Details:
- author: Mike McCormack
- full title: This Plague of Soul
- narrator: Dan Murphy
- genre: literary fiction
- topics: #mystery, #noir
- publisher: Recorded Books
- publish date: 02 Jan 2024
- timing: 4:33:00
My Rating of the Audiobook:
- content: 💙💙💙💙
- narration: 💙💙💙💙💙
Excerpt from the Book:
Opening the door and crossing the threshold in the dark triggers the phone in Nealon's pocket. He lowers his bag to the floor and looks at the screen; it’s not a number he recognises. For the space of one airless heart beat he has a sense of things drifting sideways, draining over an edge.
--
There is something coercive in the flow of the house, the way it draws him through it. These are doors that have to be opened, rooms that have to be entered and stood in. He catches himself looking up and examining the ceiling. What does he expect to find there?
My Thoughts:
Nealon returns home from the prison and finds his house empty. No sign of his wife and son. As soon as he enters his home, the phone rings. He is called by a stranger who knows a lot about him. There are even more calls throughout the book. Who is the stranger calling him? Where are his wife and child?
I don’t know how I feel about the ending (I believe this is the primary reason for some negative reviews). But I can honestly say I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the mystery for at least three-quarters of the novel. The ending was a little baffling, but still, I wouldn’t exactly say it was bad.
This novel is the second part of a triptych. But it is a standalone novel. The first novel in the triptych is Solar Bones, which won The Goldsmiths Prize in 2016. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m very tempted to read it right away.
This Plague of Souls is a very atmospheric read. The author is very sparse with details and builds tension with his writing. There’s not much plot, and not much is going on. At the same time, it’s pretty tense. The sentences are perfected, and the writing sounds poetic.
I would recommend the audio format because the narrator, Dan Murphy, is excellent.
About the Author:
Mike McCormack is an award-winning novelist and short story writer from the West of Ireland. His work includes Getting it in the Head (1995), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Notes from a Coma (2005), shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award and Forensic Songs (2012). He was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (1996) and a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship (2007)
Solar Bones, his current novel, won the Goldsmiths Prize 2016, the BGE Irish Novel of the Year Award 2016, BGE Irish Book of the Year Award 2016 and nominated for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
About the Narrator:
Dan Murphy is the lead singer for Irish band Hermitage Green. He has previously worked in casting for voice artists at Global Radio in Leicester Square London.
He has a deep and resonant voice with a slight Southern Irish accent.
