Colin Walsh Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Colin Walsh is a published Irish author.

He has written a full fictional novel with the debut of his book Kala and his short stories have been widely recognized. They have won several awards, such as the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Prize and the Hennessy Literary Award.

In 2019, Walsh was picked as the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year. The writing that Walsh has done has been published in places such as the Stinging Fly and the Irish Times, It has also been broadcast on RTE Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4. His first novel is Kala.

Colin is from Galway but resides in Belgium.

Kala is a 2023 novel and the debut by Colin Walsh. This book is intriguing and one that The Washington Post has called a ‘master class in building suspense’. The novel has been selected as a Book of the Year from places such as The Guardian, NPR, The Independent, The Tablet, and Crimereads.

This is a book that sows the talent of this Irish author as Walsh unrolls an ‘enthralling, evocative and heartfelt mystery’ from Chris Whitaker. The story revolves around former friends who have been estranged from each other for two decades who come back together so that they can deal with the events of a summer that ended up changing their lives for good.

Kirkus wrote this novel up as being a ‘gritty heartbreaker of a thriller’ and Ruth Ware says that it happens to be the ‘perfect read for hot summer days and dark nights’. This is a thriller that you will want to pack along with you for long drives and beach trips and have by your side at the pool. There are a lot of books out there, but this one is definitely worth a try, especially if you are a fan of suspenseful or thrilling stories.

Kala will have readers completely engrossed from start to finish. The story takes place in Kinlough, a seaside village on the west coast of Ireland. There three friends are able to meet up and it is the first time that they have laid eyes on each other in years.

Helen, Joe, and Mush all belonged to a friend group that included six teens who were inseparable and spent most of their time together in the summer of 2003. Kala Lanann was without a mother and was the glue that held them all together, the center of this magical group.

Now remains have been found in the woods that include a skull that has a Polaroid photo inside of it. The people of the town are aghast at this old wound but also titillated at its opening. On the evening of this discover, Helen had come back to attend her father’s wedding. Joe was a musician who had come home so that he could dry out while reconnecting with something authentic. Mush had never actually left, always too affected by what had happened that summer to leave the safety of the counter of his mother’s coffee shop.

Then two more girls go missing and they have to deal with their own complicity in the events that led to Kala disappearing. They have to do what others ought to have done before so that they can stop the violent patterns of the past of the town from repeating themselves over.

Through this wonderful prose and fascinating story, Colin Walsh is able to use Kala to look at the cost that come with belonging as well as the battle that takes place in the heart oscillating between forgiveness, vengeance, despair, redemption, and more. Check out Kala to read all that Colin Walsh has to say!