Published: 3rd September 2020
★ 1 star
DESCRIPTION:
Nessa Crowley's murderer has been protected by silence for ten years.
Until a team of documentary makers decide to find out the truth.
On the day of Henry and Keelin Kinsella's wild party at their big house a violent storm engulfed the island of Inisrun, cutting it off from the mainland. When morning broke Nessa Crowley's lifeless body lay in the garden, her last breath silenced by the music and the thunder.
The killer couldn't have escaped Inisrun, but on-one was charged with the murder. The mystery that surrounded the death of Nessa remained hidden. But the islanders knew who to blame for the crime that changed them forever.
Ten years later a documentary crew arrives, there to lift the lid off the Kinsella's carefully constructed lives, determined to find evidence that will prove Henry's guilt and Keelin's complicity in the murder of beautiful Nessa.
In this bold, brilliant, disturbing new novel Louise O'Neill shows that deadly secrets are devastating to those who hold them close.
MY REVIEW:
I really hate it when a premise to a book promises something so much more than the book itself actually offers. Such was the case with AFTER THE SILENCE by Louise O'Neill. What was meant to be about the ten year anniversary of the murder of Nessa Crowley ended up something far more discombobulated to the point of boring and uninteresting.
Ten years have passed since the brutal murder of Nessa Crowley during the Kinsellas party and no one has every been charged or convicted of her murder. Now a documentary team of two from Australia have arrived to hopefully shed some light on that fateful night in an attempt to uncover what really happened.
Keelin and Henry Kinsella are prime suspects, having been vilified by the local residents of the island of Inisrun, where they live. Their children have grown up and lived in the shadow of Nessa's murder, their daughter escaping to boarding school in Scotland at age 11 simply to escape the notoriety and be somewhere where no one knows her family or what happened. Alex has withdrawn and keeps to himself.
Keelin is a native of the island, having escaped an abusive marriage with her young son Alex. Apparently a fortune teller had predicted that her husband would only have daughters so therefore his birth proved that Keelin had been unfaithful to him. Upon returning to the island, Henry took an interest in her and provided her the comfort and security she longed for.
But the Kinsellas are not liked on Inisrun. The resentment of the locals towards them is palpable, made loud and clear. Keelin is now an outcast to the island she was born on, having sold herself out by marrying a Kinsella.
And then on the night of her 37th birthday party, young Nessa Crowley was found murdered in their garden with the suspicion placed firmly on Henry and on Keelin for somehow protecting him.
I thought I was reading a murder mystery thriller but it felt more like a noir version of Days of our Lives. I really didn't care for anyone. Not one character. Henry is coercive and attention-seeking. Keelin is submissive and weak. Alex is a shadow who'd rather not come out of his room. Evie is a stubborn teenager who knows it all. Noah and Jake, the film makers...didn't really form an opinion of them in as far as I read. Because to be honest, I couldn't finish it.
But one of my biggest gripes in AFTER THE SILENCE is the prolific use of the Irish tongue. While I understand that the story is set in a part of Ireland where Irish is the primary spoken language, many readers are not proficient in such a language so for them it is completely foreign. Either there was the constant use of the native tongue or Keelin drifting off into fairyland, as she so often did.
AFTER THE SILENCE is a difficult read in my opinion. If not for the mere fact that I struggled to reach 20% before chucking it in through sheer boredom and for want of something far more thrilling. While this book is not for everyone due to it's content matter, it wasn't for me for other reasons entirely.
Having been promised thrills and mystery, I felt cheated with only boredom and frustration.
I would like to thank #LouiseONeill, #NetGalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #AfterTheSilence in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Louise O' Neill is from Clonakilty, in west Cork. After graduating with a BA in English Studies at Trinity College Dublin, she went on to complete a post-grad in Fashion Buying at DIT. Having spent a year in New York working for Kate Lanphear, the senior Style Director of ELLE magazine, she returned home to Ireland to write her first novel.
She went from hanging out on set with A-list celebrities to spending most of her days in pyjamas while she writes, and has never been happier.
Social Media links:
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