Wild Houses

By: Colin Barrett

Narrated by: Damian Gildea

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The riotous, raucous, and deeply resonant debut novel from “one of the best story writers in the English language today” (Financial Times), Wild Houses follows two outsiders caught in the crosshairs of a small-town revenge kidnapping gone awry.

With his acclaimed and award-winning collections Young Skins and Homesickness Colin Barrett cemented his reputation as one of contemporary Irish literature’s most daring stylists. Praised by the Oprah Daily as “a doyen of the sentence”, and by the Los Angeles Times as a writer of “unique genius”, Barrett now expands his canvas with a debut novel that contains as much grit, plot, and linguistic energy as any of his celebrated short stories.

As Ballina prepares for its biggest weekend of the year, introspective loner Dev answers his door on Friday night to find Doll English—younger brother of small-time local dealer Cillian English—bruised and in the clutches of Gabe and Sketch Ferdia, County Mayo’s fraternal enforcers and Dev’s cousins. Dev’s quiet homelife is upturned as he is quickly and unwillingly drawn headlong into the Ferdias' frenetic revenge plot against Cillian. Meanwhile, Doll’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Nicky, reeling from a fractious Friday and plagued by ghosts and tragedy of her own, sets out on a feverish mission to save Doll, even as she questions her future in Ballina.

Set against Barrett’s trademark depictions of small town Irish life, Wild Houses is the thrillingly told story of two outsiders striving to find themselves as their worlds collapse in chaos and violence.

©2024 Colin Barrett. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Insider look at a small crime

I found this book intriguing, scary, and sometimes a bit funny.

I loved that the author used a small bit of crime to look at the interactions between individuals, the formation and maintenance of relationships, and their internal struggles. Although at first, some of the dialogue can seem mundane, it is what was important to these characters at the time. Many times common dialogue is used to convey messages with greater weight.

In the first hour of reading, I found the heavy accent of the reader a bit thick. But, it was no problem as I became used to it. And it is thick; as thick and meaningful as the rain, threats, anger, shame, smells, and confusion.

(SMALL PLOT REVEAL) The story doesn't end with some giant twist. I actually enjoyed that. I had guessed that one character might do this, or another character might do that...but they didn't. No one became a superhero or a super-villain. They just stayed in character. That was a twist that I couldn't have anticipated.

So, yes, I very much recommend this book. It lets you into the lives of a small group who are more or less the same as everyone else. It was interesting to me to discover which (more OR less). The people are real...so, my conclusion was more.

Complex characters

In-depth probes of the many, diverse characters added psychological interest, and the story line was suspenseful, if dark. Great dialogue throughout! But as a whole the narrative voice lacked cohesion and descriptions were overwritten in places, diminishing the impact.