This is a strange book; enigmatic, short, possibly unfinished. A man, Nealon, arrives at the empty house where he used to live. He has been in prison on remand, there has been a lengthy court case which has collapsed and he is free but his partner, Olwyn, and his son, Cuan, were not at the house to greet him and he has no idea where they are.

Then, there are strange phone calls and a man who wants to meet him. After a few days of nothingness, they meet against the background of an emerging security incident which could be cataclysmic or might just be an exercise. The man knows more about Nealon but there’s no way of knowing if what he says is true.

And, that’s it! Everything moves slowly, the prose is elegant and Irish and the descriptions are misty and damp. Maybe it is allegorical, maybe it is about the Troubles? Who knows? If you like books that make you wonder what is happening, then this could be for you. If you don’t like being left in the dark, then perhaps not!

This is a short but memorable novel. It has the philosophical edge associated with McCormack's other works but here, it is combined with a fast-paced narrative which is more mainstream. While not much happens, it is atmospheric and stayed with me long after the last page. It was not unlike Waiting for Godot.

Pacy, throughful and memorable.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for the ARC

An introspective and atmospheric novel following Nealon, a man recently released from prison, who has returned home to discover his wife and child missing. Mike McCormack writes with an extraordinary amount of detail, bringing even the smallest things to life with vivid, exacting precision. Don't expect a neat and satisfying ending - stylistic and unsettling, this is a book that will leave you wondering exactly just what happened.

Nealon returns to his family home after a stint in prison to find the place abandoned, with no sign of his wife or child. The only one who seems to remember him at all is the persistent person who keeps phoning him, who seems to know everything about Nealon and wants to meet to talk face-to-face.

I’ll be honest here, this one went totally over my head. It seems like it’s well written and the writing style is quite engaging (I enjoyed the apocalyptic events that were going on in the background), but I have absolutely no idea what happened.

This Plague of Souls represents a sort of return to the warped and strange narratives favoured by McCormack before the universally-acclaimed Solar Bones.

But This Plague of Souls is not as well-lit as Solar Bones, which may disappoint readers of the latter but please fans of the “older” McCormack.

A man called Nealon, fresh out of prison, enters a house that has been recently occupied. But he cannot find out anything regarding his family. The only other character is a mysterious phone caller, whom he eventually meets.

Over it all there is a sense of a society losing its freedoms, not unlike early Prophet Song.

The writing is superb and the build-up goes through all the registers. The ending will divide opinion.

I’m not sure what to make of this novel. It has an intriguing start, when Nealon returns home from prison to an empty house somewhere in rural Ireland. He has a wife and son, but they have left the family home, not clear why. There is a mysterious stranger on the telephone wanting to meet up with Nealon, there appears to be some kind of national or international crisis, there are flashbacks to Nealon’s past, he finally meets with the stranger and the novel ends, with not much having happened or resolved. Beautifully written, but a bit pointless.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

A confused dot com novel. I felt like a child on a beach trying to catch an oncoming wave by stepping on it.
Beautiful descriptions of rural Ireland - tick, philosophical insights from the protagonist - tick, slight suspense by a persistent anonymous caller - tick.
However, I did not really care about Nealon’s character and the plot (that there is) left me a bit underwhelmed.

NO SPOILERS:
I gave This Plague of Souls 4/5 for the writing and only the writing. The plot, story and characters held little interest for me but McCormack’s skill with words had me re-reading passages in awe. He writes with such understanding of being human, such observation of emotions. The scenes where Nealon stands in his empty house, makes coffee, looks out of the window…all these had me captivated. Tis brilliant stuff.

So if you like a thrillerish book and enjoy skilled, crafted writing, then you are in for a treat.

A strange but atmospheric short novel. A man returns to the empty family home after a period on remand and a failed court case for an unrevealed crime. He starts to receive phone calls from an unknown caller who wants to meet up. They eventually meet, and the stranger suggests that Nealon was responsible for a series of insurance frauds - the proceeds of which funded good works in a number of country. Their meeting takes place against a backdrop of a national emergency. The novel ends quite abruptly - was he guilty of the well executed crimes? Was the national emergency real or a simulation? Where are his wife and child? What will the stranger do with the information he has gathered? I don't generally mind unresolved issues at the end of a story, but this was a few too many for me. Nevertheless, an intriguing character study, so 3.5 rounded up to 4

This is a bit of a tricky one to review as at times I found it rather confusing! It’s unsettling and it’s thought provoking however, I am left wondering what it is I have just read and what the point was. I feel the book was lost on me and perhaps I wasn’t the correct audience.

Our protagonist Nealon returns, after a lengthy period in prison on remand, to the remote West of Ireland farmhouse where he grew up with his father (his mother died at the time of his birth) and where he later lived with his wife of three years Olwyn and young child Cuan. The house is cold and uninhabited, but barely through the door, and he receives calls from an unknown person who seems to know a lot about Nealon, saying he knows there's information they can share.

In the first chapter, Country Feedback, we get the bones of Nealon’s life, his time with his father, and his marriage, including how he abducted Olwyn from a Dublin crackhouse! All the while, these anonymous calls continue.

We move on to No Traffic and a Dry Road, where Nealon spends time reflecting on Cuan, on the deterioration in his marriage when he was in prison, and on his time in prison where National Geographic became his link to the world. All on the backdrop of an unspecified but rapidly evolving national security alert with Ireland plunging into an almost lockdown state.

In the third instalment of This Plague of Souls takes place in Dublin as Nealon and his persistent caller meet. This man tells Nealon what he has pieced together of his life, which helpfully fills some gaps in the story Nealon has so far spun while also proposing his view on Nealon’s involvement in a large scale and, in all honesty far fetched insurance fraud, which seemingly was globally philanthropically motivated.

It's hard to say more without spoilers, but suffice to say this was my first McCormack book, and it won't be my last!

This Plague of Souls is beautifully written and highly compelling. It is a truly fascinating short metaphysical thriller with a timely feel of society in 2023 with growing security threats (actual and perceived) and how both state and society react to them. Global actions have local consequences whether we always realise it or not.

My only complaint? I didn't want the story to end, and at under 200 pages, there was certainly scope for more. 4.5⭐

Thank you to the publisher for both a NetGalley ARC and for sending me a physical proof copy.

No doubt this was beautifully written and atmospheric, although the Nealon's internal monologue did become tedious at times. I found it quite compelling, as I was waiting for the reveal - but it never came. I think the reader is suppose to work it out, but I'm afraid it left me confused.

🆕️ Review - September 23
ARC - This Plague of Souls, Mike McCormack

This short novel, from Booker Listed Irish author is slated as a story of a man who would "let the world go to hell if he could keep his family together".

Nealon has just been released from prison after time on remand for a crime he was acquitted of. His wife and son are not at home when he returns nor does he know where they are and a mysterious caller is trying to engage Nealon in conversation and for a meetup to discuss something unknown to the reader and allegedly to Nealon himself.

The story is confusing from the outset, Nealon and his wife Olywen have a bumpy past, there's some inference to medical issues with his son too and it takes a long time for the mystery caller to make his need for a deep and meaningful conversation known.

To be honest I felt a little like I did at the end of a Christoper Nolan movie - even now I am not 100% sure I know what happened.

The writing is descriptive and strength of references to modern Irish sociopolitical events kept me engaged.

If you like confusing storylines and characters with a secretive past, then this one is for you.

3 stars

The story opens in mysterious circumstances. The protagonist, Nealon, returns home having been released from prison to find his wife and son missing. He waits and reminisces but at times his solitude is interrupted by phone calls from an anonymous person who wants to meet him. About two-thirds through the novel Nealon agrees to meet the stranger and finally bit of light is thrown into what is happening. A lot is left for the reader to interpret. To me the descriptiveness of the novel verged on the self-indulgent, as it came before my interest was fueled in any way. There was a nice atmospheric quality, and lovely descriptions of rural Ireland, but the novel wasn't for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mike McCormack’s wonderful previous novel, the single spooling sentence “Solar Bones” deservedly won the 2016 Goldsmith Prize (as well as the Irish Book Award for best novel, and in 2018 the Dublin Literary Award) – all from its publication by the brilliant Dublin based Tramp Press.

It was not eligible for the 2016 Booker Prize – as the rules at the time excluded Irish Publishers: Tramp Press led something of a campaign on this (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/sep/14/why-are-irish-publishers-shut-out-of-the-man-booker-prize), but to get the book to be eligible agreed to sell the UK rights to the Edinburgh based independent Canongate. Both the campaign and rights sale succeeded: Solar Bones was longlisted for the 2017 Booker Prize in its Canongate edition (like most of the best books on that excellent longlist not making the rather odd shortlist), and in 2018 the Booker rules were changed (see https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/other/45569/why-the-man-booker-rule-change-could-revolutionise-irelands-literary-culture).

Nevertheless for this his next novel – Tramp have continued their collaboration with Canongate and it will be interesting to see which edition is submitted for the UK based prizes – as I think this could be a strong contender for both the 2023 Goldsmith Prize (which does like to loop around past longlistees) and the 2024 Booker Prize (its publication date this time pushes it into next year – but it would have fitted interestingly on this year’s shortlist: it has the enigmatic nature of “Study for Obedience” and could almost be seen as a precursor to the Ireland in which “Prophet Song “ is set).

The novel itself has as its narrator – Nealon. At the book’s opening Nealon returns, after a lengthy period in prison on remand, to the remote West of Ireland farmhouse in which he grew up with his father (his mother having died at the time of his birth) and in which he later lived with his wife (of three years) Olwyn and young child Cuan. Neither of these are present when he returns but instead he receives a series of calls from an unknown person (who seems to know a lot about Nealon) saying that they have useful information they can share.

In the novel’s first section “Country Feedback” we learn more of Nealon’s domestic life, including the “origin story or creation myth” of his marriage – abducting Olwyn from a Dublin house where she was an addict and fleeing with her back home where she fought both her addiction and, very violently, Nealon. Meanwhile the calls continue – the man proposing the two of them meet.

The second section “No Traffic and a Dry Road” takes place as Nealon drives back across the country – reflecting on Cuan, on the deterioration in his marriage when he was in prison, and on his time in prison where National Geographic became his link to the world: with his journey taking place against the backdrop of a country wide security alert – the country going into almost lockdown as a result of some unspecified but rapidly evolving national security threat.

The third section “This Plague of Souls” takes place in Dublin as Nealon and his persistent caller meet – the man doing most of the talking, telling Nealon what he has pieced together of his life (so filling in for us as reader some things that were not entirely clear) while also proposing his view on Nealon’s involvement in a large scale and far-fetched, life/health insurance related, seemingly globally philanthropically related fraud (so re-confusing us as a reader) while also proposing an alternative explanation for the security thread immediately ahead of a national announcement on it (which is about to happen as the book closes).

Overall this is a fascinating and timely examination of 2023 society, speaking to the local consequences of our global hyperconnected world: its backdrop of growing security threats (both actual and perceived) and the way in which the state and society reacts to them; to the increasing prevalence of organised and national cyber-crime and activity; and to the complex and conflicted influence of the more extreme end of the effective altruism movement.

Recommended for those who want a novel which aims to provoke reflection via allusion and ambiguity, rather than to present a story neatly tied up and packaged.

The somewhat chilly metaphysicals of Damon Galgut, with no easy resolution 3.5 rating

Nealon, a man who has been absent for some time – we will discover why – returns to his isolated family home, to find his wife and child are nowhere to be seen. His texts and phone calls are unanswered. And a man, from an unknown number, with an unfamiliar voice, is continually calling, wanting to meet up……

This is beautifully written, unsettling, slowly immersive – and, mercifully, compared to what seems like a trend for writing overlong books which would have been better for substantial cutting – under 200 pages.

Unfortunately though, I never found myself engaged in my heart or guts.

Here is a fine thought provoking exploration of :’what price must be paid, and by whom, where someone, for whatever laudable reasons, has a Messianic mission to alleviate suffering’ Who shall be saved, and who, in the real world we live in, might be harmed by the saving of others.

This ultimately philosophical debate is wrapped up in the guise of some kind of investigative mystery.

It’s a clever book, a book which invites thought. This reader though, wanted to feel more engaged, more invested in the journey of fictional characters, less like an onlooker.

This is a creative and introspective book that promises a lot! You progress mainly through the thoughts and strange inexplicable experiences of the main character. It is difficult to discern the many plot layers! Unfortunately the book is ultimately disappointing - despite me being hooked in and desperate to find out what on earth it was all about!

The author demonstrated enough talent to show he is of significant substance and one to watch. I just did not get this book!

The MC, Nealon, arrives home after a lengthy absence. The house is deserted, both his son Cuan and his wife Olwyn no longer living there. Despite trying to contact Olwyn, there is no reply. What he does get is a caller professing to know him, about him, and wanting to meet him. The caller will not give his name, but over the days, Nealon’s interest is aroused.

This book is very atmospheric, with the opening totally captivating. Beautifully written and very descriptive. All appears to be going well!

The first 75% of this book was a real treat, sadly the last part was a struggle, and the ending very sudden! Did we get it all? Is this a case of style over substance? If so, maybe I’m not the target audience.

This is my first Mike McCormack, and as a great admirer of Irish literature, perhaps I expected too much.

As others have said, a really difficult book to review, but I can only give my best shot.

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

This novel needed to be read whilst wearing your thinking cap! Nealon has arrived home from a spell in prison, to an empty house, even his wife and son are not there. I found it a strange story and difficult to get to grips with what was actually happening- expecting it to come clear the further into the book I read, but no. Obviously some readers will enjoy it, unfortunately I didn’t really.

Beautiful, beautiful writing that draws you straight in, but…. Oh what a cliff-hanger of an ending. For the full review go to https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/728867376482926592/this-plague-of-souls-by-mike-mccormack-a-wonderful