This Plague of Souls

Someone out there believes Nealon has a plan, a global blueprint for nothing less than a whole new beginning. But Nealon has other things on his mind. Returning home after the collapse of his trial he finds himself alone in a cold empty house. No heat or light, no sign of his wife or child anywhere. It seems the world has forgotten that he even existed. Barely in the door, Nealon's phone rings. The caller claims to know what's happened to Nealon's family. The man will tell him all that he needs to know in return for a conversation - that's all the caller wants, an exchange of views. It's an offer Nealon can't refuse. This Plague of Souls is at once a charged thriller of crime and absolution and a metaphysical enquiry into fractured society, fatherhood and the lengths a man might go to in order to save what he loves.

Mike McCormack is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer whose work includes Getting it in the Head, Crowe's Requiem, Notes from a Coma, and Forensic Songs. In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His last novel, Solar Bones (Tramp Press, 2016), won the Goldsmiths Prize, the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards for Best Novel and for Best Book, and the Dublin International Literary Award (previously known as the IMPAC). He was nominated for a slew of other awards, including the Booker Prize.