Southwest Ireland, 1995: Two children go into the woods. Only one comes out.
When thirteen-year-old Saoirse Kellough goes missing, panic grips a rural Irish community. Saoirse is not the first girl to disappear in the forest, rumored by locals to be haunted, and the only witness—her troubled younger brother, Jack—refuses to speak. Saoirse went missing when they were playing the Counting Game, a ritual believed to ward off evil, and Jack has sworn to protect the forest’s secrets.
Freya Hemmings, a psychotherapist still healing from a loss of her own, is brought in to help investigators break Jack’s silence. As the race to find Saoirse alive accelerates, the search threatens to unravel a family facing the unthinkable. Everyone is a suspect, and the closer Freya and Jack become, the more danger they find themselves in.
The synopsis for Sinéad Nolan’s THE COUNTING GAME says it’s “perfect for fans of Tana French and Liz Moore,” and like a lot of blurbs/synopses, it worked on me. Tana French is near the tippity-top of the list of authors I’ve been meaning to read FOREVER, and something tells me I’m going to be a big fan. And Liz Moore wrote two of my favorite books I’ve read in the last few years (LONG BRIGHT RIVER and THE GOD OF THE WOODS).
I guess all I’m saying is, I’ve been craving some good literary mysteries lately, and THE COUNTING GAME really delivered on that front.
The book takes place in 1995 (though it does bounce around in time a bit) in a small Irish town called Drumsuin. This town has sadly seen multiple women and girls go missing in the last few years. Most recently, thirteen-year-old Saoirse Kellough has mysteriously disappeared into a nearby forest, and the only witness is her younger brother, Jack.
Jack and Saoirse have been cared for recently by their older sister Kate, and their aunt Bronagh. The siblings are dealing with the somewhat-recent death of their mother, who allegedly took her own life. Their mother had bipolar disorder & was an alcoholic, and it was an extremely troubled household. Everyone involved is carrying a ton of guilt and trauma, and Saoirse’s disappearance has really triggered something in Jack, which makes him reluctant to speak with the Gardaí (the police), although Jack does slightly warm up to Garda Morris, who is in charge of the investigation.
But to aid the investigation even further, Morris enlists the help of a therapist named Freya Hemmings, who drives from Dublin to Drumsuin to assist on the case. Ostensibly, Freya’s role here is to help Jack with his memories and see if they can unlock a clue together that might lead to Saoirse. But for a variety of reasons, Freya gets much more heavily involved in the investigation than she probably ought to. The vibes are extremely EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT, and Freya goes above and beyond to try to help set things right for this little fractured family.
The scenes between Jack & Freya were the highlight of the book for me, as Freya tries to delicately help Jack make sense of what he did (and didn’t) see as far as Saoirse’s disappearance, and to help him navigate all the complicated feelings about his mother’s death.
THE COUNTING GAME gets really dark at times, and there’s some upsetting moments/flashbacks with the siblings’ mother. While there was love in their household, there was also fear & toxicity. Those who have had family members affected by addiction & mental illness could find some of this difficult to get through, so just a heads up.
The book also plays a bit fast & loose with an almost supernatural element, which surprised me a bit. At the very least, Nolan is a deft hand at creating a foreboding, creepy atmosphere, and the forest in this book begins to feel like a truly cursed place.
THE COUNTING GAME is a really twisty & exceptionally well written mystery. Because I’m an “along for the ride” reader, I never had any clue where this one was going! The vibe & setting of this story, paired with some really strong characterizations made this an addicting read!
Big thanks to Scout Press/Gallery Books for sending this one along!
Grimdark Dad 