Everyone should read this shocker of a book
It’s all Irish writers this week, with two thrillers, one ‘uplit’ novel, along with an explosive exposé on the state of modern medicine and a guide to becoming your own champion.
The Seventh Body, Catherine Kirwan, Hachette, 16.99
This smart police procedural moves at a rapid clip, introducing Detective Garda Alice McCann on duty in Cork city. She used to work in Dublin but an error of judgement that led to a mistrial has also led to her demotion and transfer. Six bodies are discovered on a building site for 46 new apartments in Cork city. The site foreman is livid. The bodies are not recent burials and although extensive archaeological work ensues, they will most likely end up as museum pieces.
Then a seventh body is discovered, that of a girl wearing platform trainers. Alice suspects she’s been there since the Spice Girls were at their height in the ’90s. And even though the girl’s body is mostly bone, Alice can see her face was badly damaged before she died. This case could make or break Alice’s career. That’s all I’m saying. But it’s a page-turner, worth the lack of sleep because you can’t leave it alone.
Obsession, Lucy O’Callaghan, Poolbeg, €16.99
There’s tension of a different kind in this story about a stalker and his victim. Rachel is a social worker who used to work in adoptions but has moved to the Hub, a drop-in centre for vulnerable adults. Peter avails of the services there and gets it into his head that Rachel, happily married with two children, is in love with him. She really isn’t.
Rachel’s husband Conor is approached by a young woman who insists she is his daughter. And Conor can’t bring himself to tell his wife. But Peter, ever the stalker and always popping up in the wrong places, sees Conor with this young woman, misconstrues the situation, and takes a photo which he passes on to Rachel. To say any more would be to spoil. The suspense simmers nicely and is then brought skilfully to the boil in O’Callaghan’s second thriller.
The Age of Diagnosis, Suzanne O’Sullivan, Hodder, €19.99
Subtitled ‘Sickness, health and why medicine has gone too far’, a lot has been written about this book already, and rightly so. Most descriptions use the word ‘brave’ and indeed it is. O’Sullivan, originally from Dublin and now a neurologist in London, has written candidly here about – among other things – the alarming rise in ADHD and Autism diagnoses in recent years. It’s off the charts.
And about how half a million Australians have Lyme disease, even though the Lyme-carrying tick is non-existent there. PTSD diagnoses are doled out for ordinary, upsetting life events. One third of children in the UK – one third of them – are allotted extra exam time, due to them having some ‘illness’ or other. Long Covid is psychosomatic. I could go on and on. And Big Pharma has its role in all of this, of course.
But ultimately, it’s doctors that need to straighten up and fly right, back-pedalling on their myriad diagnoses as well as their prescriptions.
Everyone should read this shocker of a book.
I Am, I Can, I Will, Gerry Hussey, Gill, €19.99
There’s a Cherokee story about each of us having two wolves in constant battle within us. One is a good wolf, positive and peace-loving. The other is a bad wolf, disruptive and full of negative energy. Which wolf ultimately wins? The one you feed. I was reminded of this story when reading Hussey’s book. He says we all have two voices in our heads. One says ‘Go for it, you only live once!’ And the other says ‘What’s the point? I’d rather finish Netflix’.
I’m maybe over-simplifying here as Hussey has much more to say, but his touchstone is that we all have an inner cheerleader and an inner critic. And time and time again, we listen not to the cheerleader but to the other fella; a condition he insists we’re not born with, but which is cultivated in our formative years.
The majority of us never realise our dreams, largely because of our inner critic. With some solid arguments, he hopes to guide us into silencing the inner critic and grabbing life by the… well, you know yourself.
It’s persuasive and convincing stuff, well thought out and full of common sense.
The Bookshop Ladies, Faith Hogan, Head of Zeus, €15.99
Newly published in paperback, Hogan’s latest novel involves another trip to her fictional village of Ballycove. Joy Blackwood, living in Paris and recently widowed, has no idea why her art dealer husband has left a painting in his will to Robin Tessier, the shy, apologetic bookshop owner who lives in Ballycove. But she’s determined to find out why and flies herself and the painting to Ireland to find out.
Robyn is having struggles of her own. And her mother in Dublin is also going through a rough patch, so lands in Ballycove to enjoy a peaceful break with her daughter. The lives of these three women will become deliciously entangled, as old family secrets come bubbling to the surface, determined to be exposed. Another heart warmer from Hogan, one to take out to the back yard while enjoying this unseasonal but most welcome sunshine.
Footnotes
It’s time to get out and about again and we’re spoilt for choice in the midlands. Tullynally Castle and Gardens are now reopened, Belvedere House and Gardens never closed. Fore is a beautiful monastic spot and so is Clonmacnoise.
There’s Birr Castle Demesne and there’s Cavan County Museum and beautiful walks in Cavan’s Farnham Estate. Strokestown House and Park, along with the Famine Museum are nearby, and so is the Maria Edgeworth Centre. Nearer the coast, Bettystown’s breathtaking new public library, built right on the seafront, is worth a visit.
New stretches of converted railways, now walking and bike trails, are opening all the time, though I’d prefer actual railways.
And, of course, Meath has Newgrange; kind of hard to beat that one ;). All of the above have websites you can google for details.