I started reading Kala by Colin Walsh on the flight to Northern Ireland on holiday and was gripped from page one. It is the story of four friends, one of whom, Kala, goes missing when they are teenagers. We pick up with the other three, Joe, now a famous pop star, Helen, an investigative freelance journalist, and Mush, who has stayed in their home town working in his Mum’s cafe, fifteen years later, when all gather back in Kinlough, just as human remains are discovered in nearby woods.

The novel follows the lives of the friends as they have failed to come to terms with Kala’s disappearance, interspersed with how they are dealing with the tragic news in the present that it is indeed Kala’s body that has been found. All of them are left reeling as they become involved with gangs, dangerous and horrible crimes including human and animal cruelty, and the growing sense that there has been some sort of cover-up about Kala’s death.

Small town existence is brought to life, as everyone swarms around the friends, wanting the gossip, as relatives disappear or put pressure on them, and as they find themselves in ever more danger trying to find out what happened. This is an excellent thriller, whose ending does not disappoint. Perfect holiday reading for a trip to the island of Ireland.