Kala by Colin Walsh

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2023

We used to be such a force, back then when she was still with us. What happened to her?

In the seaside town of Kinlough three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. They - Helen, Joe and Mush - were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann as their group's white-hot centre. Soon after that summer's peak, Kala disappeared without a trace.

Now it's fifteen years later. Human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. As past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala's disappearance...

'A gritty heartbreaker of a thriller... a spectacular read for Donna Tartt and Tana French fans' Kirkus