This is a stunningly well written Irish novel about two people caught up in a world of drugs and violence which is by no means of their own making.
Dev who has inherited his mother’s country house and her elderly dog Georgie, is so depressed and antisocial that he allows his home to be used as a drug dealer’s storage spot and a place where a teenage boy, Doll, is taken hostage to force his older brother to pay his debts. Dev tries to help Doll in the only way he knows how while Doll’s orphaned and hard working girlfriend Nicky is also caught up in events.
Dev’s and Nicky’s paths do not cross but they are parallel misfits, sort of two good for the seamy environment they find themselves in.
I wasn’t too keen on the plot but the writing and dialogue and what we see of the characters is fabulously well done. Georgie the dog is a particularly well drawn character.