The remarkable story of Eamonn Magee's life takes in a childhood lived during the height of The Troubles, a youth spent involved with the IRA, and the constant presence of drink, drugs, gambling and violence throughout his life. It may be hard to believe but it was against the background of all this that Eamonn won the WBU world welterweight and Commonwealth light welterweight titles. The author, Paul Gibson, has managed to decipher a very dark, very troubled, very flawed individual who happened to have an exceptional gift to box at the highest world level. The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee reads like the screenplay of the kind of gritty rags-to-riches-to-rags boxing story that Hollywood producers seem to love.