Lost Souls - Hardcover

Collins is a considerable stylist . . . his prose has a thoughtful, sinewy quality, a kind of subliminal toughness of mind (TELEGRAPH)

A style so arrestingly visual it hijacks the reader's concentration; dazzling with the energy and originality of the language (INDEPENDENT)

[Collins] is a stylist, blessed with the gift of having something worth saying (SCOTSMAN)

One of the most exciting talents to have emerged not only in Ireland but anywhere in recent decades (Susan Hill THE TIMES)

His finest book and most credible character to date . . .An engrossing thriller with a social conscience, and a spell-binding portrait of a community under pressure, LOST SOULS is as close to perfection as a tale of flaws, foibles and failure can hope to come (IRISH INDEPENDENT)

A sharp and stylish read (SUNDAY INDEPENDENT)

It is, above all, American in syntax and rhythm and for an outsider like Collins, albeit one who has lived there for a long time, that is a great achievement... His mastery of style, moment and place, gives it a curious vitality which is thoroughly compelling. (JAY RAYNER OBSERVER)

On occasion, his writing blends the commonplace and the uncanny in a manner reminiscent of the films of David Lynch. The best thing about Lost Souls, however, is the tortured voice of its narrator. (STEPHEN AMIDON SUNDAY TIMES)

The real interest of the book lies... in its dissection of a run-down society.... The novel reads like a report from the front line. It is satisfyingly truthful. Its plain bleak matter-of-fact tone is curiously invigorating. One grows weary after all of those fanciful novelist with a talent for playful invention. It's good to come on one who tells you how it is. Collins is such a writer. (ALLAN MASSIE, THE SCOTSMAN)

The Limerick-born Collins has been described as "the thinking man's John Grisham", but that is less than just. He has a strength and emotional charge that remind you of Patricia Highsmith at her finest. (DAILY MAIL)

A novel of small town intrigue and corruption from the author of THE KEEPERS OF TRUGH and THE RESURRECTIONISTS.