Colin Walsh’s debut, Kala, is an example of a book I started, didn’t get very far, abandoned, and then picked up again a few weeks later and fell into without trouble. It’s been called everything from “A thriller–and a lot more” (Roddy Doyle) and “A masterclass in building suspense” (The Washington Post). I think the book falls somewhere in the middle.
Helen, Mush, and Joe are childhood friends who grew up in Kinlough, Ireland. Helen, a journalist who has been living in Canada, and Joe, a big-time musician, don’t make it home very much, but Mush has never left. He works at his mother’s cafe and spends his time alone or with his teenage cousins, Donna and Marie. There used to be three other members of their circle of friends: Aidan, Aoife, and Kala.
We’re fifteen and it’s the summer of our lives–the whole town’s pure responsive to our energies.
At the end of that summer, though, Kala disappears. Now, fifteen years later, Joe and Helen end up back in Kinlough and their return coincides with the discovery of human remains.
The story is told from Helen, Joe and Mush’s perspectives as they recount that final fifteenth summer (Kala was Helen’s best friend and Joe’s girlfriend) and also examines who they are now. They have all been traumatized by that long ago event. When Helen starts to poke around, asking questions she wouldn’t haven’t known to ask at the time, it stirs up some long-buried secrets.
There are some scary people in Kinlough, including Aiden’s own father, Ger, and his gang. Everyone in town knows they are up to no good, including Joe’s father, Dudley, a member of the local Guarda. If you are going to poke a wasp’s nest, you’re bound to get stung. But Ger is not the only bad element in Kinlough; the rot goes deep.
Kala is not a page-turner, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t riveting. Each of the main characters have demons in their pasts, and Joe and Helen in particular have a fractious relationship. They were such interesting characters, never mind their connection to Kala and the town.
The writing itself is also really compelling. They sounded Irish, at least to me; the musical cadence and the vocabulary is really specific. Here’s Mush describing hanging with Kala and the other girls:
Kala and me were friendly from the get-go, like. Even when Joe wasn’t around I’d call over to hers to hang out, watch films. Girls were pure different from fellas. They lit the room with candles, got extra pillows and cushions from upstairs. Big bags of M & M’s and Maltesers. Popcorn with lashings of butter.
The book did have some real moments of suspense, and the pace picks up especially towards the end, but I think the book is mostly about family, loyalty, friendship, memory and love. It took a while to read, but I felt like it was worth the effort.
