After the Silence: a twisty page-turner of deadly secrets and an unsolved murder investigation

Product Information

After the Silence is the latest novel from journalist and multi-award-winning Irish author Louise O’Neill.

On the day of Henry and Keelin Kinsella’s wild party at their big house a violent storm engulfed the island of Inisrún, cutting it off from the mainland. In fact, it doesn’t come as a surprise at all if you’ve been paying attention, but that doesn’t stop After the Silence from drawing you in. Ten years later a documentary crew arrives, there to lift the lid off the Kinsella's carefully constructed lives, determined to find evidence that will prove Henry's guilt and Keelin's complicity in the murder of beautiful Nessa. The narration shifts between the events leading up to the party, and the present day where the crew consisting of Noah and Jake interview the Kinsellas and other people involved. Very clever writing that keeps you guessing throughout, and with a twist at the end that is very worrying.The only name that gets mentioned more than Misty Hill in award speeches is God, was his oft-repeated line at parties, the fifth glass of champagne slurring his voice. But when the body of a young woman was found in the garden the next day, life on the island changed forever. The resentment of the islanders towards the wealthy Kinsella family comes across loud and clear with plenty of tension, suspicion and mistrust. O’Neill appears to be prodding at our morbid fascination with true crime here - ‘salivating over the details, play-acting like a bunch of Nancy Drews, as if there’s not real people involved, real families torn-apart’, as one islander puts it. It kept me hooked on till the end to see what new evidence the crew will be able to reveal and whether the truth will actually be revealed or get buried again.

Her daughter would pause ever so slightly, giving Henry the opportunity to interject, lavishing praise upon the girl for her sense of civic responsibility.

He uses all the right phrases, condemns obvious incidents of sexism, tells Keelin she needs to listen to him “express his feelings” because isn’t communication important in a relationship? Atmospheric and eerie, I could feel the cold and damp of that tiny Irish island while, at the same time, felt suffocated by the events and the characters.