I have loved every novel A.M Sine has produced and I was so very thrilled when I was lucky enough to get the uncorrected proof from Netgalley! I have to say that he’s done it again! Absolutely brilliant storyline that kept me guessing the whole way through! I loved the diverse characters and that everything was so very mysterious! This author has now become my automatic go to! Solid Five Stars!

Set on a tiny island off the coast of Iceland, Grace has the perfect setting for a creepy and atmospheric horror-thriller.

The story follows Grace, who was adopted at four years old and doesn’t know anything about her past. After her biological mother dies, she gets a call from the local pastor telling her she’s inherited a house on the island. Hoping to find out more about her family and where she came from, Grace heads there, but things feel off from the moment she arrives.

No kids have lived on the island for the past 30 years, so when Grace hears the sound of children laughing in the distance, you know something weird is going on. The locals are clearly hiding something. They’re scared of the noises they hear at night, footsteps and banging on doors, but no one wants to talk about it. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the island has a dark past they’ve been trying to keep buried.

I’ve loved A.M. Shine’s other books, so I was super excited when I was able to get my hands on a pre-pub review copy.
The pacing in this book was quite fast, which isn’t an issue, but I felt like there wasn’t enough tension or build-up when compared to some of Shine’s other novels. I do enjoy the incorporation of Irish folklore, as also seen in Shine’s other works.
There was a bit of jumping back and forth through time that was a bit jarring, perhaps some clearer formatting would have made them a bit clearer.
Overall I liked the book, not as much as the Creeper or the Watchers, and I did feel a little let down by the ending, it just wrapped up too quickly and left it feeling a little unfinished.
Still a decent read though and would recommend to those interested in gothic horror.

Grace is a dark and unsettling read that pulls heavily from Irish folklore. A.M. Shine creates a bleak and atmospheric setting that feels alive with dread. The story is tense and haunting, with a few moments where the multiple perspectives blur together, but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. Perfect for readers who enjoy folk horror that lingers long after you put it down.

Remember the scary stories that you told each other when you were young........that delicious tingle of terror running down your spine that made you look over your shoulder, stop and listen ..... you thought you'd grown up and left that behind. Seems you haven't. Seems it's been there all the time, Seems it's just been waiting out on a remote island for someone stupid to come and poke it with a stick.
A present day version of an Irish terror that you might not have heard of.....but that you won't forget.

'Grace' is a gothic horror by A.M Shine. It follows the story of Grace, who was adopted when she was young and returns to the island where she was born at the death of her biological mother, Chrissy. Grace returns to the island of Croaghnakeela where almost immediately strange and unsettling things begin happening. She hears the crying of children when none have been born on the island in the past 30 years, the boat captain who ferries her to the island and delivers supplies refuses to step foot on it and the locals are a mix of people all touched by tragedy.

She is invited back to the island by the local priest, Father Richard, and he seems to be the only person on the island who seems immune to its strangeness.

I haven't read any other books by this author so it's possible that I am not used to their writing style but I found this book challenging to get into. It took me about 100 pages to really get into the story and make sense of all the different POV and characters. Grace's scenes were easiest since she was our window into island life and had an outsider perspective on things. This was helpful since, as the reader we are also outsiders to what is happening on the island. Even Father Richard's POV was easy to understand, although it did confuse me at first having his chapters under 'Robin.

The other POV chapters were an assortment of the different locals that live on the island and each offer insight into the horrors of Croaghnakeela both past and present. Once I got past the halfway point of the story, I really began to enjoy these insights into the history of the island and it had some truly scary scenes.

Unfortunately this is also my biggest issue with the various POV chapters is that I found it difficult to know for sure when the section I was reading was a flashback or when it was 'now.' It could change paragraph to paragraph and I would have to go back and read sections to get a clearer picture on what was happening.

I did love how the writing was rich in description and atmosphere. The island almost feels like a character with the way it's described.

However I was frustrated at how the story ended since it was just suddenly over after one final twist. I was left confused and then had to go back and reread sections to see where I had missed something.

Thank you NetGalley for and ARC of this book

Fans of mystical/lore based horror will love this.

Based on an island off the west coast of Ireland this book is super creepy, no children have lived there for years but the sound of their laughter and screams can be heard as soon as Grace sets foot on the island. And the return of the footsteps late at night has the last remaining islanders on edge....

Another cracker from A.M. Shine.

Firstly I’d like to thank A.M. Shine and Zoe at Head of Zeus for providing me an advanced copy of Grace in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I start? What can I say about A.M. Shine that I haven’t said before. A.M. Shines writing is like a warm hug, around the neck. And wait is that hug getting tighter? Oh god no, oh what’s happening make it stop!

Grace is a superb entry into what I have cleverly coined AMSIFCU (A.M. Shines Irish Folklore Cinematic Universe), I don’t know if the books are linked, but it’s very plausible and there’s nothing I’d enjoy more than for them to cross over at some stage.

Grace takes place on the Isle of Croaghnakeela. A mysterious island off the coast of Ireland only spoken of in cautious whispers by mainlanders. no children have been born on the island in years and their only visitor is the weekly courier, that is until Grace gets a call that takes her to the island and without spoiling to much, lots of things go horrifically wrong, very quickly.

This book has everything, it has mystery, brutality, cats, betrayals, pints. All the things a girl needs. Being honest I didn’t find this book as scary as I did something like Creepers but I also found the plot a lot more engaging, the pacing is impeccable and the cast of characters Shine develops in a relatively short book is unique, well considered and likeable (in a fashion).

I always struggle to find a way to describe these books without spoiling it but if you like Demonic Possession Horror, Skinwalkers, Uncanny Valley, Thrillers, Gothic or Things that go bump in the night horror then this is right up your street.

An easy five stars for me every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Well done Mr Shine and Congratulations on what I’m sure will be a successful release.

I enjoyed this one, but something didn’t fully click for me, so it’s a (rounded up) 3.5 ⭐️

Grace by A.M.Shine follows a woman who returns to the remote Irish island where she was born after her mother’s death. The islanders are hiding secrets, no children have been born there in decades, and Grace soon finds herself caught in the middle of something dark...

This was a creepy, folkloric horror with the same vibes as Midnight Mass, From and IT . I liked the atmosphere and the concept, but the story felt more character-driven than plot-driven, and I sometimes struggled to stay fully engaged. I had to nudge myself a few times to pick it back up. The multiple POVs toward the end made things a little muddled, and although I liked the ending, it felt abrupt and unfinished.

That said, it was still a worthwhile read - thanks to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Horror involving Irish folklore is having a renaissance and the arrival of Grace, the fourth novel of AM Shine, is a welcome addition to this fascinating area. Horror DNA interviewed AM Shine back in 2022, when the brilliant The Creeper (his second novel) was released and I would happily recommend all his previous work, which also includes The Watchers duology, which had a successful film produced by M. Night Shyamalan released back in 2024.

If you are a fan of Irish horror then Neil Sharpson’s novels, Knock Knock, Open Wide and The Burial Tide could be your next direct port of call, with this author approaching Irish mythology in a similar manner to Shine. Steeped in tradition and atmosphere, but beautifully blended with the trappings of the modern world.

Similar to The Burial Tide, Grace is set on a tiny wind and rain swept west coast island. The Isle of Croaghnakeela is a million miles away from your standard traditional tourist destination proudly promoting shamrocks and selling pints of Guinness. One small boat takes weekly supplies to the island and the captain of the boat ensures he never sets foot on land. The place has a bad reputation and has been forgotten by most; its aging population left to rot and reflect upon the sins of their past which are revealed slowly via the smart back story. It is a terrific place to set a horror novel, skilfully blending Irish mythology, the supernatural and the gothic. This desolate and cursed location is light years away from the quaint Irish island portrayed in the hit film The Banshees of Inisherin, with the rolling scenic hills being replaced by locals who are too fearful to venture out at night, except to the local pub.

The action starts with rare bookseller and Dubliner Grace receiving a phone call from Father O'Malley, stating that her birth mother on Croaghnakeela has recently passed away. The prologue reveals the desperate circumstances which led to four-year-old Grace being sent away from the island, with her terrified parents stuck in a terrible predicament. Knowing nothing about her birth family, she travels to Croaghnakeela to find out more about her origins, staying in her family’s now empty house. Big mistake. Her mother sent her away out of love and the ripple effect of her return is the driving force to the powerful narrative.

Grace is loaded with smart twists, including a couple of real crackers, with Shine a master at drip feeding surprises at crucial moments. Grace knows nothing of the island, its inhabitants or its secrets, but her return awakens an ancient presence which has been dormant for thirty years. The story is seen from other points of view also; the priest Father O’Malley plays a key role and via other locals we are fed the backstory regarding what occurred three decades earlier.

The priest is also an outsider of sorts, not from the island and with his own secrets, although the locals respect him he is not one of them and knows nothing of the dark past. The scenes which circle around the lack of children and where the youngsters ended up were gripping and the malevolence of the creature is at its peak. There is a huge and very graphic plot shift around the 50% mark which I did not see coming, sending the book spiralling into a different direction for its second half. I preferred when Grace was the dominant POV in the first half of the book, it loses some steam when it moves to other characters, probably too many which become slightly samey.

It is incredibly easy to immerse yourself in an AM Shine story and the beautiful manner in which he crafts sentences and brings the Irish landscape vividly to life. Once the name of the supernatural entity is revealed I found myself reaching for Wikipedia to see how Shine’s representation compared with the historical facts. He’s a real nasty creation too, taking pleasure in killing by tormenting his victims as much as possible.

The Creeper remains my favourite of Shine’s books, but if you have never read him before then Grace is an equally fine place to start. Returning readers will not be disappointed as this fourth novel has all his usual hallmarks; a moody atmospheric location, dark secrets, clever twists, curses and a threatening monster which will make ensure you keep your windows locked. Four novels into a highly impressive career, AM Shine is developing an impressive back catalogue and this latest novel should help turn even more heads in the horror community.

Wow. I have not read a book by this author before and it was gripping, detailed and full of gothic horror. I loved the introduction to Irish Isle's and the horrific myths that haunt them. The characters were relatable and you felt both compassion and sadness all throughout. If you enjoy the show 'From' then this book will be right up your alley. I will definitely be buying the book once it releases and will be recommending to all.

I really enjoyed A.M. Shine’s previous book The Watchers, so I went into Grace with high expectations. The atmosphere and scene setting here are exceptional. I could almost smell the petrichor in the graveyard and feel the ocean spray on the ferry.

The beginning hooked me right away. It is dark, unsettling, and full of promise, and I couldn’t wait to unravel the mystery through Grace’s eyes. But this is where I started to disconnect a little. The switching into multiple points of view made it harder for me to keep track of who was who and how they were connected. With each chapter changing perspective, I found the momentum of the story broke, and I lost some of the tension I’d been so drawn into and built with our first few characters.

Like many horror stories, the suspense was strongest in the build up. Once the “monster” was revealed, the story felt less unsettling. Personally, I preferred the mystery and creeping dread of the first half to the more straightforward horror of the second.

Overall, Grace is beautifully atmospheric, with a strong opening and a lovely little twist at the end. Fans of Gothic settings and eerie atmospheres will definitely find plenty to enjoy.

Thank you for the ARC

Grace delivers everything you expect from top-tier Gothic horror, with only minor pacing wobbles keeping it from total perfection.

I was fully immersed in the tension from page one. A lonely island, bone-deep cold histories, a protagonist with no roots—Shine leans into the fear that real terror often comes from what we don’t know. The mythology is tight, mysterious, and lingers in the mind long after the book is closed.

Grace herself is compelling: vulnerable yet curious, tangled in her own identity while racing against time. Her return to the island is emotionally charged from the start. You feel her dread, hope, and desperation.

What sets Grace apart is its atmosphere. Shine doesn’t rely on over-the-top gore or shock shocks. It’s that creeping dread—echoing footsteps, whispers blended with wind, the house groaning—that stays with you. The island is the real character here: isolating, unwelcoming, alive. When the evil starts infecting not just the land but the very air Grace breathes… that’s where the real horror ignites.

Few things miss the mark: at times, the relentless gloom can feel unrelenting, especially in sections focused on backstory over-buildup. A bit more breathing room—or sharper pacing—would’ve kept the dread from drowning early chapters.

Still, this is exactly the kind of Gothic horror that chills in your bones—the folklore feels earned, the protagonist grounded, the setting oppressive in all the right ways.

If you crave horror that’s psychological, deeply atmospheric, and rooted in myth, mark your calendar for February 2026. This one’s going to get under your skin—and you’ll want it to.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Once again I find the need to delve into folklore intensified!

As soon as A.M Shine announced Grace I knew I had to get the ARC, I was truly shocked when I then recieved an email inviting me to read and review!

Ever since reading The Creeper I have found myself drawn to Shines books, The Watchers series completely sold me and made Shine a sure favourite author of mine.

Grace finds itself up there with the others without a doubt. The twists throughout kept on hitting while the changing povs gave heart to what the residence of the island truly lost once the demon came to play.

I cant wait to see what Shine haunts us with next!

Well, well, well…

Everyone knows I love a bit of A.M. Shine – so I was honoured to be given access to his fourth novel ‘Grace’ a whole six months before its publication date.

I had already organised my July reading but when this came along I couldn't say no to bumping it to the top of my TBR. And I'm so glad I did. Obviously.

It's a tale that drags you in immediately and keeps you pinned down throughout, especially when our main protaganist –adopted Grace – receives a mysterious phone call from Father O'Malley, who resides on the island of Croaghnakeela.

And so begins her journey to an island, where it seems no children reside – and (I'm quoting here) an island without children can't make much of a future for itself can it?

That's not the strangest thing about the island but I'll leave you to read a full synopsis in your own time…

‘Grace’ – compared to AM Shine's previous novels, is a slow-burner – but believe me it's all the better for it.

He builds a sense of foreboding and eeriness while introducing a frightening aspect of Irish folklore. There are things that go bump in the night and also some VERY unexpected twists (Maybe. I'm saying nothing!)

Shine also pulls off QUITE the Hitchcock during this book. I won't say which one though.

I am of course reviewing this from a digital copy but I cannot wait to get a physical copy in my hands to read it again and work out exactly what I may have missed from my first read. It's that kind of book where clues are everywhere – so pay close attention!

There's beautiful writing once again within these (digital) pages and some extremely clever reveals and plot progression.

And while not out and out horror in the splatter sense of the word (there's no man in a mask) – this will undoubtedly send shivery shivers down your cold, sweaty spine.

And as such, it deserves all your love when it's released next February.

My regular readers out there will know that I am a big fan of AM Shine, even if I do get frustrated with some of his endings.
This was a NetGalley review copy of his new book, due out in October.

This time around the horror is on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland - the Isle of Croaghnakeela- henceforth referred to as IoC. I'm not typing that out more than once.

The eponymous Grace runs a rare book shop on the Irish mainland. When she receives a phone call from a Catholic priest (Father Richard) on the IoC to tell her that her birth mother has died and left her her house, she drops everything to travel over to find out about her past. She was adopted as an infant and has never known about her birth family.

Of course, the island has more than its fair share of secrets, some of them deadly, and these were the reason that her mother gave her up. When she returns to the island, it allows an old evil to rise up once more, breaking the stalemate that has existed on the island for the past 30 years.

As usual with Shine, this is incredibly atmospheric and has a number of twists and turns in the plot. I thought one of them was sprung from left field until I realised he'd been dropping hints the whole time and, actually, this was one of the best hidden in plain sight plot twists I've seen for a good long while.

The monster at the heart of the story is truly terrifying. It appears that Irish folklore has a lot of untapped horror potential, and AM Shine is an expert at mining those seams.

This is the least predictable of his books so far. Before the book is halfway through, just when I thought I knew what was coming, the narrative moved in a wholly unforeseeable direction and never looked back. The second half of this book barely lets up the tension. Some of the set pieces are among the scariest bits of writing I've seen outside of an Adam Nevill novel.

At a brief 221 pages, this packs in more atmosphere than a lot of books three times the length. The picture he paints of the island is so intense you can feel the fog creeping around you as you read it. The islanders are all well drawn characters and we understand their flaws and their actions.

With horror ranging from the deeply personal to almost cosmic, and a truly terrifying creature at the heart of it all, this is island horror at its best. (Is island horror a separate subgenre? If it isn't, it probably should be.)

An easy 8.5/10. I will definitely be buying a physical copy when it is released properly.

Arc received with thanks to Netgalley and Aria & Aries in exchange for an honest review.
If you are familiar with Shine's work, "The Watchers", "The Creeper" and "Stay in the light" you may be expecting rural horror tied to folklore and the landscape... I can confirm you won't be disappointed! I don't make it a secret that I am a big fan of Shine's storytelling and how he builds the atmospheric mood, so I was worried that I wouldn't love this book like I have the others. Thankfully I didn't have to worry, as GRACE lived up to expectations.
Grace is a modern Gothic horror novel rooted in Irish mythology, and follows the character Grace, a bookshop owner specialising in rare books, who returns to the isolated west-coast island of her birth after a mysterious phone-call, and an ancient evil is awakened.
Shine writes these characters stripping back the vulnerabilities and flaws and that makes them all the more realistic.
The writing is excellent as usual, as Shine is a master of prose. Every word feels chosen, every shadow deliberate. It is so vivid you can smell the salt, feel the fog and hear the waves crashing around the cliffs.
Grace will stay with me for a long time after reading, and i really hope he is thinking about a follow up!
If you're drawn to Gothic horror rooted in folklore and an atmospheric mood then this is for you.

wow! another amazing book from A.M. Shine
this book had me hooked from the start, I love how I constantly feel on edge while reading and can feel the dread are terror coming from the book whilst I read. Grace is such a great story to follow and it has such a twist that it left me open mouthed at the end expecting there to be more...

As soon as I saw AM Shine had announced this book, it was pre-ordered so I was so grateful to receive this ARC. I started reading it straight away and was not disappointed. I didn’t feel the same dread as I did from The Creeper but there was definitely tension and I enjoyed the mystery of the story. There were a number of twists that I didn’t see coming and so many POV’s which I love. I thought this story was creepy, atmospheric and full of secrets.

Dark, chilling, and steeped in Irish folklore, Grace is a haunting modern Gothic horror that lingers long after the final page.

Grace was adopted at four years old and has never known the truth about her origins. When a mysterious phone call draws her back to the remote island where she was born, she finds a community bound together by decades of secrets, guilt, and whispered tales of strange deaths and vanished children. But something ancient and malevolent has been disturbed – and it is beginning to spread.

A.M. Shine delivers an atmospheric, oppressive setting that almost becomes a character in itself, with the island’s isolation amplifying the creeping sense of dread. This is folk horror at its core, exploring how far people will go for survival and the moral compromises made in the face of fear. While I would have liked more detail around certain elements, such as the orphanage, the tension and mythology woven through the story kept me gripped.

An unsettling, evocative tale of buried sins and the darkness that refuses to stay hidden.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.