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Tana French writes a densely compelling and complicated character driven psychological drama that is a slow burner, set in Dublin. Toby Hennessy is a privileged young man, an only child, secure and confident, living a charmed life with the luck of the Irish, and an inherent ability to talk himself out of dicey scenarios with ease. After a night out with long term friends, Sean and Dec, Toby makes his way home, and wakes up to find two men burgling his flat who leave him for dead, shattering his life and sense of identity. He manages to survive, left with physical damage,never ending pain, difficulties with memories and severe mental health issues He is sucked into a black vortex of fear, unable to socialise or go out, reliant on medication and Xanax, teetering on the edge of sanity with no hope of returning to work in PR at the art gallery. His uncle Hugo lives in the ancestral family home, Ivy House, a place that Toby spent childhood summers at with his cousins, Susanna and Leon, a golden time of good times, fun and joy.

Hugo, a genealogist, has brain cancer, and not expected to live long. Toby is persuaded to move in to Ivy House to help look after him and keep an eye on him as Hugo's health deteriorates. His loyal and loving girlfriend, Melissa, moves in too, proving to be an invaluable source of help to both Hugo and Toby. The discovery of a skull in the Wych Elm in the garden changes everything, with intense media scrutiny and a police investigation led by Detective Rafferty. Rafferty's investigation proves to a stressful affair for the entire family as their lives are picked apart, the police are insidious and not above engaging in machinations that they hope will throw light on a murderer. Toby's memories are elusive and unreliable ever since the nightmare of being attacked, and does he know Susanna and Leon as well as he thinks he does? As family secrets begin to slowly tumble out, it becomes increasingly clear that Toby is not the person he thought he was, and his memories of the past are unreliable at best, as he finds himself in places he never dreamed he would be in.

French writes a beautifully plotted psychological drama that slips into the interior life of Toby with skill and depth, a subtle examination of what it is to be a young man, acting without thought as a teenager, unaware of the wider consequences of his actions. The portrayal of a man having his life derailed on a number of fronts, by the horror of being attacked in his own home, by his shaky perceptions and memories of the past, and whose picture of himself as a good guy may not be all that there is to him. The stresses on his mental health as he investigates personal and family history put his relationship with Melissa under threat as the future he once envisaged begins to sink without trace. This is a brilliant read for those who like character driven novels that move at a slow pace, all the better for the opportunities it offered for a greater multilayered understanding of Toby in all his complexities, his connections with others and the nature of family dynamics through time. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.