First published 2013
Tristram comes back to his hometown of Howth after years of self-imposed exile. He expects a quiet return, but instead finds himself caught in the middle of a corrupt property scheme. On one side stands a repulsive builder he has known since childhood. On the other lurks a mysterious businessman he has never encountered. Both men use Tristram as their go-between, playing him from opposite directions as they pursue an inflated development project. Tristram tells his story as a testimony, recounting how he slowly realizes the true scope of the corruption around him. The deals grow more twisted as an international debt crisis looms in the background. Greed and arrogance drive the scheme forward while Tristram struggles to escape the web closing around him. His dawning awareness of the danger becomes a fight for survival in a world where everyone has a price.
Genres: fiction, suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Howth
Period: contemporary
384 pages · Paperback · Faber and Faber
Content warnings: violence