,” seep across the page like black mold. Oh, there’s action in this thriller, too — fights! kidnapping! extortion! — but what’s most harrowing takes place in the penumbra of small-town crime where hopes are snuffed out and opportunities are cauterized.Barrett, who moved to Ireland as a child, has spent more than a decade publishing short stories. His first collection, “” , won several awards, but with this lithe novel, he’s sure to find a wider audience.
Through the night rain, a car drives up to the house. Two thugs have arrived, the Ferdia brothers: one freighted with “the curated muscle of a gym freak,” the other “with a face on him like a vandalised church.” They reek of feral aggression, their moments of courtesy simply a pose of sarcastic playacting. “You could never tell what lines they would elect to cross,” Barrett writes, “because they did not know either.