Brouhaha

Product Information

Ten years previous to this, Dove’s girlfriend Sandra Mohan (only 16 at the time) had gone missing and was never seen again, and an article by a journalist Joanne McCollum pointed to him as responsible, ruining his reputation.

Unfortunately, I did find that the storyline, although interesting and well written, was a bit too slow going for me and I did struggle with the pace of the story. No doubt O’Hanlon’s publisher would like it to be compared to Paul Murray and Colin Bateman, but Brouhaha would probably never have been published were it not for O’Hanlon’s status.I can confirm that he has achieved all of these aims in this off-beat comic satire, and produced a little gem of a book that serves to hold you attention all the way through. but Brouhaha careers between state-of-the-nation metaphor, black comic thriller and half-baked mystery, without ever settling on a coherent tone. These three intrepid individuals lead us through a myriad of scenarios, some very funny, some gruesome but all highly entertaining.

A town that could almost be considered to be a character itself, so integral to the plot it became during the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Ireland for the opportunity to review this book in my own way. Three main characters are determined to find the truth: Kevin, a retired Garda who was part of the team that originally investigated her disappearance, Philip who was Dove’s best friend and Joanne a local journalist. But these musings help build the story and are often where the dark humour comes from, adding depth to the characters. Then there is a former garda officer, Kevin, a grandfather, the victim of a non-fatal shooting and a man obsessed with what happened to Sandra as well.This was a wee bit heavy going until I managed to settle in to the author's writing style, which did take a bit longer than usual for me. The sentence construction seemed odd at times, mainly because he has the habit of letting his brain wander off. The storyline moves between the events around the unsolved disappearance of teenager Sandra Mohan in 1994, and the impact of Sharkey, Kevin and Joanne's efforts to finally get to the truth following Dove's death - when all Tullyanna's dirty little secrets come spilling out. In so doing, poor Dove had spread panic amongst the townspeople, raising all sorts of ugly questions, reviving all sorts of rumours, and inviting all sorts of unwelcome attention upon them. Having the gift of the gab, also allows the country to produce is fair share of comedians, without the ability to prattle on for ages in front of an audience, you’d be like a certain French clown.