Recent Reading: Wild Houses

A turlough (literally dry lake in Irish) is a seasonal body of water that rises and drains depending on the underlying water table. They are believed to be (almost) unique to the west of Ireland. This geomorphological feature is a metaphor for Barrett’s story of someone dealing with the consequences of a loan he is unable to pay back leading to a less than well executed kidnapping. The book is, on the surface, a thriller; but what makes the story worth reading is the vivid characters in this rural section of Ireland, including Dev’s dead mom’s “increasingly unintrepid” little dog, the kidnapper who has “a face on him like a vandalised church,” or Doll puffing on a nearly defunct joint “like he was giving it CPR.” I liked Wild Houses and the book has many positive reviews, although I suspect that the book is not for everyone.