FICTION

Fiction reviews Non-Fiction reviews Books for Younger Readers Author Interviews Books News and Features Books Home Page
Merry Christmas Xmas holiday. Brother sisters children kids reading magic Christmas story book near Christmas tree in living roo
Festive books to delight younger readers
A festive game of football at Croke Park, a deep dive into the lovely, icky grossness of Ireland's wildlife and the return of old favourites in Oliver Jeffers' new book enchant Pet O'Connell 

Fri, 13 Dec, 2024

Book review: Human nature through an ancient lens
Book review: Human nature through an ancient lens
Despite the absence of any levity, 'Let These Things be Written' is thoroughly engaging. It drives home our common humanity, regardless of the era in question

Sat, 07 Dec, 2024

Cheltenham Literature Festival 2021
Book review: Mystery in loyalty and betrayal
'The Blue Hour' is the fourth novel from the author of the bestseller 'The Girl on the Train', which sold more than 23m copies worldwide

Sat, 07 Dec, 2024

Book review: Humanity at its best and worst
Book review: Humanity at its best and worst
These short stories are a kind of 'Tales of the Unexpected' with the reader immersed in various scenarios before the sometimes surprising revelations are made

Sat, 30 Nov, 2024

Book review: Nesbø’s bloody and brilliant page-turner
Book review: Nesbø’s bloody and brilliant page-turner
'Blood Ties' interrogates the meaning of family and takes a close look at the adage that blood runs thicker than water

Sat, 30 Nov, 2024

Irish Novelist John Connolly Participates In Vlc Negra Festival
Book review: When nine tales simply isn’t enough
The eclectic mix of stories in John Connolly's 'Night & Day' blends traditional spooky horror and supernatural sci-fi

Sat, 16 Nov, 2024

Book review: Thrill and shame of the flame
Book review: Thrill and shame of the flame
You will hurtle through John Boyne's 'Fire' because it is such a compelling story, and so cleverly written

Sat, 16 Nov, 2024

Ali Smith
Book review: Strange future to navigate
Ali Smith is one of the UK’s leading novelists. Born in Inverness in 1962, she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize four times and won several major prizes

Sat, 09 Nov, 2024

Book review: ‘Bodies’ tries to get into the minds of men
Book review: ‘Bodies’ tries to get into the minds of men
This clever and subversive novel tracks protagonist Charlotte as she navigates a series of toxic relationships with men 

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024

Book review: A tale of good and evil with some homespun philosophy served up too
Book review: A tale of good and evil with some homespun philosophy served up too
If a 'mom and apple-pie' story utilising Bible quotations and sentimental romance is your cuppa, 'Counting Miracles' is the book for you

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024

Booker Prize 2004 shortlisted author Ala
Book review: Sublime characterisation and empathy make a novel to savour
Alan Hollinghurst's 'Our Evenings' — a doorstopper at almost 500 pages — is a novel to read slowly and to savour

Sat, 12 Oct, 2024

Book review: From shell-shocked to thinking ‘War is easy’
Book review: From shell-shocked to thinking ‘War is easy’
'Hide Away' is an astute character study concerned with guilt, betrayal (personal and public), and the secret lives of those we love

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Five minutes with ... Richard Osman on making movies
Book review: Deep characters, humour and mystery outline an entertaining murder tale
'We Solve Murders' is an entertaining read, fast paced, bewildering so at times as the settings change so rapidly, and always great fun

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Book review: Themes crash together in sea playground
Book review: Themes crash together in sea playground
Richards Powers’ 'Playground' unfolds its themes via four principal characters and opens on the French Polynesian atoll of Makatea

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024

Book review: Sally Rooney's fourth novel a slow burn that unfolds into a satisfying read
Book review: Sally Rooney's fourth novel a slow burn that unfolds into a satisfying read
Intermezzo is being marked with late-night release parties from London to New York

Tue, 24 Sep, 2024

Book review: Munich air disaster occurred when football showcased community values
Book review: Munich air disaster occurred when football showcased community values
David Peace, who wrote 'The Damned United', has produced a dramatised account of the events before, during, and after the crash

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

Book review: Living after a history of abuse
Book review: Living after a history of abuse
Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Women Behind The Door’ picks up from Paula Spencer’s last outing in 2006

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

US Chess Championship
Intermezzo: How accurate is the chess play in Sally Rooney’s new book?
Mark Watkins of the Cork Chess Club appraise the novel's chess bona fides

Fri, 20 Sep, 2024

Is that... is that a visit to Cork in the latest Richard Osman book?
Is that... is that a visit to Cork in the latest Richard Osman book?
Yes, they're in Cork where 'the city’s charming streets hide dark secrets'

Mon, 16 Sep, 2024

Book review: Graham Norton’s novel will dominate the bestseller list for many months
Book review: Graham Norton’s novel will dominate the bestseller list for many months
'Frankie' is a triumph, popular fiction at its best, and is beautifully crafted and impeccably researched, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows

Sun, 15 Sep, 2024

Book review: Bronte sisters revisited in 'Charlotte'
Book review: Bronte sisters revisited in 'Charlotte'
Martina Devlin’s engaging historical novel is based on the bare biographical bones of the Brontes' Irish roots

Sat, 14 Sep, 2024

The Hay Festival 2019
Book review: Tribulations of men a Greek myth
In Pat Barker’s salty retelling, Homeric grandees like Odysseus, Paris, and Achilles are dismissed in passing as venal brutes

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Bob’s big heart shines through in 'Tell me Everything'
Book review: Bob’s big heart shines through in 'Tell me Everything'
Elizabeth Strout’s latest dispatch from Maine is another life-enhancing read and a beautiful testament to the power of love and friendship

Sat, 07 Sep, 2024

Book review: Dark horror story from king of Belfast noir is gutwrenching
Book review: Dark horror story from king of Belfast noir is gutwrenching
Stuart Neville ticks all the horror boxes in 'Blood Like Mine' — a terrible tale that has no neat ending

Sat, 24 Aug, 2024

What Tracy Beaker creator Dame Jacqueline Wilson really thinks about children's books written by celebrities
Book review: When adult life isn’t what you imagined it would be as a teenager
'Think Again' is an adult sequel to Jacqueline Wilson's 'Girls' series, and explores the theme of parenting as your children grow up

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Lecturer reading a book in the university library, looking exhausted and tired from studying. Sleeping on stacks of books.
S David O'Mahony: Embrace the messy nature of leaving books unfinished
You know that ever-growing pile of books that you keep meaning to get to and yet, for a myriad of good reasons, don’t? Although, let’s face it, if you’re a bibliophile at all it’s probably multiple piles.

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Book review: Convincing tale of dysfunction and abuse
Book review: Convincing tale of dysfunction and abuse
A university lecturer is confronted with her past after she gets an email 30 years after her attendance at an exclusive girls’ secondary school in Dublin, saying: 'I know what you did... If you testify, I’ll tell them everything.'

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024

Book review: Weaving together the singular and collective tales of North Tipperary
Book review: Weaving together the singular and collective tales of North Tipperary
Donal Ryan gives a voice to people seldom featured in contemporary fiction, including older men and women, the intellectually disabled, and eccentric outsiders

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Book review: A study in panic is quite a relaxed read
Book review: A study in panic is quite a relaxed read
'One Perfect Stranger' is guaranteed to keep your mind off work as you stretch out on the beach, settle into a long international train journey or relax into a warming spa bath

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Hay Festival 2022
Book review: Historical meets modern day
'There are Rivers in the Sky' is a sprawling, inventive novel that will amuse you no end, and is bound to make you think

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

Book review: A look through the lens of reality TV
Book review: A look through the lens of reality TV
In the unexpected and shocking story of 'One Perfect Couple' Ruth Ware has something to say about reality games and invasive misogyny

Sat, 27 Jul, 2024

Book review: Compulsive read drawn from shadows
Book review: Compulsive read drawn from shadows
'First Wife’s Shadow' is such a compulsive read, it’s so full of plot twists, and it’s a clever exploration of love and desire, jealousy, deceit and obsession

Sat, 20 Jul, 2024

Book review: Murder most foul but innocent man named as guilty party by sociopath
Book review: Murder most foul but innocent man named as guilty party by sociopath
Steve Cavanagh's 'Witness 8' is a  psychological thriller, a gripping page-turner with many twists and turns

Sat, 20 Jul, 2024

Review: Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett light up Bantry
Review: Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett light up Bantry
West Cork Literary Festival event resplendent in sunshine as Maeve Higgins guides the chat for budding writers

Thu, 18 Jul, 2024

Book review: Dying days of men who kill
Book review: Dying days of men who kill
In his latest novel, 'Cross', Austin Duffy presents another gutful of fear

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024

Book review: A vision of a predatory and callow world
Book review: A vision of a predatory and callow world
Olivia Petter's 'Gold Rush' is set in 2017, just before #MeToo, and the fall of Harvey Weinstein — before, in other words, there was a strong new context for exposing sexual exploitation by powerful men

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024

Book review: Secrets and sex in Amsterdam
Book review: Secrets and sex in Amsterdam
The quiet opening section may deter readers impatient with the smallness of Isabel’s world, but it is worth persevering to enjoy a memorable, beautifully told story

Sat, 06 Jul, 2024

Book review: A jilted girl, her ex, a lover and his ex
Book review: A jilted girl, her ex, a lover and his ex
Sheila O'Flanagan's 'The Honeymoon Affair' is an entertaining novel and there are some humorous passages

Sat, 06 Jul, 2024

Book review: Odd couple are quite the sister act
Book review: Odd couple are quite the sister act
Lucy Dillon's 'Irresponsible Adult' begins as a light-hearted story and evolves into something else, revealing how life-changing some events may be

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Kaleidoscope of lives put on Parade
Book review: Kaleidoscope of lives put on Parade
Rachel Cusk's latest 'novel' takes a bigger step away from convention, having no plot, and very little character development or scene-setting

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Historian’s debut novel set in Dublin of 1866 centres on infanticide case
Book review: Historian’s debut novel set in Dublin of 1866 centres on infanticide case
Juliana Adelman’s ‘The Grateful Water’ is a promising debut, and there’s enough here to keep you guessing

Sat, 29 Jun, 2024

Book review: Poking fun at Northern Ireland’s preoccupation with symbols and identity
Book review: Poking fun at Northern Ireland’s preoccupation with symbols and identity
Humour is in the foreground of most of these deftly-written stories, but occasionally heartbreak becomes the drumbeat

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Book review: Portrait of Bacon in a different light
Book review: Portrait of Bacon in a different light
An absorbing and engaging read

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Beginner’s Pluck: Oisín McKenna
Beginner’s Pluck: Oisín McKenna
An addictive book and a name to watch

Sat, 22 Jun, 2024

Book review: ‘One of the best writers of short stories’
Book review: ‘One of the best writers of short stories’
The stories in Lucy Caldwell's third collection, 'Openings', are thoughtful, compassionate, and often spiked with dry humour

Sat, 15 Jun, 2024

FRANCE-US-LITERATURE-STEPHEN-KING
Book review: Stephen King's latest offering will delight both long-term fans and newcomers
'You Like It Darker' is 76-year-old author's 13th story collection

Sun, 09 Jun, 2024

Book review: Entranced in the mountain
Book review: Entranced in the mountain
In Rónán Hession's 'Ghost Mountain' the reader is taken on a life journey, experiencing loss of drive and love and direction

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: Lives of eccentric characters in small village brilliantly captured
Book review: Lives of eccentric characters in small village brilliantly captured
Orla Mackey's 'Mouthing' is a compelling and highly entertaining read; it is a brilliant debut

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: The best of Kevin Barry’s novels to date
Book review: The best of Kevin Barry’s novels to date
'The Heart in Winter' is a realistic take on the Western, avoiding cliches and emphasising the dangers and discomforts of outlaw life

Sat, 01 Jun, 2024

Book review: A novel of ideas that engages the reader on many levels
Book review: A novel of ideas that engages the reader on many levels
The Alternatives  Caoilinn Hughes  Oneworld, £18. 99  The Alternatives exudes confidence.

Sat, 18 May, 2024

Latest

Scene & Heard
Newsletter

Music, film art, culture, books and more from Munster and beyond.......curated weekly by the Irish Examiner Arts Editor.

Sign up
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

Examiner Group Echo Limited ©