Kevin McManus – The Whole Of The Moon

This book is a quicker read than I usually read but it is has everything needed for a great read. I have read Kevin McManus’s work and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to settling down with this book.

Conor Doyle is haunted by his decisions: Decisions, they can change a life. They can take a life. In the winter of 1988 Conor returns from London to his native village of Ballinastrad in Western Ireland. What he thought would be a joyful reunion, reconnecting with family and friends, quickly becomes something more as he becomes drawn into the fallout surrounding a recent shocking crime. Relationships are tested and Conor must look deep inside himself to make his own decisions. Should he tell the Police or keep the secret? A captivating Irish crime story of jealousy and betrayal.

A crime story set in the 1980s and in Ireland. It begins as it means to go on, with a hit and run, that grabs you immediately. The decade it was set in, I loved. I was a teenager back then and can clearly remember needing to use the phone boxes. The memories came flooding back as I read this, the cassette tapes that we all used back them and the fact that everyone was free to smoke anywhere. I felt at home totally with this story.

We meet Conor who has returned home to Ireland and reconnected with old friends from college and they set about making the best of their time together until he has to return to work in London. What Conor doesn’t realise is that the bonds of friendship will be tested to the limit. The characterisations are great and I felt I was there with Conor, with the dilemma he is faced with.

Kevin McManus had me feeling the bitterness of the winter with his descriptions of the weather. The sense of place is a strong one as I felt I could have been in the village too.

I was so interested in how the story would work out that I read it in one day. It wasn’t a fast-paced story but one that I got wrapped up in pretty quickly. With an open-ended conclusion, I am pleased there is another book to come.

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Kevin McManus for the copy of the book.