In Kala, lyrical prose meets compulsive crime thriller: I devoured this book!
Kala follows three old friends from the West Irish coast who find themselves together for the first time in years in the town where, fifteen years earlier, their wild and intoxicating ringleader, Kala Lanan disappeared. Though they are now adults, worlds apart, Helen, Joe and Mush are all still reckoning with the traumatic events of that summer, and, when history begins to repeat itself, the dark secrets, past and present, of their pleasant tourist hometown begin to unfold at an insatiable pace.
I was sceptical at first that this was going to be another formulaic “sleepy town is rocked by tragic and mysterious event involving wild and reckless teenagers” novel. However, I’m always happy to be proved wrong, as was the case on this occasion.
Walsh successfully marries heady poetic prose with the pace required for a crime thriller, helped by his switching between past and present, as well as narrator, rotating between the perspectives of Helen, Joe and Mush. I thought his characterisations were insightful and multidimensional; although there are a lot of characters to get your head around, not one of them feels superfluous or there for the sake of it.
What also sets Walsh apart is his almost cinematic imagery. He manages to portray the action-scenes at the end of the novel so viscerally, one of the hardest things to convey through the written word.
If you like thrillers that don’t compromise on beautiful imagery, in-depth characterisation and a sense of place, then you’ll love this book. Fans of The Girls by Emma Cline and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, will be equally drawn in by the irresistible and mysterious figure of Kala.
A perfect bit of escapism as the autumn nights begin to draw in!
Lauren
Buy it here: Kala: ‘A spectacular read for Donna Tartt and Tana French fans’ a book by Colin Walsh. (bookshop.org)