Kala is the latest in a string of Celtic (Irish and Scottish) books that I have greatly enjoyed. In his acknowledgements Walsh puts this run of Irish writing successes down to the Arts Council funding he received and the impact of their funding on the Irish Writers Centre. The SNP or future coalitions in Scotland would do well to imitate this investment in the arts and culture.
This terrific thriller opens with ‘the gang’ 15 and foolish sitting on their bikes at the top of a steep hill goading each other on to ride down the hill towards a narrow gap in the wall that takes them across the main road between onrushing cars to the field on the other side. This death defying stunt is a metaphor for the rest of their lives a deep dark plunge into an abyss of fear and death.
The gang: Kala, Aoife, Helen, Aidan, Joe and Mush live in rural Ireland in a village called Kinlough. It’s not the sort of place you’d expect murders and disappearances, but this is exactly what transpires when days after the hill-cycle Kala disappears, never to return.
Brought back together some 15 or so years later Joe has become a pop superstar, Helen a Canadian Freelance journalist but the rest of the gang have stayed at home, and although still great friends, grudge the glamorous lives of these two protagonists.
They’re back for a wedding that never happens because Kala’s murder is confirmed on the day of Helen’s arrival, when her bones turn up on a local building site.
The gang, led by Helen, attempt to understand what has happened and in the process discover a nightmarish underworld of low life scum. Something they were completely unaware of until now.
Told as point of view by Joe, Helen and Mush in alternating short chapters the story freely flows between now and their childhoods as the truth slowly reveals itself through a pretty hefty cast of 21 characters, mostly related to each other in some form.
In many ways it’s a procedural story, but the quality of writing (from award winning short story teller, Colin Walsh, in this his first novel) is considerably above average with outstanding descriptive prose that never misses a beat. He also nicely mixes the tenses with Mush and Helen speaking in first person and Joe in third person omniscient – which makes you think maybe he has stuff to hide.
It’s a great character study and a rip roaring yarn, so it’s difficult to imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy this. So do yourself a favour. Go Irish this year. And then go see the movie, that it surely must evolve into.
And if you have room for more of an Irish bent I highly recommend (the much more complex but truly brilliant) Milkman by Anna Burns that recently won the Booker).
gibberish 