FICTION

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Book review: Exhilarating thriller exposes the harsh reality of stalking
Book review: Exhilarating thriller exposes the harsh reality of stalking
Author Sam Blake has clearly done her homework in this impossible-to-put-down read

Sat, 28 Feb, 2026

Book review: Gender and family dynamics
Book review: Gender and family dynamics
Themes of queer parenting, gender identity, parasocial relationships and intense friendships are treated with accomplished care in 'Like Family'

Sat, 21 Feb, 2026

Culture That Made Me: Irish author Patricia Scanlan picks her touchstones 
Culture That Made Me: Irish author Patricia Scanlan picks her touchstones 
The City Girls writer includes the likes of Leonard Cohen, Edna O’Brien, and Mary Poppins among her selections

Mon, 16 Feb, 2026

Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Parts of the city’s northside, the central island of the city, the Docklands, as well as Blackrock, Mahon, and Douglas is to join the existing red zone areas around Cork Airport and Cork Prison

Sat, 14 Feb, 2026

Elmore Leonard
Book review: Ending leaves reader wanting more
'Picket Line: The Lost Novella' is a work from very long ago about a strike by honeydew melon pickers in south Texas’ Rio Grande Valley

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Told from multiple points of view, all clearly marked, the story takes quite a number of far-fetched twists

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
The narrative moves quickly and has lots of twists and turns

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Ellie Levenson has created an eminently relatable protagonist and the narrative is full of action, tension, drama, all wrapped around what is essentially a love story

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
'Vigil' explores comfort, repentance, and the path to redemption, which must be sought again and again

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
This is a very dark tale highlighting the tragedy of mental health struggles and the toxic side of celebrity fandom

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
The plot of 'Remain' develops too slowly to really engage the reader, and is weighed down by dialogue that feels forced and unnatural

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

The British Book Awards - Arrivals
Book review: Uproarious whodunnit for ‘Traitors’ fans
'The Faithfuls' is a hilarious whodunnit mystery that just gets more bizarre and far-fetched after each page

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Conor Power's 'Hurling 1810' is a short glimpse into the life of early 19th century rural Ireland

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Book review: Secrets emerge from the past
Book review: Secrets emerge from the past
A family mystery is at the heart of this emotional rollercoaster from journalist Ann O'Loughlin

Sat, 20 Dec, 2025

International Booker Prize 2025 Award Ceremony in London
Book review: Forever shackled by November 18
'On the Calculation of Volume' adopts and transforms the convention that its main character must constantly live the same stretch of time

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

Book review: ‘The shapeshifter’s daughter’, like its protagonists, struggles with identity
Book review: ‘The shapeshifter’s daughter’, like its protagonists, struggles with identity
In attempting to explore mythology, familial trauma, terminal illness, and uplifting romance all at once, the novel's deeper themes are underdeveloped

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

Book review: Joyful tale of self-discovery
Book review: Joyful tale of self-discovery
'Is That You, Beth Cherry?' is a heart-warming, relatable, and gentle story about self-discovery and finding one’s place in the world

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025

Heather Clark by Beowulf Sheehan
Books of the year: Four brilliant page-turners you’ll want to give to friends
Sue Leonard selects her best books of the year, featuring inter-generational guilt, a harrowing depiction of coercive control, and no shortage of wonderful prose

Fri, 12 Dec, 2025

Book review: Investigating the personal struggles of investigators
Book review: Investigating the personal struggles of investigators
Although the crime at the centre of the book drives the plot and sparks many twists and revelations, it is the personal struggles and inner battles the main characters face that linger long after you have finished reading

Sat, 06 Dec, 2025

Book review: Confessions of a sentient AI algorithm
Book review: Confessions of a sentient AI algorithm
The dystopian AI potboiler appears to be ubiquitous, but Paul Bradley Carr wisely got in ahead of the rush — 'The Confessions' depicts a world gone slightly madder than ours

Sat, 29 Nov, 2025

Harper Lee
Book review: Pinhole view into icon’s life
Harper Lee über-fans and readers interested in examining early work from a noted literary figure will likely get a kick out of the fiction here — but the stories are uneven

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

2021 Booker Prize For Fiction: Shortlist Photocall
Book review: Wayward connection in chaos
For those new to Lockwood, 'Will There Ever Be Another You' will be a challenging and, at times, frustrating read as incidents and characters from previous books are referenced without explanation or context

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Crime writer Michael Connelly: I???m definitely not finished with Harry Bosch
Book review: Poignant tale centred on the perils of AI
In Michael Connelly’s latest, Mickey Haller is representing the mother of a teenage girl murdered by her ex-boyfriend who claims he was encouraged to do so by a chatbot

Sat, 22 Nov, 2025

Booker Prize 2025
Colin Sheridan: The Booker shows what we're willing to celebrate — a new, questioning, masculinity
The 'death of the introspective male novel' has been greatly exaggerated — see Karl Ove Knausgaard’s newest nine-volume, 6,000-page meditation on the misery of being alive

Thu, 20 Nov, 2025

Book review: Answers from a life well lived
Book review: Answers from a life well lived
In her 33rd novel, 'Weathering Storms', Alice Taylor reflects on her nostalgic childhood while coming to terms with her own mortality

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Anika Jade Levy's 'Flat Earth' is very good at illustrating how very differently men and women experience the world

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
This mesmerising thriller plunges the reader straight into the murky New Zealand wilderness and pulls back the curtain on what can happen in the isolated, rural darkness

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Anthony Gardner's satire may not be a cure all, but it is a wonderfully enjoyable tonic for our current reality

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
'Saltwash' skilfully blends the themes of decay both personal and general with a ticking tension over an impending game which turns out to have high stakes 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

"Che Tempo Che Fa" TV Show
Book review: Langdon is back with a bang
'The Secret of Secrets' is the sixth book that Dan Brown has written starring Robert Langdon as the unflinching hero 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Haiti Air Ambulance Reception
Book review: Sincere but syrupy, Albom’s familiar premise won’t get a second chance
Mitch Albom’s commitment to his story is commendable, but comes at the expense of style and clarity

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Souvankham Thammavongsa is one to watch, and this debut is a certifiable knockout

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Marie Cassidy’s debut was praised for its compelling storyline and its authentic forensic detail, and the same is true of ‘Deadly Evidence’

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Book review: What is the cost of privilege?
Book review: What is the cost of privilege?
Elizabeth Day’s smart writing expertly weaves the tales of five major characters in the political-themed narrative in 'One of Us'

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

Book review: Facing the music of the past
Book review: Facing the music of the past
'Hot Wax' is an electrifying triumph of a novel with a raw, emotional core, finely crafted by the talented M. L. Rio. 

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

Book review: Beautifully crafted, relatable stories that bring our capital city to life
Book review: Beautifully crafted, relatable stories that bring our capital city to life
Many of Dave Tynan's characters are bruised by stagnation: struggling in poorly-paid jobs, torpedoed by the housing crisis, and unmoored from their peers who are reaching the milestones of adulthood

Sat, 27 Sep, 2025

Book review: A funny but disorientating experience
Book review: A funny but disorientating experience
Kevin Smith, whose humorous third novel takes us back to post-Brexit suburban Belfast, is an undoubtedly gifted stylist

Sat, 27 Sep, 2025

Cheltenham Literature Festival 2019
Book review: Lost poetry and longing for the past in near future ruined by war and climate
Ian McEwan uses the term 'The Derangement' to describe how a generation saw that climate disaster was coming and did nothing about it

Sat, 20 Sep, 2025

Book review: All secrets great and small
Book review: All secrets great and small
'One Summer in Provence' is about relationships, betrayals, and secrets. It’s absorbing and will keep you guessing about some of those secrets to the end

Sat, 20 Sep, 2025

Book review: London’s sweariest spy returns
Book review: London’s sweariest spy returns
Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series of books has attracted a whole new cohort of fans due to the much-praised Apple TV adaptation

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025

Poetry review: Bold poems full of verve and ambiguity
Poetry review: Bold poems full of verve and ambiguity
One of this collection’s great charms is Patrick Cotter’s trademark use of the absurd to tackle serious, or mock-serious, subjects

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025

Book review: Pop psychology, testing friendships, and plenty of commercial tropes
Book review: Pop psychology, testing friendships, and plenty of commercial tropes
At times predictable, this novel has all the ingredients of emotional chick lit, with dollops of pop psychology thrown in

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025

Book review: Mystery keeps ahead of the chasing pack
Book review: Mystery keeps ahead of the chasing pack
'Dark Horse' is gripping and it’s fast-paced, driven by the interesting characters and a plot which keeps you guessing

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025

AMANDA CASSIDY
Book review: Thrilling mystery is a must read
Amanda Cassidy crafts a tense, atmospheric narrative in 'The Stranger Inside', with plenty of moral ambiguity and a constant undercurrent of dread

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025

Book review: Brilliance of a true wordsmith
Book review: Brilliance of a true wordsmith
Adrian Kenny’s collection of short stories can be described as an evolved exploration of the human condition

Sat, 30 Aug, 2025

Book review: A quiet story of personal crisis that swells into tumultuous tide of history
Book review: A quiet story of personal crisis that swells into tumultuous tide of history
'Conversations with the Sea' is a precise, masterly novel that encompasses themes of trauma, displacement, war, history, love, hope, and hopelessness

Sat, 30 Aug, 2025

Book review: Stuart Neville returns with ravenous, bloody sequel
Book review: Stuart Neville returns with ravenous, bloody sequel
Horrific tale hits close to home while highlighting an important message: Be careful who you trust, anyone could be lurking in the night

Sat, 30 Aug, 2025

The New York Times Book Review Live
Book review: Plucky lead, passable novel
'Vera, or Faith' is written in breezy, readable prose that offers wry observations about family, love, sex, learning, culture wars, and the wider dynamics of American politics and society

Sat, 23 Aug, 2025

Book review: A sensitive unspooling of self
Book review: A sensitive unspooling of self
Yasmin Zaher’s 'The Coin' is a compulsive read, built with startling prose and observation

Sat, 23 Aug, 2025

Book review: All in the mind: A vision of hell in which all torments are interior
Book review: All in the mind: A vision of hell in which all torments are interior
The characters in 'The Sleepers' drift on seas of sadness and self-loathing, coupling and decoupling, riding out storms of anxiety that exhaust them further

Sat, 23 Aug, 2025

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