Kyle Jones

Very moving and unusual, a story that focusses on the impact on the person themselves of making choices that are in the grey moral zone, told as objectively and non judgemental as possible, even when the perpetrators are haunted by ghosts of the victims... Like a Canadian murakami story, but more disturbing.

This was a superb read, with a very different feel to her other novels. It feels more of a traditionally told tale, paced to start with in a very leisurely way, where you feel you are inside that small town, and with the lead character as a traditional "good" ex-cop. But he's beautifully drawn and not romanticised...the characterisation overall was so true to life - the emotional pain that the kid Trey went through brings tears to the eyes. Time and time again, Tana got the note exactly right, when it would have been so easy not to...like in the close observance of how a child deals with trauma, and starts to come through the other side. I've never been to Ireland, but the setting of the close knit community who look after their own, feels bang on. She finishes at exactly the right point, where there is hope but no certainty for the future.