Kala

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Written in different voices alternating between first and second person - even a bit of first person plural - but always readable and understandable. The teenage voices are strong and realistic - just this side of irritating like real teenagers. The adult versions are more reflective, accepting (or denying) their part in Kala's disappearance. The characters are so well drawn I felt I knew them. (Loved Mush.)

This is a real page-turner with depth and psychological insights.
Brilliant.

A unique and thoroughly engaging read.
The story is about teenage friendships that developed in the small Irish town of Kinlough and how they held up in adulthood after time away from each other and Kinlough . It is told against the backdrop of the tragedy that occurred to Kala as a teenager and the emerging tragedy that occurs when the teenagers re group as adults.
The characters are well developed and draw you in to the story. The mystery element keeps up the intrigue of what really happened all those years ago. The twist at the end is quite a revelation. Highly recommended.

The name Kala, whilst the nickname of the centre character of the novel, accurately describes her existence; Kala is herself, a work of art, the embodiment of the sun in how she sustains those around her. But she can also mean time, and death. Two things we cannot escape. Kala lived an intensely rich life for a teenager, but her fate seemed determined beyond her presence on earth. Despite how she appeared on the outside, she had very little chance of sustaining herself.

This novel squeezes a character that is beyond life into the suffocating claw of the small Irish town of Kinlough. Kala’s disappearance in 2003 left a trail of sadness and death in its wake, the resurrection of these ties violently ambushing those left behind. Muse, Joe and Helen all lost parts of themselves in the fateful days that followed a disastrous Halloween party, and with the sudden finding of human remains linking back to those shadowy nights, the trio must find it in themselves to discover what really happened to Kala, before more victims are made.

This novel sets a rich scene of a small seaside town in the height of summer, where shady gang dealings and questionable Garda forces cast great shadows over memories that are safer kept away. With brilliantly unique voices and excellently crafted descriptions, you’ll find yourself hanging on to each word until the last page.

This novel will be released on July 6th 2023, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Irish mysteries that will keep you guessing until the very end.

This book was incredible. Walsh told a complex, oftentimes dark and bleak story with wonderfully vivid, cinematic, unique language. His characters were all compelling - Mush, in particular, will linger in my memory for a long while. The shifting perspectives with each chapter were brilliantly done, allowing for rich introspection and - especially towards the end - near-maddening tension. And I was completely blown away by Walsh's encapsulation of small-town life: the tiny joys and agonies, the foundational and life-altering relationships, the yearning for 'the Other Place'... It was a total sensation. A masterclass in storytelling. I'll be recommending this to anyone I can!

absolutely stunning, and completely transportive. Each character has their own entirely unique and bold voice, and they are utterly believable. This is a masterpiece.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the privilege.

Well, this is a novel that will linger in my memory for a long time.

It's long, epic and in places quite dense. It takes a bit of work but the pay-off is spectacular. Once it gets its claws into you, you won't be able to put it down.

Set in Ireland, you can really hear the Irish accents singing from the page, yet the author never resorts to using made-up spelling to reflect how a word sounds. Simply by using standard spelling, these characters truly speak with an accent you can hear in your head. That's no mean feat.

The author has created characters you really care about and a plot that slowly ratchets up until the point the tension is almost unbearable. This is an absolute masterclass in how to construct a novel.

This will be my novel of the year. I cannot see anything topping this for a long time to come. Well done and thank you, Mr Walsh. Total respect.

Jumping between the teen years of the past and adults of the present Kala is an unsolved case of a missing girl that still plays heavy on the minds and personalities of the group she was friends with.
Told from both timelines and several voices the jump between the teen angst and attitude to the (on the whole) more mature reflections of the adults who drift back to town and to each other is perfect- you can almost feel the characters grow before your eyes.
Plenty of intrigue and mystery and plenty of suspects!

Wow. What a thriller/novel! The way the author captures moments and feelings is powerful. The plot is very well thought of, there’s loads of twists and hidden stories unravelling. I just couldn’t put it down and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Isn’t it the sign of a great book?
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for letting me read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book when requesting early access through NetGalley but by no means was I expecting to be so transfixed by every page.

Although it was a bit of a slow starter, Walsh managed to perfectly contrast the dark twisted history of a small Irish village with the heartwarming coming of age story of a group of teenagers which was abruptly interrupted by the disappearance of one of the girls, Kala.

I genuinely couldn’t set this one down towards the end and felt that the thriller/mystery element was executed well enough to keep me guessing the whole way through.

Some plots were perhaps not explored as much as they could have been so at times it feels that you are left with more questions than answers but overall I felt like it still had a pretty satisfying ending and I can see me thinking about this story for weeks to come!

Oh wow! My actual heart! This book is amazing. It’s part thriller, part literary fiction part family saga. I was completely gripped. The way the information is dropped to the reader is genius. We find out more with every chapter but in a very quiet way. You can’t skim anything for fear of missing something vital. I read the final 40% ignoring everything and everyone around me, desperate to find out the answers.

Really recommend this one. It’s fantastic and I could imagine it being a thoroughly gripping film or TV drama.

Heart wrenching read about the impact of losing a childhood friend has on a group of friends.

The different perspectives when more information comes to light keep you turning the pages.

It is a really well written thriller in an excellent setting.

Kala was an amazing read, I felt so attached to the group of friends, and the reveal at the end of who murdered Kala was a real shock. I honestly couldn’t put the book down and I was sad when I reached the last page.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

I requested a review copy of Kala mainly based on its location (because I'm looking forward to a trip to Ireland this summer) and it turned out to be an excellent choice. The town of Kinlough and the surrounding countryside were beautifully described and, as I had hoped, the location felt central to the novel.

However, there are no rose-tinted glasses here and amid the beautiful scenery this was a fast-paced story with plenty of gritty reality and some horrifying glimpses of the underbelly of society.

The main characters are childhood friends drawn together again for a special occasion after many years apart. The plot focuses on the mystery surrounding a past trauma but I loved all the details relating to other issues that arise when adults return home after a long absence. I thought the author brilliantly conveyed the dichotomy of that experience; how we can experience a greater love and appreciation for our home while also developing a keener awareness of its faults.

This is truly something special.

‘Former friends, estranged for fifteen years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives’

This is an achingly beautiful thriller that explores the lives of a small community in rural Ireland. Our three characters haven’t been the same since their friend Kala disappeared and they find themselves thrust together after some shocking secrets are revealed.

We follow Joe, Mush and Helen on a journey packed with heartbreaking revelations and some truly great moments of tension and suspense.

All of the characters felt incredibly real and the exploration of a community and its dark underbelly were executed expertly. It was incredibly well written and I had to fight myself and slow down in order to savour it. The final 20% was incredibly intense and I found myself pausing after each chapter and taking a deep breath before diving back in.

I did not want this book to end.

It is emotionally heavy and perhaps worth looking at trigger warnings beforehand, but the less you know about the plot before going in, the better. I took one look at the cover and the blurb and knew that this was for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Colin Walsh's Kala! What a great read!
Authentic well-developed characters. A clever focus on small details to bring moods and feelings to life.
The narrative moves along at pace, jumping between time periods, and although it creates a page-turning thriller type pace at times, for me, this was secondary to the dialogue, relationships, thoughts and all round well depicted slices of how it feels to live in this world (and their world). Highly recommended.

I know this isn't Colin Walsh's first published work but it is a debut novel. It doesn't read like one.

The writing is accomplished, the characters are rounded, the plot is intricate and complex but easy to follow. All in all I'm a little in love with what is quite a horrifying novel. There's quite a lot it covers including underage motherhood, a lot of violence, small town hatreds, police corruption, old friendships.

I know that sounds like a lot to throw at you but this is truly a slow burn novel. It builds at such a pace that the tension is wonderfully oppressive by the time it takes off.

The story revolves around the disappearance of the eponymous Kala (Katherine Lannan). The mystery has not been solved when a wedding brings the original friends - Mush, Joe and Helen back to their home town of Kinlough. Previous tensions are stirred again and added to as more tragedies occur.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I looked forward to reading it and had to force myself not to race through it so I could savour it.

Excellent, highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

<i> Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!</i>

Kala Lannan is the kind of person who draws everyone around her. Girls want to be like her, boys want to be with her, and everyone feels a bit special to be close to her. In 2003 she disappeared without a trace and has never been found.
Fifteen years later, part of the group is back in town and Kala’s body is discovered, reopening old wounds that never truly healed.

<i>“Life is like this: immense when you are inside it, but manageable from the outside, touched from a distance.”</i>

I don’t usually read thrillers but once in a while I like to pick one and see what I am missing. I couldn’t be more happy that Kala was the one I chose.

This book is much more than discovering what happened with Kala. It is a coming of age story to remind us about the summers of our lives, about the friendships that mean the whole world, the beauty of first love and the raw intensity of teenagers emotions. It is also a story about how the past affects us and life turns out to be different than we dreamed.

The story is told through Helen, Joe and Mush POV, which encompasses both present and past timelines as they remember the events before Kala’s disappearance. This strategy gives a special rhythm to the story and it is one of the things that make this book such a page turner.

I liked the story and I was invested in the case but my favorite part of the book were the characters. Colin wrote brilliant characters and I believe some of them will stay with me for a long time.

Kala was Colin Walsh debut and I can’t wait to see what he will bring us next.

""Sometimes I think of who we were back then, when she was with us. We were such a force. What happened to her?''
When a group of close knit Teenagers are rocked when one of them `Kala' suddenly disappears without trace from the seaside village of Kinlough, then years later Human Remains are found & three of the group decide it's time to dig deep for the answers to what truly happened , Psychologically tense & riveting this is a book that grips you intensely & you will want to share it with friends all around the Globe ! #NetGalley, #Goodreads, #Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>.

Once in a while you read a book which absolutes blows you away with how good it is and you are left completely bereft wanting more. I feel like I knew all the characters intimately (loved dear Mush!) and many will stay with me for a long time ; they were so well drawn, with an equal weight of thoroughly likeable, and plenty of skin crawling loathsome ones - and then there’s the twist!

This has grit, depth, horror, teen drama, family saga, thriller all rolled into one.
Absolutely fantastic, 5/5.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review,

Superb.
Felt as if I was transported to Ireland and actually living it.
Group of friends get together for a wedding but of course Kala isn't there as she went missing a long time ago.
A large number of characters and at times it did become a little confusing but stick with it, you won't be disappointed. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.

This debut novel from Colin Walsh is all ready being talked about and quite deservedly so. It's a novel which deals with teen friendships and how they develop and alter as we age. it's about love, violence, isolation and escape. Set in Ireland the narrative is told from the perspective of the 6 main characters, who have returned to their small home town, their pasts are intertwined because of their relationship with Kala whose disappearance when they were teens comes back to haunt them as adults. This novel stands apart from the current literary list and should garner some awards.

Irish fiction is lit right now, and this debut is no exception.

On the west coast of Ireland sits the tourist town of Kinlough, and, in 2003, six teenage friends—Kala, Aoife, Helen, Aiden, Joe, and Mush are living the “summer of [their] lives,” daring each other into various exploits, exploring first love, and building tight bonds of friendship.

When 15-year-old Kala, the gang’s attitude laden, mysterious but troubled leader, disappears in November, the Gardai and locals search with no success, but she's from a ‘bad family’ and she's easily enough passed off as a runaway. Then reeling from the events, these close friends’ relationships go asunder, and they remain haunted by this.

Years later, three of the friends meet up again. Helen, now a hardened freelance journalist living in Canada, is reluctantly back home for her father’s wedding to Pauline Lyons, Mush’s aunt. Joe, attention craving rock star with a drink problem, is back to relaunch a local music venue and seek more fandom, and solitary, sensitive Mush, self-conscious about his facial scars, has never gone anywhere, preferring to sit in his mother’s cafe gulping cans and watching the world leave him by.

While this reunion is going on, the discovery of Kala’s bones at a building site happens, and then tragedy strikes again in this small community. All propelling the trio to reconsider their past in a dangerous search for the truth.

Skillfully blending the current day events with flashbacks to their teen years, each chapter is told from the points of view of one of these interesting and secret-laden characters, all building to a gasp worthy conclusion.

This is a literary novel with the gritty propulsive pace and vibe of a thriller that will trigger many emotions. The author masterfully uses striking and dialectical pitch perfect to bring the story to life.

After a slow, shaky start, I raced through this one. I'm excited for more from this clearly talented author. G’wan and add this to your TBR. Do beware; there are quite a few content warnings for this one - as always, I'll pop them in the comments. 4.5⭐

This mystery debut novel from Colin Walsh is brilliant.It tells the story of a group of teenagers of something that happened 15 years ago It is told in two timelines which work perfectly.The backdrop of Kinlough a small village in Ireland and the secrets it holds are so intriguing.

‘Sometimes I think of who we were back then,
When she was with us,
We were such a force’
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Everyone on Netgalley, I give you my favourite read of 2023 so far! Colin Walsh has absolute SMASHED it out the park with this one, and it’s his debut novel?! My word is pre order his next book right now if I was capable!
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In the seaside town of Kinlough, on Ireland’s west coast, three old friends are thrown together 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 as their group’s white-hot centre. Soon after that summer’s peak, Kala disappeared without a trace.
Now it’s fifteen years later: Helen has reluctantly returned to Ireland for her father’s wedding; Joe is a world-famous musician, newly back in town; and Mush has never left, too scared to venture beyond the counter of his mother’s café. But human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. And as past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala’s disappearance, and to try to stop Kinlough’s violent patterns repeating themselves once again…
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I was swept away with this one! When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. When I was reading it, I was upset when it came to a point I knew I’d have to put it down. It was a tour de force in story telling that grabbed me and didn’t let me go. At times a gripping thriller and then at others a drama about a small Irish town in 2 different time periods, one as our main players are coming-of-age and the other as who they are now as adults. I’ll be thinking of this one for a long while!

In the small Irish town of Kinlough, a group of friends are inseparable and enjoying the thrill of being a teenager with the all the possibilities of a new millennium ahead of them. Until the disappearance of free-spirited Kala - who vanishes without a trace. A wedding brings the estranged friends back to the town ten years later and the discovery of human remains forces everyone to re-examine their role in Kala's disappearance.

This book had me completely gripped from the first chapter and still has not let go nearly a week after finishing!

I'm only a couple of years younger than Kala and the rest of the gang, so I connected straight away to their experiences of being a young teenager in the Noughties - the music and film references, how every lad you knew seemed to be in a band, still being a child in many ways (just going for long bike rides and having a laugh with your friends), but also becoming an adult and realising that there are dark and frightening things in the world.

I found the present day/flashback format really worked to help me connect to the characters as teenagers in 2003 and to understand how the events that occurred still affect them ten years later. I have read some other books recently that use a woman going missing as a plot device, however the voice of that woman is then often missing from the narrative. Not the case here - Kala was a vibrant, intriguing and fully realised character, with her voice coming through from the memories of her friends Helen, Joe and Mush. I did find it intriguing that Aoife only makes a very brief appearance as an adult but perhaps the author decided that having four voices was enough!

Kala is a thriller and a well-crafted mystery. It builds up slowly and the tension turns up and up every chapter - I had no idea who was responsible for her death until the big reveal. I had earmarked a couple of people along the way as the culprit and was totally wrong!

The only thing I didn't really get was why Mush and Helen's chapters were told in the first person but Joe's is told in the second person. Perhaps he is trying to distance himself from the events...?

An Irish thriller with Millennial 'Derry Girl'/Sally Rooney vibes.

I loved this book. I rarely read mysteries but this was far more than a page turner. The characters were beautifully drawn and were complex but relatable. I experienced so many emotions reading this book, sadness but also hope and it certainly made me think of my life experiences

This is my favourite book of 2023 so far - beautifully written with fantastic characters who you are rooting for from the start. Beneath the bright and twinkling lights and laughter of a tourist town there are flashes of cruelty, pain and evil but you are never quite sure of where it is coming from.
The three main protagonists Kala, Mush and Helen are beautifully drawn with the writer managing to make them flawed but innocent; interesting but never unbelievably so.
This is an amazing debut and I hope Colin Walsh is already writing his next book.

Superb writing from this author, a very eye catching cover, this book will go far, 5 stars. Blindingly excellent ... These books should come with a disclaimer as once you start reading you aren’t going to want to walk away.
I can't wait for this to come out and for y'all to lose your minds.

Absolutely loved this gripping thriller, told from the different perspectives of three adults, once part of a tight knit group of six, and alternating between events back when they were 15 and the near present day. Each of the main characters is expertly drawn, with a genuine warmth and complexity both from the three perspectives and from the friends and family they observe. At times there’s a genuine feeling of dread when it’s increasingly obvious something has gone badly wrong and no one has realised yet, and when violence erupts in both timelines the brutality of it is shocking. A true literary thriller, and for a debut, it’s quite astonishing. I want to read more of Colin Walsh, and to be honest I would like more of these characters - I feel saddened to leave them behind.

📖 FROM THE COVER

In the seaside town of Kinlough, on Ireland's west coast, three old friends are thrown together 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 as their group's white-hot centre. Soon after that summer's peak, Kala disappeared without a trace.
Now it's fifteen years later: Helen has reluctantly returned to Ireland for her father's wedding; Joe is a world-famous musician, newly back in town; and Mush has never left, too scared to venture beyond the counter of his mother's café. But human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. And as past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala's disappearance, and to try to stop Kinlough's violent patterns repeating themselves once again...
Against the backdrop of a town suffocating on its own secrets, in a story that builds from a smoulder to a stunning climax, Kala brilliantly examines the sometimes brutal costs of belonging, as well as the battle in the human heart between vengeance and forgiveness, despair and redemption.

REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is a one hell of a debut.

From the get go the story had me intrigued. So interesting and smart at the intersection of literature and crime.
Everything about this book was there for me, there was a character lead feel, a mystery , strangely some dark humour set among what was a brilliant and unique story with classic themes and messages…outstanding. It is gripping, moving, compelling and insightful.



We are taken back and forth though time with flashbacks from the POV of Mush and Helen in the first person POV and the 3rd person POV with Joe. The flashbacks are seamless and flow brilliant the narrative is fragmented, with events and timelines being regularly interweaved. It is very well written as this worked brilliantly it wasn’t hard to follow at all but the writing was complex. Within the present day parts they really set up a sense of mystery as well giving us a true understanding of why the characters are the way they are now. It really questions what happens to us in life, does it make us different than we should have been, are we all just playing cards in someone else’s game and how do our choices shape us( great insightful point from the book)

I loved the flashbacks as I was the same
age as the characters at the time, I could identify with the feelings and thoughts. I liked how there was a touch of the young love first love between Joe and Kala the writer got the tone perfect with this. And extra stars for the Dawson Creek, music and make up/style references within these sections.

I found the change in style with Joe very interesting and clever as the story concluded, it left me with questions. There was a real “who knew what when?” Aftermath which made an already a deeply dark, deep multi layered plot all the more interesting and long lasting after reading. I think this book would make a great book club read as well as a great tv series…water cooler discussion a plenty here.

The characters are well developed and beautifully flawed making them see real and also likeable. I really found the contrast from the then and now very well written as previously stated made you really think.

Mush was without doubt my favourite character he was lovely, seemed a real good guy .I loved the twins and his relationship it added a touch humour to what was a dark book. This with the Mammies chat and some of the more colourful Irish language give off slight Derry Girls vibes.


This is the book Sally Rooney wishes she could write it’s got all the self doubt and worries that her books contain but the issues these characters face are real and true not like her books full of spoilt brats looking for issues. This insightful study of human nature is backed up with amazing plot that reminds me of Tana French .

The sign I really love a book is when I search for the audio version so I can continue the story while am going about my business. With Kala I requested the audiobook after reading the first chapter of the ebook I couldn’t put it down or off.

With the audiobook the narrators create added tension to the mystery setting a good pace and style. The tone of all three narrators was pitch perfect and the accents were great.

Both the print and audio versions were equally as good…which is to say five star

This is one of my top books of 2023. I will be looking out for more of the authors writing.

Thanks again for what was a truly brilliant ARC

Wow, this is fantastic.

Heart wrenching, stunning, gripping....
A story about the loss of a childhood friend, written in the voices of three of them, present and past memories.
A thrilling mystery that is hard to put down.

Kala is the story of the summer a group of teenagers who are not quite the cool kids form a strong friendship group that ends in the disappearance of Kala, the leader of the group. Having not seen each other for many years circumstances bring the remaining friends back together. The story is told by the remaining friends as memories of that summer are woken by the discovery of human remains. The characters are strong and individual and are all fighting their own demons.

As they look back at their memories, each feeling they let Kala down, the secrets of this small coastal Irish town are exposed.

Gripping and unpredictable, I highly recommend Kala - so far one of the best books I have read in 2023

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Kala.

What a beautifully sad story told in a stunning and evocative way.
I adore the writing style and language used. From the very beginning I could hear the Irish accent. As I wrote in my notes “Love the honest Irish voice. Real. Authentic.”

The story itself had me enthralled. It’s such a phenomenal thriller. It played with my emotions and that innate desire to figure the mystery out.
I love that the story is told via multiple POVs.
The 3 characters have very unique and distinct personalities which help add to the complexities of this gut wrenching story.

I went through an overflow of emotions, emotions I wasn’t expecting to feel. From laughter and joy to sadness, shock, horror and even fear! So many emotions. And the end? Oh, my heart! 💔 There are no words.

I love the eclectic array of characters including bad ones (it wouldn’t be a thriller without them! 😊) but I completely fell in love with Mush. Oh, Mush! 🥰 And, If you don’t love him as much as I do, I don’t think we can be friends. Just saying! 😂

Sublime! Colin Walsh is an instant buy author for me now. Whatever he writes in the future, I will preorder asap!

Thank you so much, Atlantic Books, for inviting me to read an advanced copy of this stunning thriller. I cannot wait for it to be released. I will be getting a copy. ♥️

P.S I’m extremely torn! I LOVE the UK cover, but, after reading the novel, the US cover just has something extra. 🥰

P.p.s. I swear my friend had the same shirt with the Chinese writing & dragon on it.😂

It's 2003 and, for six friends living in a buzzing tourist town on Ireland's west coast, it feels like summer will never end. Helen, Aoife, Mush, Aidan and Joe are inseparable, and wild, mysterious Kala is the Sun around which their group orbits. When Kala suddenly disappears, the group fractures and falls apart. Now, years later, three of the estranged friends find themselves thrown back together and forced to confront what happened to Kala and their own roles in her fate.

Colin Walsh's fiction debut is a masterfully written thriller which manages to be both menacing and tender, and it is really very good.

The pacing is perfect, with Walsh gradually introducing the key characters, building their world with astonishing vividness, and weaving together a complex, compelling narrative. By the climax of the novel, Kinlough felt like a real place and I was utterly invested in the fates of the characters as they strive to find out what happened to Kala all those years ago. There are a lot of characters, but it was never difficult to keep them straight or understand how they related to our three narrators - Mush, Helen and Joe - and the events of the story.

The beautifully-crafted prose, which intertwines lyrical descriptions with the plain, often crass dialogue of ordinary people, evokes the hedonism and freedom of being a teenager in the summer with impressive accuracy. At the same time as the mystery is unspooling in the background, Walsh paints a picture of core memories, first loves and the kind of friendships that mould the person you are becoming when you're fifteen.

Each of the narrators - as a teenager and as an adult - has a distinctive voice, and it really added depth to the novel to see events through three contrasting perspectives, of those who thought they'd left Kinlough and all its secrets behind and those who never did.

The mystery, which shines an unflinching light on the dark underbelly of a picture-perfect Irish tourist town, is intriguing but so, equally, are
the relationships between the characters in both timelines, and this is what makes the book work so well. As much as I wanted to find out what happened to Kala, so too was I captivated by the unanswered questions about why the group splintered and withdrew from each other in the aftermath of her vanishing.

The denouement of the story brings all of the tension and 'spaghetti' of the plot to a terrifying, oppressive head and I literally couldn't put the book down as I tore through the last hundred pages. I can't wait to see what Colin Walsh writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

It’s summer 2018 and Joe Brennan has returned to the seaside town of Kinlough in Ireland. He is its most famous son, a rock star with a drink problem. There’s a wedding about to take place and the old gang he grew up with: Aoife, Helen, Aidan and Mush will be around. But one of them will not. Kala or Katherine went missing aged 15 in summer 2003 and has never been seen since. She was the love of Joe’s life and his memories of growing up in the town are filled with her.
Helen also left Kinlough and moved to Canada. In fact, the wedding is her father’s and she has ambivalent feelings about it. Aidan is dead and there is a mystery about what actually happened to him. Mush and Aoife have stayed on. She is married with a child and Mush works in his mum’s café, hiding his scars. He was the last person to have seen Kala alive before she went missing.
But then human remains are discovered at a new housing development and they are found to be Kala’s. And Mush’s cousins, a pair of twins called Donna and Marie, disappear. They are also aged 15, the same age as Kala when she vanished. Underneath the surface, Kinlough is not the cosy tourist destination that it promotes itself to be. Someone is leaving clues as a photo of the gang is found inside Kala’s skull.
There wasn’t much of an investigation when Kala went missing and now Helen who has become a journalist begins to look for answers and enlists Mush’s help. However, unwittingly she begins to disturb old skeletons in cupboards and the dark underbelly of Kinlough. Someone is going to discover that his whole life has been built on lies.
This was an extraordinarily good book and an amazing debut from Colin Walsh. A literary mystery, it is also a slow burner which was part of its charm for me. It’s told through each member of the gang as they grow up each wanting different lives and being moths to the flame that was Kala. She and Aoife are the cool girls and Joe wants Kala.
I thought that the author really captured adolescence, that time when you feel confused and invincible and time is on your side.
The school disco is described as ‘the night of the living dead’ and the three male members of the gang as resembling Westlife. There was good use of Irish sayings and contemporary slang which gave the book and the dialogue its authentic feel. The gang really came alive as fully rounded people with their friendships, the agony and ecstasy of first love and their hopes and dreams for the future, some of which will never happen. There was also the urge to kick against suburbia and make their own mark.
The pace of the novel picks up around halfway as secrets begin to be revealed and some are devastating and involve betrayal. I found ‘Kala’ To be absolutely unputdownable as I loved being in the world of the gang. It was witty at times, very lively and also very poignant. At the final scene I wondered what might have happened to two of the gang if circumstances had been different. Kala’s loss overshadowed all of their lives and I felt that they were never the same afterwards.
‘Kala’ was a powerful thriller with a real intensity in the way that it was written with strong images and I really cared about the characters. The two timelines worked well as the characters move within 2018 and also have flashbacks to 2003. Sometimes it doesn’t work but in ‘Kala’ it did.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Colin Walsh's debut novel is a powerful and evocative Irish literary mystery that may take a little time to become immersed in, but once you do it will hold your attention right through to the end. Beautifully written, it is set on the west Irish coastal town of Kinlough, where 20 years ago, a group of tightly knit teenagers, Kala, Joe, Aoife, Helen, Mush, and Aiden were having the time of their lives. The heart of the group, 15 year old Kala Lannan disappears, and unsurprisingly relationships fragment between them, their lives to be haunted by this past and the repercussions that follow. In a narrative that shifts from the past to the present, a far from happy Helen is now a financially struggling freelance journalist living in Canada who returns to Kinlough for a family wedding.

Joe Brennan had been Kala's boyfriend, he is now a well known rockstar with issues, returning for a musical residency. Mush, with his disfigured face, never left town, spending his time at the cafe, people watching whilst trying to keep a low profile himself. The past becomes inescapable when Kala's skull and a photograph are discovered at a building site, raising the question of what happened to her. Matters are lent an increasing urgency and tension when Mush's twin teenage cousins disappear. There are rich descriptions that paint a picture of the oppressive small town atmosphere, and the terrifying horrors and secrets that lie beneath the surface. There is intrigue, danger and brutal violence as the curtain lifts to reveal the unvarnished truth.

Walsh excels in the creation, qualities and development of his characters, skilfully giving us glimpses into the nature of their relationships, the emotional intensity, and friendships. The exquisite prose had me lingering on a number of occasions over the beauty of the language, although patience is required before links begin to emerge that help to make sense of the mysteries and what precisely is happening, although not all things have an answer. It makes us question whether it is ever really possible to know someone. There is a remarkable assurance and deftness of touch in this coming of age storytelling that has me awaiting the author's next book with eager anticipation. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This is another of those - something happened to a bunch of children back in the day and they get together in the present and the truth comes out - books.
But that really does NOT do it justice. It is so much more than that...
We start in the small village of Kinlough, on Ireland's west coast, where six friends are inseparable. The year is 2003, a long hot summer, but a year in which tragedy will soon strike when one of the six goes missing.
Returning to the present and remains have been discovered in the woods... Could it be the missing child...?
Of the original six, we then follow three as they reel from the discovery. Helen has come back for her father's wedding. Joe has come home to "rest" from his hectic life as a famous musician, and Mush never left for reasons we will discover in time... We see them reconnect, how they interact with the other inhabitants of Kinlough, family and friends, as the whole village is shocked when they discover that the remains do in fact belong to Kala...
Flitting back and forward in time we follow the time leading up to her disappearance in 2003, as well as what is happening in the present day. Which is really ramped up when two more young girls go missing...
But it's more than just the story. The writing is simply superb. I am not the biggest fan of literary fiction as it doesn't usually fit my style of reading, but this book, and its wonderfully poetic writing sucked me right in from the very first page and held me captive (willingly) throughout my time with it. Spitting me out at the end emotionally exhausted but satisfied.
As well as being a cracking story being told, the book is also quite character driven and the characters contained herein are all so very well created. All so easy to connect to, maybe a little too easily as I did get a bit over involved - especially with Mush. We also hear what happened to the missing two of the six...
And the language used to portray the characters and tell the story is beautiful. Lyrical on occasion too. And really paints the picture of the small village setting and the closeness of it all.
And the ending when it came delivered all that I needed. It didn't quite wrap everything up but then that's life...
And then I discover it's a debut novel and that blew me away... I really can't wait to see what's next from the author... My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Totally engrossing, thoughtful crime novel. 'Kala' tells the story of a missing girl from the perspective of her friends, as they were then and as they are now.

Walsh nails the small town feeling, I felt like I was in Kinlough and I could see Fox Street. The plot is compelling and a page turner, but doesn't feel superficial. These characters are fully fleshed out, with rich inner lives and interesting insights about the world and the people around them. I loved Mush, Helen, the Twins, the parents. I was so invested in the story,

Brilliantly suspenseful, and overall a very satisfying novel.

Pick up this book if: you're looking for the literary equivalent of 'The Fall'

Thank you to NetGallet and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It's a book about growing up, losing innocence and the memories of glorious summer of youth. It's also a book about evil and how it can inflitrate life.
Well written and riveting.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine