Reviews

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett

awill1122's review

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

aidanlewis77's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

tscott907's review

3.25

A crime story that’s shockingly not shallow. Picked this up because Brandon Taylor gushed about it and though I don’t share all of his enthusiasm, I enjoyed this book! Looking forward to reading more of Barrett’s work.

radicalmguy's review

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hiccyup's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense

3.5

gretel7's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.25

I received this from Netgalley.com. 

A slow moving, deep read that I never grasped the meaning of.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Violence

cucurbita_pepo's review

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

paperbackmo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. This was awesome. So mesmerising. It really captured the essence of how one might feel trapped or the feeling of hopelessness in your hometown. The relationships between the characters were true to life filled with nuances of pure human nature.
Very gritty. I've rated it 4 stars instead of 5 only because I thought the ending could've been just as gritty as those final scenes but I won't spoil it for you. 
This is a brilliant book for a book club - incredible amount and depth of topics to discuss.

heather3086's review

sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

wayneg's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

This is a terrific debut novel. It’s a book that you race through - pausing for some wonderful lines and images “he had the faces of a vandalised church” - and leaves you wishing it hadn’t ended. It has a brilliant sense of place - the rain sodden, peat covered world of total/small town County Mayo - but best of all it has characters you root for and care deeply about, who Barrett skilfully develops with terrific use of flashbacks. A wonderful novel.