Holding

Title: Holding
Author: Graham Norton
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Graham Norton’s masterful debut is an intelligently crafted story of love, secrets and loss.

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste.

So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke – a former love of both Brid and Evelyn – the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore – with searing honesty – the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

Review:

When I came across this book on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it. I love Graham Norton, so I was excited to see what his novel would be like.

This is a great mystery. It’s fast paced. Though there are a lot of characters, they don’t get lost in the mix. Sometimes when there’s an ensemble cast in a book, I get the characters mixed up, but that wasn’t the case here. They are all distinct, so it’s easy to distinguish between them.

I had figured out some of the mystery halfway through the book. However, I still enjoyed the story. The ending isn’t obvious so it kept me hooked till the last page.

This was a great debut from Graham Norton! I’m excited to see what he writes next.

Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book. View all posts by jilljemmett