Tag: Set in Ireland

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The Counting Game by Sinéad Nolan: A haunting debut where myth and fear blur in the Irish woods

Mandy Webster

Two children walk into the woods, and only one returns. From that chilling premise, The Counting Game by Sinéad Nolan unfolds into an atmospheric psychological mystery that lingers long after the final page. Releasing April 7, 2026, this debut crime novel turns a rural Irish legend into something far more unsettling: a story where the real danger might be human—or something else entirely.

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Set in southwest Ireland in 1995, the novel opens with the disappearance of thirteen-year-old Saoirse Kellough. She vanished while playing the so-called “Counting Game” in the forest with her younger brother, Jack. The rules are simple: go into the woods, count to ten, and stay hidden. The problem is that only Jack comes out. Worse still, he refuses to speak about what happened.

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Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth: Obsession, family loyalty, and the danger of loving too much

Mandy Webster

Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth is a gothic, psychologically rich literary novel that burrows under your skin and stays there. Set in 1965 in the quietly watchful town of Ballycrea, the story opens with the arrival of the O’Leary siblings, whose carefully guarded past and tightly bound loyalty to one another immediately raise questions no one is quite asking out loud.

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Following her acclaimed novel Sunburn, Howarth once again writes with precision and restraint, layering unease rather than rushing toward easy answers. At its heart, this is a novel about grief and survival, and about what happens when sibling devotion turns inward and begins to do real harm. The O’Learys have lost their parents and, in the absence of any other safety net, have clung to one another so fiercely that none of them are truly allowed to grow.

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It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara: A suburban nightmare fueled by gossip, boredom, and bad timing

Mandy Webster

In It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara, a single, careless message detonates inside a pristine, affluent neighborhood—and what follows is a sharp reminder that the most dangerous places are often the ones that look the safest. This latest thriller from the #1 international bestselling author of All Her Fault leans hard into what I like to call Suburban Gothic, where the manicured lawns and friendly group chats conceal resentment, entitlement, and secrets desperate to stay buried.

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Susan is a tired, overwhelmed mother on maternity leave, the kind of woman who feels invisible and slightly feral after too many sleepless nights. When she vents to her sisters about her neighbors—only to accidentally send the message to the entire local WhatsApp group—the damage is instant and irreversible. Even though she deletes it, the truth has already escaped, and the neighborhood’s fragile sense of civility begins to crack.

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Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan: A gripping Irish mystery with unforgettable, flawed women

Mandy Webster

On the night of the Summer Solstice in 1999, nine-year-old Roisin O’Halloran vanished into the Hanging Woods, a copse that had terrified generations of children in the small Irish town of Bannakilduf. Twenty years later, her disappearance remains a shadow over the town—and over the two women now drawn together to uncover the truth: Roisin’s older sister, Deedee, a rookie cop barely holding herself together, and Caitlin, Roisin’s childhood best friend and a petty criminal with a penchant for deception and risky behavior. In Darkrooms, Rebecca Hannigan delivers a lush, moody thriller that explores guilt, justice, and the dangerous ways past traumas shape the present.

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If you’re a fan of unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators, this novel is made for you. Caitlin lies, steals, and teeters on the edge of self-destruction, and you’re never quite sure whether to believe her confessions—or whether they hint at something even darker.

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