Wild Houses

Over a single weekend in Ballina, a small town in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland, a simmering feud between the small-time drug dealer Cillian English and the local enforcers Gabe and Sketch Ferdia spills into violence. The reclusive, lonely Dev and Cillian's teenage brother Doll get pulled into the Ferdias' revenge, and Doll ends up held in Dev's house while his girlfriend Nicky sets out to find and free him. Barrett, a celebrated short-story writer, builds his debut novel from the closeness of small-town life, finding dark comedy and real tenderness in people the wider world ignores.