3.5 Stars
This one is set in 2018 in the seaside village of Kinlough on the west coast of the country, but there are repeated flashbacks to fifteen years earlier. In 2003, fifteen-year-old Kala Lanann disappeared; fifteen years later, her remains are found just as three of her close-knit group of friends are reunited. Helen, an investigative reporter living in Canada, has returned for her father’s wedding. Joe, an L.A.-based rock star, is back in his hometown to perform a series of gigs as he relaunches a local music venue. Mush is the one who never left; working in his mother’s coffee shop, he prefers to remain in the background because he’s self-conscious of his facial scars.
The narrative jumps back and forth between the present and the events of 2003 as the characters reminisce about that fateful summer, at the end of which their friend Kala disappeared. Chapters are presented in alternating points of view: Helen and Mush narrate in first person whereas Joe speaks in the second person. This latter approach is disconcerting at first, but it is so appropriate to Joe’s narcissistic personality. The second person narration suggests he’s observing himself from a distance and curating his image for social media where he has a major presence because of his fame.
Pacing is an issue. The book begins very slowly; more than once I considered abandoning the book. Only when two teenagers go missing in the second half does the momentum build. Then suspense ramps up because it seems that though Kinlough may be a pretty seaside village, there’s a violent underbelly, and Kala’s death may be connected to a network of violent men. There are fairly lengthy scenes of violence against both animals and humans. And then there’s an abrupt ending that is not altogether conclusive.
I was certainly interested in learning what happened to Kala, though I guessed the identity of the bad guy fairly early on. Once the obvious suspects are eliminated, it’s not difficult to narrow down the suspects. It was not, however, the thriller aspect of the book that impressed me but its portrayal of teenage life. We learn about their concerns; we follow the development of a romance, and we witness the partying. We see adolescent cruelty, insecurity, self-centredness, recklessness, and vulnerability. Though they can be loyal, the friends also betray each other in different ways.
The lives of Helen, Joe, and Mush are haunted by what happened in 2003. Helen speaks of Kala as “A hidden sun casting new shadows at unpredictable moments” and their being “frozen in some sort of crooked fidelity to adolescence.” Mush talks about how Kala has become “some kind of icon . . . more than a person like.” As the three re-visit the events surrounding Kala’s disappearance, they come to see Kala as a person and must face their roles in what transpired. And they do acquire some self-knowledge.
Though uneven in quality, this debut novel suggests that Colin Walsh, named Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year, is an author to follow.
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