I need February to be a couple days longer so I can finish the best book I’m reading this month before the month is over. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe is incredible. It tells the story of Northern Ireland’s Troubles by focusing on the murder of single mother Jean McConville.

I’m finding the reading slow-going, not because of Keefe’s writing—which is clear and easy to read—but because of the subject matter. It’s heavy, so I can only read it in short bursts. Keefe does not flinch from the violence of the events he describes, neither the scope nor the toll. But he also humanizes the events, giving a full picture of the people involved—their backgrounds, their hopes, their lives beyond the conflict. That’s what makes the story he tells so gripping.

I’m at a point in the book where I think I know whodunit, but I’m not entirely sure. There are likely still a number of twists and turns before Keefe brings the story to a conclusion, because very little in this story is cut and dry.