slow-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I kind of wish this wasn't a crime thriller. The town, the characters, and their relationships with one another were all so good. As a coming-of-age novel examining adolescence and lost friendships, there was so much here to love. Unfortunately, the crime thriller aspects bring uneven pacing, too many tropes, and coincidences. I feel like anyone reading this hoping for a good mystery would be slightly disappointed (and maybe that would be a problem with the novel's marketing?), and that's a shame because Walsh is clearly very talented! Constrained by the genre is maybe my feeling here.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as I thought I would. The author is clearly talented, and the book is full of eloquent sentence after eloquent sentence. However, the pacing of the story felt a bit off, with some things that were crucial to the big reveal being just short of glazed over, and less important things sometimes taking up much more of the page. 
Also, even as someone who considers myself not easily jarred by fictional violence, there's an element to this story that I found pretty disturbing. I believe many others would feel the same. You may want to check the content warnings before reading. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

So many times where my heart broke during this read. It was so well done though, particularly towards the end.

The pace definitely is a slow to start but speeds up as you go on; the stories within it were crafted so well, with the distinct perspectives from some of the characters. It made me wish we had more character perspectives: I would have liked to read some Kala, Aiden, Aoife (although, I wonder if that was done intentionally, to feel the emptiness/distance). 

I also found myself longing to know what happened to the characters once they all went back to their respective lives all over the world. 

I the painting of teenage life (and the hint of how this morphs into adulthood) - it was done so well, and the imagery of Kinlough too. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

I just finished this book and I loved it!! The plot has so many twist and turns and I never saw any of them coming! 

The overall theme of the book is pretty dark and there is mentions of alcoholism, rape, incest, and organized crime. Most of these themes are not explored in detail ( except for organized crime), but I still wanted to mention it.

The characters were all very interesting and the location of the book helped make the plot more interesting. If you love dark murder mysterys you will love this book!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

Was a solid 4+ stars for probably the first 90%.

Loved the character development and story in general, great slow build. Hoooooowever, while the twists/reveals were good, as the pace picked up towards the very end, I felt the writing style lost its uniqueness and read like your standard crime novel, which isn’t really my thing. 

Also something evolved in the tone and portrayal of the girl and women characters to make me become keenly aware that it was written by a man. Something to think on a bit more for me…

Did a mix of audio and physical book and both were really good formats.

Lots of love from the founding president of the Mush fan club xoxo

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

I’m not usually a thriller reader but this got me good. I really enjoyed all the characters point of views and their growth from teen to adult. This felt like a genuine “lift a rock and see the bugs scatter” in a rural Irish town. If you’re American, the lingo can take a minute to figure out but use Google and you’ll get it.
“The things that make life comfortable are always unacceptable, if you look at them square on. Someone, somewhere, is always suffering so you can be happy. Which is why most people spend their time looking the other direction.”

Expand filter menu Content Warnings