Nightmare novels set in dreamy Irish locations

Who doesn’t love a good moody Irish setting? That’s the pivotal theme to my latest thriller The Returned, which sees heavily pregnant detective Ally Fields return to her hometown of Currolough, Country Kerry to investigate a devastating house fire. I  enjoy writing in the first person so that readers can feel that intimacy with a lead character, like Ally who is flawed and relatable.

I also like to use settings like tiny Irish villages to enhance the often insular nature of locals protecting their own. The picturesque settings in my books (we are spoilt with them here in Ireland) usually happen by the sea to create mood and tension and which include the landscape as character.

But I’ve chosen three books that reflect similar that I think readers will enjoy.

Lucy Foley The Guest list

It’s a terrifying concept – a wedding on a remote island off the Irish coast where the electricity goes out.

A spinetingling scream kicks the book off this propulsive thriller off like a starter gun and the pace continues throughout.

As the lights come back on, a body turns up.  But is this murder? In The Guest List, Foley weaves some classic Agatha Christie magic, but with a refreshing twist. I loved that the book is set in the wilds of the west coast of Ireland where the sea and landscape adds to the sense of foreboding.

The locked room craze is intriguing for a reason – that similar isolation is expertly played upon by Foley who has cut guests off from the mainland as the secrets unravel one by one.

A layered, nuanced read where the reader doesn’t even know who-croaked-it let alone who-done-it until the very satisfying end

E.V Kelly Her Last Words

It’s a crisp spring morning when Cass drops her husband, a respected lecturer, to the beach for his medically prescribed swim. While waiting for him, something catches her eye. A young woman runs towards her husband and embraces him – until he holds his hand over her face and she falls down on the stones, dead.

Kelly has created a stunning premise for her debut novel. Set on Dublin’s rocky Killiney beach, the book is about Cass’s solitary quest to unravel what has taken place.

The atmospheric setting of the waves lapping, the shingly stones crunching and the moody sky continues through this edge-of-your-seat read about obsession and dark secrets coming to light.

Sophie White Where I End

Ideas of neglect and abandonment as well as isolation run throughout Where I End, a tense shocking literary debut from the Irish writer and journalist. This story is about an incapacitated mother being cared for by her teenage daughter.

I loved the desolation White created on the remote island inspired by Inis Meáin. With cliffs on one end, a sandy beach on the other, White describes how she was walking one day with her husband when she felt an explicable sense of dread. “It wasn’t just wild and windswept and any of those clichés, it was actually more the stillness and the strangeness of it. And I noticed it was really getting to my husband as well, this kind of dread seeping up into us from the rocks and the sky and the ocean. This feeling is planted directly into the book, where the borders between landscape and psyche feel porous.”

Although more of a horror story about the girl’s efforts to find motherly love, the environment plays a huge part in creating mood and suspense. A warning thought, you’ll need a strong stomach for the harrowing ending.

And of course, my own.

The Returned

A grieving mother. Nancy Wills refuses to believe her son died in the Currolough blaze six years ago. She was the one who ran back inside their home to get him, but claims his cot was empty. Then she tells officers she’s spotted him at a playground, alive and well.

A devastating fire. Heavily pregnant Detective Ally Fields returns to the town where she grew up to investigate a fire at a local apartment block. But there are too many concerning connections leading her straight back to a cold case fire from six years ago in which Nancy Wills’ child died.

A town protecting secrets. This isn’t the first time the town of Currolough has seen tragedy As Ally tries to piece together the truth behind the little boy’s identity, she battles to come to terms with her own childhood memories.  She thought she’d laid them to rest when she left twenty years ago. But the past won’t always stay buried.

Described by author legend as “an emotional gut punch”,  The Returned is perfect for fans of Sharp Objects and The Missing. 

Happy reading!