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A review by jwa
After the Silence by Louise O'Neill
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
One of my favourite Louise O'Neill books, she's a master story teller and Queen of writing unreliable narrators.
This is such a good mystery and has the perfect curl up and read it on a rainy day vibe.
Set on a fictional Gaeltact (Irish speaking) island called Inisrun, off the coast of Cork. The novel follows Characters in a small town who are torn apart by the murder of a young girl, Nessa Crowley. The consequences that follow are heart-breaking for Nessa's family when the only suspect is eventually found innocent and not charged for her murder. Leaving the family without answers.
Flash forward 10 years later and a documentary team from Australia come to the island to research the mystery surrounding Nessa's murder in the hopes they may uncover some evidence that the police missed, or that someone might finally own up to the crime.
Unfortunately for them, the ones who do know something, tighten their ranks and stay quiet while the other townsfolk only have their suspicions and it's nothing anyone hasn't heard before.
The mystery is unfolded nicely throughout the book and it highlights the view that not everything is always as it seems, and we really don't know what happens behind closed doors.
Really engaging read and I just loved the Irish rural, Gaeltact setting. Louise O'Neill reveals to us again her tremendous understanding of social and community responses to major events such as a murder. Like in her novel 'Asking for it' she again focuses on the small town community being jarred and shocked by something as horrific as a murder or like in 'Asking for it' - a rape and the quick judgements and whispers that circulate and ensue.
It's a slow paced mystery, but Louise O'Neill also deals with aspects and types of marital and romantic abuse, giving us a far bigger story than just the whodunnit thriller.
It's an excellent social observation on small, rural communities using this way of life as the back drop for dealing with the theme of abuse, in its varying forms. While simultaneously surveying the chaos and grief that will ensue in a small tight knit community when a horrific murder leads people and old friends to turn on one another.
This is such a good mystery and has the perfect curl up and read it on a rainy day vibe.
Set on a fictional Gaeltact (Irish speaking) island called Inisrun, off the coast of Cork. The novel follows Characters in a small town who are torn apart by the murder of a young girl, Nessa Crowley. The consequences that follow are heart-breaking for Nessa's family when the only suspect is eventually found innocent and not charged for her murder. Leaving the family without answers.
Flash forward 10 years later and a documentary team from Australia come to the island to research the mystery surrounding Nessa's murder in the hopes they may uncover some evidence that the police missed, or that someone might finally own up to the crime.
Unfortunately for them, the ones who do know something, tighten their ranks and stay quiet while the other townsfolk only have their suspicions and it's nothing anyone hasn't heard before.
The mystery is unfolded nicely throughout the book and it highlights the view that not everything is always as it seems, and we really don't know what happens behind closed doors.
Really engaging read and I just loved the Irish rural, Gaeltact setting. Louise O'Neill reveals to us again her tremendous understanding of social and community responses to major events such as a murder. Like in her novel 'Asking for it' she again focuses on the small town community being jarred and shocked by something as horrific as a murder or like in 'Asking for it' - a rape and the quick judgements and whispers that circulate and ensue.
It's a slow paced mystery, but Louise O'Neill also deals with aspects and types of marital and romantic abuse, giving us a far bigger story than just the whodunnit thriller.
It's an excellent social observation on small, rural communities using this way of life as the back drop for dealing with the theme of abuse, in its varying forms. While simultaneously surveying the chaos and grief that will ensue in a small tight knit community when a horrific murder leads people and old friends to turn on one another.