Kala is a wonderful and thrilling Irish mystery novel centred around a group of estranged friends dealing with the aftermath of their friend Kala's Disappearance years ago.

I could not put this book down. The pacing was excellent and really kept me turning the pages, the plot was exciting and unpredictable, and the characters were very well-made.

This is just the right balance of mysterious and character-driven, Walsh placing a great deal of importance on character building and demonstrating the great deal of effort and talent has put into creating these complex and dynamic relationships between the characters of this novel.

This is by no means a unique plot or concept, but Walsh does something new and exciting with the theme and I definitely felt this was bursting with originality. The disappearance of 15-year-old Kala is the central plot point and we switch between the perspectives of Helen, Joe and Mush as they navigate the ensuing chaos years later when Kala's body is finally found. As we switch between viewpoints and the present-day story unfolds, each narrator also cuts between now and their memories of Kala and the time around her disappearance. So we see a dual narrative developing, following both timelines in parallel. These both compliment each other and together weave a rich and intriguing plot which I hugely appreciated.

i am afraid I couldn't get going in this story too much teenage angst. probably goes down better with a younger reader.

This thriller is set in a small town in Western Ireland. It centers around a group of 4 friend and the disappearance of one of them. We catch up with them some twenty years later when one of them returns for her fathers wedding. It’s clear that what happened all those years ago has impacted them all in different ways and the friendship of the three remaining is estranged. They do however come together to try and find out what happened to their friend. This has them look back at the part their families may have played in the disappearance of their friend. Lost of twists, turns and suspicion. I loved this book.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Atlantic Books and the author Colin Walsh.
An interesting premise and gripping at times, but just way too long, with too much filler in that left me skimming pages in an effort to get through them. A predictable plot and with characters that felt slightly two dimensional, it was hard to get fully involved. Felt like a bit of a slog at times. 3 stars.

The story follows two timelines of a group of friends in a small Irish tourist town who were teenagers in 2003 and meet up again years later, to resolve the mystery of their friend Kala’s disappearance back then. The narrative switches between these characters as adults and their nostalgic, differing recollections of the events back in 2003, focusing on Joe, who left to pursue rock star dreams and is a local celebrity, Helen who moved abroad to become an investigative journalist and Mush, who never left town and works in his mother’s cafe. Our character knowledge of the titular Kala is built from their various hazy memories and what transpires is a tale of family misery and tragedy, small town gangsters and criminality and mindless violence. The characters are compelling although the tropes are familiar and there’s some great, rich writing, definitely echoes of Tana French in the sense of a darker side of Ireland and the unique culture of these kind of small towns in Irish life. Assured and well written debut if not always a comfortable read.

I really wanted to love Kala as much as the reviewers did. The premise sounded fantastic - a group of friends dealing with a friend's disappearance when they were teenagers, the discovery of her body fifteen years later, a town with secrets bubbling to the surface...yes, yes and yes. Yet, something about Kala just didn't stick with me. Perhaps it's the slowness of the start of the book (I actually put it down after the first 50 pages to read something else and it took me months to pick it back up again), but despite the beautiful writing, it felt infuriating at times.

If you're a fan of Tana French, then this is definitely a book to read. So many of the themes and tropes felt like those she explores in her books. I'm not disappointed in Kala, because Colin Walsh is obviously a fine writer, and I'm still thinking about it days after I read it. I'm really looking forward to other books he'll write in the future. This one just didn't do it for me.

Kala by Colin Walsh is an Irish debut that has received critical acclaim and has been touted by many as the literary thriller of the year. The Guardian compared it to Donna Tartt's The Secret History (high praise indeed). I have mixed feelings - I loved elements of the book but overall, it didn't quite hit the high notes. It was more Donal Ryan than Donna Tartt for me, and I think fans of Ryan will love it.

Kala is set in Kinlough, a fictitious town on the west coast of Ireland and the home place of Helen, Mush and Joe, reunited fifteen years on from the disappearance of their friend Kala, who vanished without trace at the age of fifteen. Joe is now a famous rock star, Helen an impoverished freelance writer living in Canada and Mush never left Kinlough. Together, with Kala, Aoife and Aidan, they formed a tight-knit group of friends who came of age in the early 2000s (milennials: this one is for you).

The narration shifts in time and place, with each of Joe, Helen and Mush reflecting on the events of that fateful time and the effects wrought on all of them in different ways.

The book is intricately plotted, with a cast of characters to keep track of (there's a helpful dramatis personae at the start of the book). It's a slow-burn to begin with as we get to know the different characters. Joe's chapters are narrated in the second person (which I didn't really like); Mush's chapters are rather fragmented, a style I began to grow weary of.

I think where the book lost me was in the very protracted crescendo of violence that takes up the final quarter. I saw the ending coming for a while, so perhaps that's why it felt as though it took a long time to get there.

While I enjoyed the story (particularly the flashbacks to those awkward teenage years), I struggled to connect with the characters and wasn't especially invested in any of them, though I have had the same experience with Donal Ryan's books. If you love gritty, literary (grit-lit?!) books set in rural Ireland, then it's worth giving this one a go. 3/5 stars

This is a really deep, multi-layered thriller told from the alternating povs of three friends.

The mystery centres about the historic disappearance of their friend Kala, a captivating girl, whom they had all placed their hope in for escaping the trappings of their disastisfying family life and the disillusionment of teenage life. But Kala was living with her own demons and her friends, dazzled by her daring, bold personality were oblivious to her suffering.

As we discover more and more layers of the secrets and dishonesty within the parents' generation in the town this becomes a coming of age story heading inevitably towards an explosive end.

I loved the characterisation within this book finding it vivid and believable. The lyrical Irish prose provided bittersweet beauty juxtaposed against the truly dark plot. This is a book that sucks you into its depths, is superbly written and has so many layers, whilst having all the compulsiveness of a good thriller.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

In 2003, Kala Lanann disappears from her small village in Ireland, never to be seen again. Her teenage friends left behind struggle to come to terms with never knowing what happened to their bright, brilliant friend.

When they all meet up again as adults, years later, a discovery is made: Kala’s remains. But still no one seems to have any answers - so it seems Kala's friends will have to go looking for them themselves.

I requested an ARC of this just on the basis of the premise but had no idea what to expect having never heard of the author before. But wow, this one is good! It is a bit of a slow burn to start with, and it took me a little while to get all the characters and their relationships to each other straight. But once the mystery started unravelling, I was hooked.

My favourite part of the novel was the characterisation. The characters felt real, gritty, and imperfect. They seemed exactly like people who had grown from bored teenagers with their own secrets, but who just wanted to have a good time, to an adult group who had still never really dealt with the damage of losing their friend and their own demons around that. Walsh's writing is very atmospheric; it leans into the story's setting and really gets to the heart of things.

‘Kala’ is a dark, atmospheric coming-of-age novel, set in a tourist town on Ireland’s west coast. A fantastically crafted dual timeline story explores the lives of six teenagers. After years apart, estranged friends Mush (who never left Kinlough), Canada-based journalist Helen and LA-based rock star Joe reunite and recall the hedonistic summer the group spent together 15 years earlier - first loves, close friendships, new adventures. It was “the summer of their lives”, until their fearless yet mysterious leader, Kala, suddenly disappeared.

This is a perfectly paced thriller, with rich characterisation and an intricate plot. The momentum builds with a series of dramatic twists, violence, corruption - coming together to a conclusion that was always going to be ugly, but still one that I did not expect.

This book is so accomplished that I’m still getting my head around the fact that it is a debut novel. Sign me up to read whatever Colin Walsh writes next.

NO SPOILERS

I have given this book four stars even though I didn’t enjoy it. This is not a genre I ever enjoy. I find it too contrived (I guess it has to be for a book/TV/film to work), too long winded and too obvious, at least to me.

So why did I accept it for review? People have been praising it, especially the style, so I thought it might be the book to change my mind. And oh, my word, the writing is superb. The vividness of the characters, their interactions, the “show don’t tell” is masterful. I liked the plot but the story didn’t interest me at all. Writing like this though…

“The nicotine glamour of an unmade bed”
“No point in lying to people when you can say nothing”

I know many readers love this genre and those who do should read Kala…you are in for a very special treat but I’d like to read a different fiction book from Colin Walsh.

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

🇮🇪 REVIEW 🇮🇪

Kala by Colin Walsh

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Publishing Date: 6th July 2023 (tomorrow!)

Kala was 15 when she disappeared, leaving absolutely no trace, despite huge efforts from the Irish town of Kinlough to find her. Her friends, Aoife, Mush, Helen, Aidan and Joe have all continued their lives, each one deeply affected by the incident. 15 years later, some of the group are back in town, and they can’t help but rehash old memories, and try to unravel the mystery.

This wasn’t a typical thriller; it read a lot more like literary fiction at parts, and the character development was really brilliant. I definitely enjoyed this more than I typically do with thrillers, but still, there’s something about the genre that just doesn’t gel with me. I felt that there was a bit too much going on for it to be completely realistic, with too many different twists to the plot that just pushed it a bit too far for me. However, I admit thrillers are not my thing and I’ve seen other reviews that thoroughly enjoyed this, so it might still be for you if you’re a fan of thrillers and litfic!

Kala is an incredibly atmospheric story about school friends in Kinlough struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of their friend Kala when they are teenagers. The first half of the novel focuses on how the friendships were initially formed and then, in the present day, how the friends are coping with their lives as grown ups. For this reason, the first half of the novel is at a much slower pace than the second half when it becomes clear that something sinister is happening in Kinlough. I raced through the second half. This is an accomplished debut from Colin Walsh.

I tried several times to get into this book but found it was too slow and very confusing. Going on feedback from others they seemed to have enjoyed it..

Complex mystery drama set in Ireland across different timelines. Ideal for readers who like rich, literary writing with a distinctive, Irish rhythm.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

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.

Irish writer Colin Walsh was named New Irish Writer Of The Year four years ago on the strength of his prize-winning short stories. Here is his first novel and it teeters on the edge of being absolutely first-class.
Plot-wise, it doesn’t feel that ground-breaking. Three old friends reunite in Ireland for a wedding in 2018. When they were 15 years olds in 2003, the vibrant centre of their circle, Kala, went missing. Just as they come back together a body has been found forcing them to confront their past.
Of Kala’s friends, Mush has stayed put in Kinlough, working with his mum at her café. He spends his evenings drinking in the closed up establishment. He has a facial disfigurement but we do not know how this came about. Helen, has moved to Canada, but seems equally hollow. She has returned for the wedding of her father to the mother of another of their circle, Aiden, now dead. Joe, made it away and has made it big in the music business. His return is a big deal for the town. He had been Kala’s boyfriend and is still haunted by her disappearance.
It is the reconnection of these characters and their families and the continued presence of Kala which makes this so effective. There’s the nostalgia for the past together with the awareness that things had gone so awry which leads to impressive writing and a deftly-handled web of a plot. It’s written in sections featuring Mush, Joe and Helen combining past and present. Joe’s is written in a second-person narrative (“You…”) which does illustrate his distance from reality but did trip me up now and again. It is Kala, depicted through these narratives, who perhaps shines as the strongest character.
As the novel progresses the mystery behind Kala’s disappearance intensifies and for a time there is a heady mix of the nostalgic recollections of the past and an increasingly dark, visceral shift. The thriller aspects begins to dominate as the pace ramps up. It does reflect quite a change in tone. I’d been loving the leisurely pace (it’s 400 pages in the hardback edition) as the author takes his time with these friends re-connecting and exploring what they knew about Kala that the switch to more standard thriller fare, essential to bring about the resolution of the plot, felt a little jarring. But there is no doubt that this is a very impressive debut novel which should establish Colin Walsh both in Ireland and internationally. Anyone seeking a high quality literary thriller should seek it out. It feels very visual which would suggest tv/film adaptation but I’d be concerned that some of the subtleties of the dynamics between characters, their pasts and presents, might be lost in an over-emphasis on what happened to Kala and whodunnit.
Kala is published by Atlantic Books on July 6th 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

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.