Author: Kevin Barry
Publisher: Canongate
Paperback
Staff Pick: "NIGHT BOAT is an exceedingly dark exploration of friendship, marriage and fatherhood that Barry carries off with aplomb. The novel is led by language. It is a visual experience with a cinematic quality that takes the reader into darkening landscapes of Ireland’s west coast, leaves them strung out in empty Spanish towns and seats them in the seedy port building with Charlie and Maurice, two Irish gangsters, who wait for 23-year-old Dilly. The language is buoyed by humour and sharp use of Irish colloquialism. Barry draws the poetry out of everyday conversation to breathtaking effect.
There are sentences that will leave the reader staring into the bottom of their glass, wide-eyed and thirsting for more. The most sinister moments are carried off in a single sentence, ruthless and harrowing in their consequence. However, at its core this novel has real heart. It stretches the expectations of friendship and family love, testing the limits of forgiveness. Most importantly is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Think Samuel Beckett meets Francis Ford Coppola on a stormy night on the Irish coast. With a pint of Guinness. Delish."