Synopsis

In the seaside village of Kinlough, on Ireland’s west coast, three old friends meet for the first time in years. They – Helen, Joe and Mush-were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann at its white-hot centre.

But later that year, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now human remains have been discovered in the woods – including a skull with a Polaroid photo tucked inside – and the town is both aghast and titillated at the reopening of such an old wound.

On the eve of this gruesome discovery, Helen had reluctantly returned for her father’s wedding; the world-famous musician Joe had come home to dry out and reconnect with something authentic; and Mush had never left, too shattered by the events of that summer to venture beyond the counter of his mother’s café.

But when two more girls go missing, they are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala’s disappearance. Ultimately, they must do what others should have done before to stop the violent patterns of their town’s past repeating themselves once again.

Review

So this is not actually about Kala.

Although it is a good story, it’s sadly very slow and much too long. It also feels as though the author had lots of ideas, but couldn’t decide which were the focus. There is everything and the kitchen sink in this book, making it difficult to pull out key themes.

In some ways it reads like a Guy Ritchie film – the amount of swearing and glorified violence is about the same – where gangs control everything and the police are corrupt.

At its start, this book plods along like a simple crime novel with hints of teenage friendships: slow but vaguely interesting. Then it descends into a mosh pit of threads crisscrossing every which way, making it confusing.

The kids are selfish and shallow and their adult versions even more so. This is a shame, as there is potential for friendship and truth to improve the story, but the author glosses over this in favour of dog fights, brutal beatings and violent torture (of humans and animals). The author handles this well and the descriptions are horrific, but credible.

However, more emotional turmoil would have helped me to empathise with the characters; as it was I didn’t care about any of them. Presumably this is to cast suspicion on everyone, but it feels like an oversight.

The audio has two narrators for the three POVs, but they read the story so slowly that any intended pace is lost – even sped up, Kala feels like a slow burn story which doesn’t work with the genre of the book.

The ending feels out of place, unsatisfactory and a little bizarre – considering everything – and sadly, this lets down the book.

Thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for my audiobook. Opinions my own.