In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.

But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA

was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.

Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? When lies are still being told to this day,

who do you believe? I wouldn't even know where to start and I'm with the IRA.

Steakknife. Listen first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

Hello today to page turners exploding the American dream, from migrants in contemporary

Mexico to a forgotten classic set in 1940s Harlem, plus a helping of forbidden love from

communist Poland. So let's first tackle American dirt by Janine Cummins, the pulse-quickening

tale of a mother and son fleeing for their lives from a Mexican drug cartel that's one of the

most eagerly anticipated novels of the year. The subject of a bidding war with a movie deal

already in the bag and an Oprah book club choice, it's also provoked critical debate,

thanks to its setting on the migrant trail to the US more commonly covered in news stories.

Author Janine Cummins lives in New York City and has written three previous books,

a memoir documenting a devastating family trauma and two other novels, The Crooked Branch and the Outside Boy.

Before she joins me, let's hear the arresting opening passage, where a family barbecue in Acapulco, Mexico,

transforms into a bloodbath of shocking ferocity.

One of the very first bullets comes in through the open window above the toilet when Luca is standing.

He doesn't immediately understand that it's a bullet at all, and it's only luck that it doesn't

strike him between the eyes. The wash of bullets that follow is loud, booming and thudding,

clack, clacking with helicopter speed. There is a raft of screams too, but that noise is short-lived.

The bathroom door swings open and mummy is there.

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