolours Price, and the bombing campaign that killed indiscriminately.