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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.
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.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 26, 2023
54 people are currently reading
1040 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
January 25, 2024
A relatively short novel which is hard to define but which left me thinking about it for quite a while. It is all due to the main character, of whom we learn a little but not too much, some questions are left unanswered and left to speculation which is what I appreciate. Set in Ireland, the novel opens with Nealon, the main character who visits after many years the place where he grew up and to which he feels attached. As the story progresses, we learn about his family history which presumebly affected his later life. Then he is contacted by a mystery man and whom he subsequently meets.
The novel is very atmospheric and Irish to the core, mentioning The Troubles and modern threats in the background. Narration by Dan Murphy is superb and makes the story even more memorable.
*A big thank-you to Mike McCormack, RB Media, and NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
The novel is very atmospheric and Irish to the core, mentioning The Troubles and modern threats in the background. Narration by Dan Murphy is superb and makes the story even more memorable.
*A big thank-you to Mike McCormack, RB Media, and NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
December 18, 2023
As much as I am an enthusiastic contender for ambiguity in a story, I have to feel something organic and true from the center. THIS PLAUGUE OF SOULS seeps its message from the corners, but then quickly evaporates. The writer teased me relentlessly, but I’m not sure that he ultimately penetrated my literary desires. He is enigmatic and provocative, “plaguing” us on every page---with the clues of a deathly event that threatens Western Ireland, and a world-at-end possibility. Nealon, the protagonist, has just been released from prison and has swiftly arrived at his family home, only to find that his wife and young son are gone. Then he receives several phone calls from an unidentified man who wants to meet up with him, and who hints that he knows the location of Nealon’s wife and child. I was hot to know the details at this stage of the story.
As the pages turned, I experienced a gnawing anxiety about whatever it was that I didn’t know. I thought that Nealon may have had something to do with this upcoming incident—or the outcome of the incident, which is perhaps why this man wanted to meet up with him. We do learn some of the scheme that Nealon was involved in prior to prison, but it seemed that the author was needlessly cagey and cryptic about when, why, and what was happening now, not just leaving us in the dark, but flashing the lights on and off, on and off, on and off.
McCormack is a bold writer who stole my attention with his first page. However, it thinned out; he continued to needle me with some kind of (repetitive) foreshadowing regarding events, but I felt no joy at what seemed to be an empty hand. Or am I slow on the uptake? Big and perilous moments augur in all the cracks and crannies of the text, but the more the chapters proceed, the more vague the story. It’s like a horror movie that taunts you with menacing music but no real intruder is ever seen. I heard the drumbeat, felt the danger, but everything stayed behind the curtain.
Instead of intriguing me, I eventually felt annoyed at the opacity of the tale. It’s fine to be convoluted and obscure, if there’s a purpose and some kind of closure. But the more it went on, the more it devolved into a paradoxically derivative kind of dystopian formula---but a formula without end. It’s baffling and occasionally shocking, in-your-face physical violence but out-of-sight global events. If this was written over ten years ago, I’d likely be hypnotized by what is going on—or not going on. But now it is a genre, and I thought that McCormack pulled it this way and that for effect, rather than telling us a coherent story. He showed us the stage, some of the props, and hid the main event.
I’m probably wrong, but sometimes I speculated that McCormack didn’t have a full story, so he just kept setting the stage. Years ago, that would have been sufficient, it would have been new and invigorating. But now that dystopian novels flood the market, I want some singularity; there needs to be a deeper conflict or plot at its core here, not just a lure of one.
I am impressed with the author’s prose and ability to make sentences roar from every direction, but it felt unfinished to me, like it is an outline for something that might one day be big. Exploding, perhaps. Is Nealon angry, distressed, depressed, or all of the above? What is steering the story, besides Nealon’s desire to get his family back? West Ireland appears to be on the verge of a transformation, likely a dangerous one, maybe technological terror. But I failed to comprehend how Nealon or his family fit in, or this other actor.
I also wondered if the writer was taking the piss with us, or wanting the reader to feel deficient. Is it effective for the writer to convey that he is smarter than the reader? Yet I did occasionally feel the depth of a despairing plague of souls. ‘ “Your plague of souls unleashed on the world, skimming over border and time-zones to plant their pale flags on these new territories. Their new template coming to being in a new Eden, a new sovereignty prior to politics.’ “
McCormack could pull off a zinger or two, a friction or intensity that sucked me in. That is when I was most into the narrative. But, generally the story sidewinded me. That above quote and a few others appeared to be pointing to emigration, boundaries, territories. But the pinnacle of the story escaped me and I wanted to reach the end for relief. Enjoy the prose and the hardass hints. Maybe that’s enough for now. I hear it is second in a trilogy. I may be the wrong reader, the awkward and confused one turning the pages and shaking my head. Am I supposed to read SLLAR BONES first?
Thank you to Soho press for sending me a copy for review.
As the pages turned, I experienced a gnawing anxiety about whatever it was that I didn’t know. I thought that Nealon may have had something to do with this upcoming incident—or the outcome of the incident, which is perhaps why this man wanted to meet up with him. We do learn some of the scheme that Nealon was involved in prior to prison, but it seemed that the author was needlessly cagey and cryptic about when, why, and what was happening now, not just leaving us in the dark, but flashing the lights on and off, on and off, on and off.
McCormack is a bold writer who stole my attention with his first page. However, it thinned out; he continued to needle me with some kind of (repetitive) foreshadowing regarding events, but I felt no joy at what seemed to be an empty hand. Or am I slow on the uptake? Big and perilous moments augur in all the cracks and crannies of the text, but the more the chapters proceed, the more vague the story. It’s like a horror movie that taunts you with menacing music but no real intruder is ever seen. I heard the drumbeat, felt the danger, but everything stayed behind the curtain.
Instead of intriguing me, I eventually felt annoyed at the opacity of the tale. It’s fine to be convoluted and obscure, if there’s a purpose and some kind of closure. But the more it went on, the more it devolved into a paradoxically derivative kind of dystopian formula---but a formula without end. It’s baffling and occasionally shocking, in-your-face physical violence but out-of-sight global events. If this was written over ten years ago, I’d likely be hypnotized by what is going on—or not going on. But now it is a genre, and I thought that McCormack pulled it this way and that for effect, rather than telling us a coherent story. He showed us the stage, some of the props, and hid the main event.
I’m probably wrong, but sometimes I speculated that McCormack didn’t have a full story, so he just kept setting the stage. Years ago, that would have been sufficient, it would have been new and invigorating. But now that dystopian novels flood the market, I want some singularity; there needs to be a deeper conflict or plot at its core here, not just a lure of one.
I am impressed with the author’s prose and ability to make sentences roar from every direction, but it felt unfinished to me, like it is an outline for something that might one day be big. Exploding, perhaps. Is Nealon angry, distressed, depressed, or all of the above? What is steering the story, besides Nealon’s desire to get his family back? West Ireland appears to be on the verge of a transformation, likely a dangerous one, maybe technological terror. But I failed to comprehend how Nealon or his family fit in, or this other actor.
I also wondered if the writer was taking the piss with us, or wanting the reader to feel deficient. Is it effective for the writer to convey that he is smarter than the reader? Yet I did occasionally feel the depth of a despairing plague of souls. ‘ “Your plague of souls unleashed on the world, skimming over border and time-zones to plant their pale flags on these new territories. Their new template coming to being in a new Eden, a new sovereignty prior to politics.’ “
McCormack could pull off a zinger or two, a friction or intensity that sucked me in. That is when I was most into the narrative. But, generally the story sidewinded me. That above quote and a few others appeared to be pointing to emigration, boundaries, territories. But the pinnacle of the story escaped me and I wanted to reach the end for relief. Enjoy the prose and the hardass hints. Maybe that’s enough for now. I hear it is second in a trilogy. I may be the wrong reader, the awkward and confused one turning the pages and shaking my head. Am I supposed to read SLLAR BONES first?
Thank you to Soho press for sending me a copy for review.
October 27, 2023
Well, that wasn't what I was expecting. Perhaps the first half, which felt like a different novel, one that felt familiar in an Irish rural novel kind of way, featuring a lonesome protagonist, Nealon, who has returned to the abandoned home and found it empty of his wife Olwyn and child Cuan, who hadn't waited to hear the outcome of the charges that have kept him in prison the last 10 months.
As he wanders about the house, certain objects awaken memories, of his parents, now long dead and more recently his wife Olwyn, who removed everything in the house that had belonged to them and did him a favour by cleaning and renovating it single-handedly. In protest he drags their old couch into the back lawn and just sits there.
We don't know why he was imprisoned, what he was charged with, who his wife was, where she is.
The only evidence of a life or connection outside this empty cottage, is a persistent caller, who calls every day and seems to know everything about his life. He conveniently wants to repeat everything he knows about this person, though we don't know if any of it is true, because the protagonist rejects everything he says, neither accepts or denies and even in the thoughts shared on the page, chooses not to think about (or the writer chooses not to share) any thoughts relating to the activities he describes.
I do not highlight one single passage until page 64 and then it is this I note, words exchanged in one of their cryptic telephone conversations:
Finally they will meet and the story becomes more surreal, at this point I thought, this is actually going to be revealed as science fiction or fantasy, there is probably an alternative reality going on here - isn't there? Because it's starting to get kind of boring, clever yes, the writing is polished, it's relatively easy to read, but for this reader, there is nothing meaningful or all that intriguing about it, I feel the edge of disappointment ahead of me, as there are so few pages left to read. So I start theorising myself and make up my own story about what is going on. As the man says himself articulating both his conundrum and my own :
Scattered throughout the text are occasional sentences that hint at Nealon's understanding, words that come from his 'now' wherever that is.
We have learned that in prison there was a complete lack of mind-sharpening engagement that threatened to turn in on itself and close him down, however nothing about the character thus far indicates his capability. He is a loner, just as his name indicates, Nealon - a.l.o.n.e with a capital N.
The author did ask himself the question and was aware he may alienate some readers, as he says in an interview with the Irish Times.
Author, Lisa McInInerney's blurb on the back cover was closest to my reading experience, when she says:
As he wanders about the house, certain objects awaken memories, of his parents, now long dead and more recently his wife Olwyn, who removed everything in the house that had belonged to them and did him a favour by cleaning and renovating it single-handedly. In protest he drags their old couch into the back lawn and just sits there.
We don't know why he was imprisoned, what he was charged with, who his wife was, where she is.
The only evidence of a life or connection outside this empty cottage, is a persistent caller, who calls every day and seems to know everything about his life. He conveniently wants to repeat everything he knows about this person, though we don't know if any of it is true, because the protagonist rejects everything he says, neither accepts or denies and even in the thoughts shared on the page, chooses not to think about (or the writer chooses not to share) any thoughts relating to the activities he describes.
I do not highlight one single passage until page 64 and then it is this I note, words exchanged in one of their cryptic telephone conversations:
'I'll tell you this: there is a great shortage of imagination out there, you couldn't underestimate it.'
'I wouldn't know about that. I have noticed that there is no shortage of foolishness.'
Finally they will meet and the story becomes more surreal, at this point I thought, this is actually going to be revealed as science fiction or fantasy, there is probably an alternative reality going on here - isn't there? Because it's starting to get kind of boring, clever yes, the writing is polished, it's relatively easy to read, but for this reader, there is nothing meaningful or all that intriguing about it, I feel the edge of disappointment ahead of me, as there are so few pages left to read. So I start theorising myself and make up my own story about what is going on. As the man says himself articulating both his conundrum and my own :
'So I understand the architecture of the whole thing, the grandeur and ambition of the entire construct. But not the motive behind it. What is it all about? What does it hope to achieve? Is it some noble enterprise - as I hope it is - or something else entirely? Something squalid and rotten to the core.'
Scattered throughout the text are occasional sentences that hint at Nealon's understanding, words that come from his 'now' wherever that is.
It took him a long time to recognise it as chaos and he wonders now how he could have mistaken it as anything else.
We have learned that in prison there was a complete lack of mind-sharpening engagement that threatened to turn in on itself and close him down, however nothing about the character thus far indicates his capability. He is a loner, just as his name indicates, Nealon - a.l.o.n.e with a capital N.
The author did ask himself the question and was aware he may alienate some readers, as he says in an interview with the Irish Times.
Would it be possible to write a book of which it would be impossible to speak, where I don’t know what happens, and how to make that artistically credible and skilful without it coming across as clueless, as an authorial failure?
Author, Lisa McInInerney's blurb on the back cover was closest to my reading experience, when she says:
'A darkly marvellous novel: at once intimate, domestic, and poignant, then speculative and hard-boiled and wild'
February 19, 2024
Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Dan Murphy
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Nealon returns home from the prison and finds his house empty. No sign of his wife and son. As soon as he enters his home, the phone rings. He is called by a stranger who knows a lot about him. There are even more calls throughout the book. Who is the stranger calling him? Where are his wife and child?
I don’t know how I feel about the ending (I believe this is the primary reason for some negative reviews). But I can honestly say I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the mystery for at least three-quarters of the novel. The ending was a little baffling, but still, I wouldn’t exactly say it was bad.
This novel is the second part of a triptych. But it is a standalone novel. The first novel in the triptych is Solar Bones, which won The Goldsmiths Prize in 2016. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m very tempted to read it right away.
This Plague of Souls is a very atmospheric read. The author is very sparse with details and builds tension with his writing. There’s not much plot, not much is going on. At the same time, it’s pretty tense. The sentences are perfected, and the writing sounds poetic.
I would recommend the audio format because the narrator, Dan Murphy, is excellent.
Thanks to Recorded Books for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Nealon returns home from the prison and finds his house empty. No sign of his wife and son. As soon as he enters his home, the phone rings. He is called by a stranger who knows a lot about him. There are even more calls throughout the book. Who is the stranger calling him? Where are his wife and child?
I don’t know how I feel about the ending (I believe this is the primary reason for some negative reviews). But I can honestly say I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the mystery for at least three-quarters of the novel. The ending was a little baffling, but still, I wouldn’t exactly say it was bad.
This novel is the second part of a triptych. But it is a standalone novel. The first novel in the triptych is Solar Bones, which won The Goldsmiths Prize in 2016. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m very tempted to read it right away.
This Plague of Souls is a very atmospheric read. The author is very sparse with details and builds tension with his writing. There’s not much plot, not much is going on. At the same time, it’s pretty tense. The sentences are perfected, and the writing sounds poetic.
I would recommend the audio format because the narrator, Dan Murphy, is excellent.
Thanks to Recorded Books for the advance copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
Read
January 11, 2024I've seen a great deal of strained euphemisms being hauled out for this book - "rich ambiguity" or "provocative indeterminacy" and the like. It's low-key depressing that so many people have reached such a point of jellied critical relativism that they can read something like this, 180 pages of well-written but utterly pointless, formless, and listless prose, and think the problem must be THEM, that there must be some kind of profundity here that they're just not fully grasping. Not so: this just a bad, distracted, unformed false start of a novel outline. Two men meet and talk. Both are being cagey; neither is being fully honest. They're still talking, without any kind of conclusion, on the book's final page. Bad enough that an author can have the sheer face to type "The End" after that kind of nonsense, but infinitely worse that so many readers finish this thing and force themselves to think they've read any kind of story. My full review is here: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/t...
October 6, 2023
Nealon returns to his family home after a stint in prison to find the place abandoned, with no sign of his wife or child. The only one who seems to remember him at all is the persistent person who keeps phoning him, who seems to know everything about Nealon and wants to meet to talk face-to-face.
I’ll be honest here, this one went totally over my head. It seems like it’s well written and the writing style is quite engaging (I enjoyed the apocalyptic events that were going on in the background), but I have absolutely no idea what happened.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I’ll be honest here, this one went totally over my head. It seems like it’s well written and the writing style is quite engaging (I enjoyed the apocalyptic events that were going on in the background), but I have absolutely no idea what happened.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 26, 2024
Ambiguity and tension…..
Book Information
"This Plague of Souls" by Mike McCormack is a 192-page “metaphysical thriller” published on January 2, 2024. The audio version is narrated by Dan Murphy and spans 4 hours and 33 minutes. Thank you to RB Media for providing me with an Advance Readers Copy for review.
Summary
Nealon returns home from prison to find his house cold and empty, his wife and son missing. A stranger calls, claiming to know where they are and what happened. In exchange for a chat, he offers Nealon the answers he seeks.
My Thoughts
Mike McCormack's "This Plague of Souls" presents a tale of two halves, showcasing the author's prowess in prose while grappling with narrative cohesion.
The initial sections of the book immerse readers in a flurry of flashbacks, which, though skillfully written, often leave one feeling adrift without clear contextual moorings. There is also a mysterious caller who continually references a shadowy history. The narrative threads intertwine, but their relevance to the overarching story remains elusive, leading to a sense of disorientation.
As the story progresses into its latter half, anticipation builds around the main character's imminent encounter with his mysterious caller. However, this promise fails to materialize into substantive intrigue, akin to a chess match where one player continually threatens to abandon the game. Despite the potential for depth, I remained disconnected from the story, yearning for more meaningful developments.
Upon completion, the book's ultimate purpose and narrative trajectory remain ambiguous, leaving me grappling with unanswered questions even more so after the final page is turned. Despite these challenges, the audio version, expertly performed by Dan Murphy, succeeds in maintaining listener engagement.
Recommendation
"This Plague of Souls" offers a blend of tension and mystery. Readers inclined toward atmospheric narratives with minimal emphasis on plot intricacies may enjoy its lyrical prose.
Rating
2 Mystery Caller Stars
Book Information
"This Plague of Souls" by Mike McCormack is a 192-page “metaphysical thriller” published on January 2, 2024. The audio version is narrated by Dan Murphy and spans 4 hours and 33 minutes. Thank you to RB Media for providing me with an Advance Readers Copy for review.
Summary
Nealon returns home from prison to find his house cold and empty, his wife and son missing. A stranger calls, claiming to know where they are and what happened. In exchange for a chat, he offers Nealon the answers he seeks.
My Thoughts
Mike McCormack's "This Plague of Souls" presents a tale of two halves, showcasing the author's prowess in prose while grappling with narrative cohesion.
The initial sections of the book immerse readers in a flurry of flashbacks, which, though skillfully written, often leave one feeling adrift without clear contextual moorings. There is also a mysterious caller who continually references a shadowy history. The narrative threads intertwine, but their relevance to the overarching story remains elusive, leading to a sense of disorientation.
As the story progresses into its latter half, anticipation builds around the main character's imminent encounter with his mysterious caller. However, this promise fails to materialize into substantive intrigue, akin to a chess match where one player continually threatens to abandon the game. Despite the potential for depth, I remained disconnected from the story, yearning for more meaningful developments.
Upon completion, the book's ultimate purpose and narrative trajectory remain ambiguous, leaving me grappling with unanswered questions even more so after the final page is turned. Despite these challenges, the audio version, expertly performed by Dan Murphy, succeeds in maintaining listener engagement.
Recommendation
"This Plague of Souls" offers a blend of tension and mystery. Readers inclined toward atmospheric narratives with minimal emphasis on plot intricacies may enjoy its lyrical prose.
Rating
2 Mystery Caller Stars
December 21, 2023
Nealon has just been released from months in prison after the trial against him collapsed. He returns to an empty house, no sign of his wife and young son. Then he gets a phone call from a man who doesn’t give a name. While I liked the tense, mysterious atmosphere and found it hard to put down, it’s ultimately a frustrating experience. So many things are never revealed and the little bits and pieces that are are never confirmed as true. What is really going on here? I’m not sure.
October 21, 2023
Nealon has always seen her as someone from the end of days, some pale functionary with a specific role to play in whatever way the darkness will come down. Among his visions of her is one where she is taking the sacrificial lead on some sort of cosmic altarpiece.
This Plague of Souls is the "dark centrepiece in portrait", as the author has described it, of a meditative alterpiece of three novels, with the multi-prize featured Solar Bones as the first landscape side panel.
The novel's protagonist Nealon has returned to his Mayo family farmhouse having been on remand for a lengthy period (the longest in the Irish Republic's history we are told), accused of a complex financial fraud but one which the authorities are unable to prove, the trial collapsing almost immediately it starts.
The story is told from his close third-person perspective, including an insight to his thoughts and reactions, but crucially his true nature and story remain closed to the reader, and at times it feels to himself.
And if the circumstances of his being here alone in this bed at this hour rest within the arc of those grand constructs that turn in the night–politics, finance, trade–it is not clear how his loneliness resolves in the indifference with which such constructs regard him across the length and breadth of his sleep.
Expecting to find his wife and child at the family home, although aware they've become estranged during his incarceration, he finds the house empty (and oddly unfamiliar - the opening scenes read like someone exploring a strange house) and instead of messages from his wife, the only phone calls he gets is from an unknown man who seems to know Nealon's every move and who is very keen to talk to him:
‘My name is neither here nor there–it won’t make you one bit wiser knowing it. All it will do is add more to your own cluelessness. I’ll put it this way, it’s not a question of who I am but what I know; the breadth and depth of what I can tell you, that’s the important thing here.’ There follows another silence before he resumes. ‘Let’s assume that each of us knows certain things, me and you. Not everything we know is the same, but there are similarities. And sometimes, while we may be talking of the same things, we might have very different telling of them. So, in order to make sure, we need to compare our stories and arrive at a single version we can both agree on. Now, you can make of that what you will, but I have made this call in good faith and all I want is for us to have a meeting.’
This Plague of Souls is both commendably compact and yet manages to pack in an impressive number of plot points and themes - who is this mysterious person and how does he seem to know what Nealon is doing at any point in time? what exactly was Nealon accused of and what does the stranger want to discuss? where is Nealon's family? why did he 'kidnap' the woman who was to become his wife from a Dublin squat? what's the nature of the event (terrorism? cyber-attack?) that brings on a sudden State of Emergency? how is it all connected to various conspiracy theories and true political scandals?
The novel might best be described as metaphysical noir, and McCormack has cited the inspiration of authors such as Simenon and Pascal Garnier, but this isn't a novel for someone hoping all, or even any, of those question will be neatly resolved. Which I appreciate (the one Garnier I've read seemed to head too inevitably to an explanation of sorts) but will leave some readers unsatisfied. As McCormack has said of his mission here:
Indeed for me the clearest explanation of Nealon's life which we do get, in a exposition by the man behind the calls when the two finally meet, was one of the novel's rare clunky misfires. Although we do learn from that that Nealon was originally a highly talented artist on the Galway scene, his graduate exhibition a series of portraits of the 1981 Hunger Strikers in the style of Gerhard Richter's October 18, 1977 series on the Baader Meinhof Gang - one of the many unresolved plot points (Macguffins?) which dominate the book, so much so that perhaps the literary equivalent should be called the McCormacks.
Nealon's emergence from a period of incarceration into a new world is a metaphor for the post-pandemic world and McCormack's own concerns on whether the new world will value artists over financiers. As a career investment banker and actuarial 'miracle worker' I suspect my and the author's takes on this would differ indeed even our conclusions from the novel, although it's a sign of a good novel that the reader can reach a different view to the author (indeed if Nealon is behind what his interlocutor claims he is, the novel is wonderfully unambiguous about whether it makes him a hero or a villain):
In Nealon’s peripheral vision a clutch of businessmen and women have drifted in from an adjoining space and are having some sort of stand-up meeting in the middle of the floor. In their suits and shirts, they have about them the sheen of miracle workers, men and women who juggle values and probability, the kind of work that puts them within a hair’s breadth of divinity.
In a neat touch the novel ends with Nealon hearing the angelus bell tolling over the city, as Solar Bones began with Marcus hearing it and I very much look forward to the final panel of the trilogy.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
This Plague of Souls is the "dark centrepiece in portrait", as the author has described it, of a meditative alterpiece of three novels, with the multi-prize featured Solar Bones as the first landscape side panel.
The novel's protagonist Nealon has returned to his Mayo family farmhouse having been on remand for a lengthy period (the longest in the Irish Republic's history we are told), accused of a complex financial fraud but one which the authorities are unable to prove, the trial collapsing almost immediately it starts.
The story is told from his close third-person perspective, including an insight to his thoughts and reactions, but crucially his true nature and story remain closed to the reader, and at times it feels to himself.
And if the circumstances of his being here alone in this bed at this hour rest within the arc of those grand constructs that turn in the night–politics, finance, trade–it is not clear how his loneliness resolves in the indifference with which such constructs regard him across the length and breadth of his sleep.
Expecting to find his wife and child at the family home, although aware they've become estranged during his incarceration, he finds the house empty (and oddly unfamiliar - the opening scenes read like someone exploring a strange house) and instead of messages from his wife, the only phone calls he gets is from an unknown man who seems to know Nealon's every move and who is very keen to talk to him:
‘My name is neither here nor there–it won’t make you one bit wiser knowing it. All it will do is add more to your own cluelessness. I’ll put it this way, it’s not a question of who I am but what I know; the breadth and depth of what I can tell you, that’s the important thing here.’ There follows another silence before he resumes. ‘Let’s assume that each of us knows certain things, me and you. Not everything we know is the same, but there are similarities. And sometimes, while we may be talking of the same things, we might have very different telling of them. So, in order to make sure, we need to compare our stories and arrive at a single version we can both agree on. Now, you can make of that what you will, but I have made this call in good faith and all I want is for us to have a meeting.’
This Plague of Souls is both commendably compact and yet manages to pack in an impressive number of plot points and themes - who is this mysterious person and how does he seem to know what Nealon is doing at any point in time? what exactly was Nealon accused of and what does the stranger want to discuss? where is Nealon's family? why did he 'kidnap' the woman who was to become his wife from a Dublin squat? what's the nature of the event (terrorism? cyber-attack?) that brings on a sudden State of Emergency? how is it all connected to various conspiracy theories and true political scandals?
The novel might best be described as metaphysical noir, and McCormack has cited the inspiration of authors such as Simenon and Pascal Garnier, but this isn't a novel for someone hoping all, or even any, of those question will be neatly resolved. Which I appreciate (the one Garnier I've read seemed to head too inevitably to an explanation of sorts) but will leave some readers unsatisfied. As McCormack has said of his mission here:
Would it be possible to write a book of which it would be impossible to speak, where I don’t know what happens, and how to make that artistically credible and skilful without it coming across as clueless, as an authorial failure?
Indeed for me the clearest explanation of Nealon's life which we do get, in a exposition by the man behind the calls when the two finally meet, was one of the novel's rare clunky misfires. Although we do learn from that that Nealon was originally a highly talented artist on the Galway scene, his graduate exhibition a series of portraits of the 1981 Hunger Strikers in the style of Gerhard Richter's October 18, 1977 series on the Baader Meinhof Gang - one of the many unresolved plot points (Macguffins?) which dominate the book, so much so that perhaps the literary equivalent should be called the McCormacks.
Nealon's emergence from a period of incarceration into a new world is a metaphor for the post-pandemic world and McCormack's own concerns on whether the new world will value artists over financiers. As a career investment banker and actuarial 'miracle worker' I suspect my and the author's takes on this would differ indeed even our conclusions from the novel, although it's a sign of a good novel that the reader can reach a different view to the author (indeed if Nealon is behind what his interlocutor claims he is, the novel is wonderfully unambiguous about whether it makes him a hero or a villain):
In Nealon’s peripheral vision a clutch of businessmen and women have drifted in from an adjoining space and are having some sort of stand-up meeting in the middle of the floor. In their suits and shirts, they have about them the sheen of miracle workers, men and women who juggle values and probability, the kind of work that puts them within a hair’s breadth of divinity.
In a neat touch the novel ends with Nealon hearing the angelus bell tolling over the city, as Solar Bones began with Marcus hearing it and I very much look forward to the final panel of the trilogy.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.
September 13, 2023
Mike McCormack's "This Plague of Souls" is rather like Schrödinger's cat, it's impossible to say whether there is anything there or not. There is style in abundance. I can certainly understand why many will be drawn to his writing style. It is atmospheric, evocative, even seductive. However I could not find the/a story. By the end it felt like having observed a balloon being inflated and inflated and inflated......there is a definite balloon, but is it anything substantive, or is it just a lot of hot air? Special thanks to Canongate and NetGalley for a no obligation advance review copy.
August 16, 2023
Nealon, newly released from prison, returns to his home to find it empty. A phone call from a stranger who will not identify himself says he will explain all if Nealon agrees to meet for one conversation...
This Plague of Souls has the propulsive essence of a thriller and the literary writing one expects from McCormack, author of the superb Solar Bones. This is another very fine novel, one I devoured in a single sitting. It is tense, lean, and emotionally gripping. McCormack doesn't spell things out to the reader, he lets you experience them as Nealon does, and this immersion into a strange yet somehow familiar but not quite world is perfect. I was never sure where this novel was going to go, and whilst there will be some who find it ultimately frustrating not to be given all the answers, readers that love works which allow the reader to imagine and engage with a novel will be right at home here.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I say thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
This Plague of Souls has the propulsive essence of a thriller and the literary writing one expects from McCormack, author of the superb Solar Bones. This is another very fine novel, one I devoured in a single sitting. It is tense, lean, and emotionally gripping. McCormack doesn't spell things out to the reader, he lets you experience them as Nealon does, and this immersion into a strange yet somehow familiar but not quite world is perfect. I was never sure where this novel was going to go, and whilst there will be some who find it ultimately frustrating not to be given all the answers, readers that love works which allow the reader to imagine and engage with a novel will be right at home here.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I say thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
December 4, 2023
After I finished Mike McCormack’s short novel, “This Plague of Souls”, my first thought was “What the heck just happened?” I suspect by the number of low “star” reviews on this novel it is because other readers had the same reaction.
Nealon returns home from prison (we don’t know why he was there, but all charges were dropped) expecting to find his wife and young son, but the house is empty.
Nealon gets a mysterious phone call from an unidentified source; it’s a man and he want to meet Nealon to talk about things that he knows about Nealon.
Then we follow Nealon around for a few days while his thoughts meander and meander, until he finally decides to meet the mystery man. Then we get more meandering thoughts on his drive to the rendezvous spot, somewhere on the Irish coast.
Finally, they meet, and we get to the extremely cryptic conversation between Nealon and “the man”, and maybe we start to get some answers about what Nealon has been up to and why he was in prison. The conversation happens as an undefined security emergency has been declared, sending Ireland on high alert and into a tense lock-down/boarders-closed scenario.
Is Nealon somehow connected with that?
Don’t expect a lot of clarity, but if you’re a reader who doesn’t need to be spoon-fed, you will enjoy the “WHAT?! Factor” in this provocative novel.
My thanks to Soho Press for an advanced un-copyedited edition of this unique novel.
Nealon returns home from prison (we don’t know why he was there, but all charges were dropped) expecting to find his wife and young son, but the house is empty.
Nealon gets a mysterious phone call from an unidentified source; it’s a man and he want to meet Nealon to talk about things that he knows about Nealon.
Then we follow Nealon around for a few days while his thoughts meander and meander, until he finally decides to meet the mystery man. Then we get more meandering thoughts on his drive to the rendezvous spot, somewhere on the Irish coast.
Finally, they meet, and we get to the extremely cryptic conversation between Nealon and “the man”, and maybe we start to get some answers about what Nealon has been up to and why he was in prison. The conversation happens as an undefined security emergency has been declared, sending Ireland on high alert and into a tense lock-down/boarders-closed scenario.
Is Nealon somehow connected with that?
Don’t expect a lot of clarity, but if you’re a reader who doesn’t need to be spoon-fed, you will enjoy the “WHAT?! Factor” in this provocative novel.
My thanks to Soho Press for an advanced un-copyedited edition of this unique novel.
January 12, 2024
Written nicely enough, but an ultimately hollow experience. When the cards are all on the table, it seems that there really wasn’t all that much that This Plague Of Souls had to say.
December 14, 2024
A difficult book to summarise and encapsulate.
The first half of the book builds good suspense as our protagonist, Nealon, absorbed in his thoughts, cuts an isolated figure, seemingly burdened by regrets. The reader is drip-fed background on Nealon, most notably that he has recently spent time in prison. He is also a husband and father but did not receive a redemptive (or any) welcome home on his release.
The power in the novel, though, is in the unknown; about just who Nealon really is, and what he might have done to warrant a jail stretch and the opprobrium of his wife.
The second half of the book switches to a conversation between Nealon and an unnamed interrogator/ questioner. I never thought it was important for this person to truly exist, and felt that the reflections and reveals could just as likely be Nealon in dialogue with himself; his own conscience.
The nature of Nealon’s crime is left hanging at the book’s end, but the state of play on the streets of Dublin gives some pointer to where Nealon fits into things. There appears to be a form of martial law taking over the streets, and I took the backdrop to this to be a comment on the sinister ‘cyber’ forces which have the power to change the course of events, to change people’s lives, for better and for worse. “your plague of souls unleashed on the world while the rest of us are sitting around on our arses”
Irish Writers panel, chaired by Jan Carson, at British Library 24.11.2024
• Writing: Everyday long hand on paper at his desk. Uses Claire Fontaine paper. 80 sheets to a pad.
• Excitement of writing : there are no rules.
• Nealon debt to French noir. Governed by his wish to reclaim family.
• Inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. Paranoia in final scene. Nealon carrying out his own body search.
• Of Solar Bones . Mostly discussed in relation to its structure. Actually its about a middle aged, decent, man content with his work. How to make a drama from that.
The first half of the book builds good suspense as our protagonist, Nealon, absorbed in his thoughts, cuts an isolated figure, seemingly burdened by regrets. The reader is drip-fed background on Nealon, most notably that he has recently spent time in prison. He is also a husband and father but did not receive a redemptive (or any) welcome home on his release.
The power in the novel, though, is in the unknown; about just who Nealon really is, and what he might have done to warrant a jail stretch and the opprobrium of his wife.
The second half of the book switches to a conversation between Nealon and an unnamed interrogator/ questioner. I never thought it was important for this person to truly exist, and felt that the reflections and reveals could just as likely be Nealon in dialogue with himself; his own conscience.
The nature of Nealon’s crime is left hanging at the book’s end, but the state of play on the streets of Dublin gives some pointer to where Nealon fits into things. There appears to be a form of martial law taking over the streets, and I took the backdrop to this to be a comment on the sinister ‘cyber’ forces which have the power to change the course of events, to change people’s lives, for better and for worse. “your plague of souls unleashed on the world while the rest of us are sitting around on our arses”
Irish Writers panel, chaired by Jan Carson, at British Library 24.11.2024
• Writing: Everyday long hand on paper at his desk. Uses Claire Fontaine paper. 80 sheets to a pad.
• Excitement of writing : there are no rules.
• Nealon debt to French noir. Governed by his wish to reclaim family.
• Inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation. Paranoia in final scene. Nealon carrying out his own body search.
• Of Solar Bones . Mostly discussed in relation to its structure. Actually its about a middle aged, decent, man content with his work. How to make a drama from that.
February 27, 2025
Well, that was disappointing. After an intriguing setup the final section of the book seems to be just meandering and without any resolution at all
September 28, 2023
Our protagonist Nealon returns, after a lengthy period in prison on remand, to the remote West of Ireland farmhouse where he grew up with his father (his mother died at the time of his birth) and where he later lived with his wife of three years Olwyn and young child Cuan. The house is cold and uninhabited, but barely through the door, and he receives calls from an unknown person who seems to know a lot about Nealon, saying he knows there's information they can share.
In the first chapter, Country Feedback, we get the bones of Nealon’s life, his time with his father, and his marriage, including how he abducted Olwyn from a Dublin crackhouse! All the while, these anonymous calls continue.
We move on to No Traffic and a Dry Road, where Nealon spends time reflecting on Cuan, on the deterioration in his marriage when he was in prison, and on his time in prison where National Geographic became his link to the world. All on the backdrop of an unspecified but rapidly evolving national security alert with Ireland plunging into an almost lockdown state.
In the third instalment of This Plague of Souls takes place in Dublin as Nealon and his persistent caller meet. This man tells Nealon what he has pieced together of his life, which helpfully fills some gaps in the story Nealon has so far spun while also proposing his view on Nealon’s involvement in a large scale and, in all honesty far fetched insurance fraud, which seemingly was globally philanthropically motivated.
It's hard to say more without spoilers, but suffice to say this was my first McCormack book, and it won't be my last!
This Plague of Souls is beautifully written and highly compelling. It is a truly fascinating short metaphysical thriller with a timely feel of society in 2023 with growing security threats (actual and perceived) and how both state and society react to them. Global actions have local consequences whether we always realise it or not.
My only complaint? I didn't want the story to end, and at under 200 pages, there was certainly scope for more. 4.5⭐
Thank you to the publisher for both a NetGalley ARC and for sending me a physical proof copy.
In the first chapter, Country Feedback, we get the bones of Nealon’s life, his time with his father, and his marriage, including how he abducted Olwyn from a Dublin crackhouse! All the while, these anonymous calls continue.
We move on to No Traffic and a Dry Road, where Nealon spends time reflecting on Cuan, on the deterioration in his marriage when he was in prison, and on his time in prison where National Geographic became his link to the world. All on the backdrop of an unspecified but rapidly evolving national security alert with Ireland plunging into an almost lockdown state.
In the third instalment of This Plague of Souls takes place in Dublin as Nealon and his persistent caller meet. This man tells Nealon what he has pieced together of his life, which helpfully fills some gaps in the story Nealon has so far spun while also proposing his view on Nealon’s involvement in a large scale and, in all honesty far fetched insurance fraud, which seemingly was globally philanthropically motivated.
It's hard to say more without spoilers, but suffice to say this was my first McCormack book, and it won't be my last!
This Plague of Souls is beautifully written and highly compelling. It is a truly fascinating short metaphysical thriller with a timely feel of society in 2023 with growing security threats (actual and perceived) and how both state and society react to them. Global actions have local consequences whether we always realise it or not.
My only complaint? I didn't want the story to end, and at under 200 pages, there was certainly scope for more. 4.5⭐
Thank you to the publisher for both a NetGalley ARC and for sending me a physical proof copy.
December 29, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for an advance copy of this audiobook!
I'm not sure if the book was simply just too complex for me to "get" but I'm going to have to DNF this one. I'm about halfway through it and I cannot figure out what the point of the book is. I can't even really figure out entirely what's happening, much less what the author intends for me to get out of it. I did like McCormack's writing style, so I'm not sure if I would enjoy it and understand it better if I were to read a physical copy, but trying to figure it out in the audiobook version is just not working for me.
I'm not sure if the book was simply just too complex for me to "get" but I'm going to have to DNF this one. I'm about halfway through it and I cannot figure out what the point of the book is. I can't even really figure out entirely what's happening, much less what the author intends for me to get out of it. I did like McCormack's writing style, so I'm not sure if I would enjoy it and understand it better if I were to read a physical copy, but trying to figure it out in the audiobook version is just not working for me.
January 10, 2024
I'm not sure of what I just read in listening to This Plague is Souls by Mike McCormack. I listened to the audio and I can tell you the reader had a beautiful Irish brogue. The material is quite another story. I also attempt to find something interesting in a novel, always. Well, this one was short. I'll simply say this book is not my cuppa tea.
April 14, 2024
Within the space of about five pages we have:
"In his confusion Nealon had the impression that some aerial substance, possibly the ethereal element of her very soul, had ignited and caught fire."
and
"...Nealon had the sense of her grasping hold of the glowing, numinous core of herself and having found it, thrusting it forward one last time."
and
"He was proud of this livid energy she had dug up from the core of herself, the way it replenished and sustained her."
plus
"Olwyn lay full length beside him, so still under the covers that she gave the impression she was filling an empty space that extended from the centre of her being."
Absolutely not =)
"In his confusion Nealon had the impression that some aerial substance, possibly the ethereal element of her very soul, had ignited and caught fire."
and
"...Nealon had the sense of her grasping hold of the glowing, numinous core of herself and having found it, thrusting it forward one last time."
and
"He was proud of this livid energy she had dug up from the core of herself, the way it replenished and sustained her."
plus
"Olwyn lay full length beside him, so still under the covers that she gave the impression she was filling an empty space that extended from the centre of her being."
Absolutely not =)
December 20, 2025
?? I think I need to discuss this with the person who recommended it to me and ask if they understood what was going on.
At times I felt as if I could almost grasp something but then the second half just completely lost me. Perhaps I lack insight into the parts of Irish history and identity this refers to, perhaps it‘s simply too ambiguous to be grasped at all.
I did enjoy the feeling of it all though.
At times I felt as if I could almost grasp something but then the second half just completely lost me. Perhaps I lack insight into the parts of Irish history and identity this refers to, perhaps it‘s simply too ambiguous to be grasped at all.
I did enjoy the feeling of it all though.
March 20, 2025
I wish to be compensated.
April 19, 2024
This was an audio book for me. The narrator was great, even with the Scottish accent I had no troubles following along. The psychological aspect was good but I didn’t feel like the story took me anywhere. I had no connection to the characters.
June 27, 2025
I think this book went straight over my head I had no idea what was going on for the entirety of the book. Looking at other reviews, it looks like the point of this story was ambiguity but honestly I just found the whole thing incredibly frustrating.
April 16, 2024
erm wtf was that? didn't realize this was literary fiction when i picked it up. i was here for the ex-con/a potential crime element and i was left with more questions than answers and now i have a headache snorts
September 14, 2023
I haven't read Mike McCormack before and I am sorry to say that this short book did nothing for me. I usually enjoy Irish writers and fiction set in Ireland but this one left me confused and cold. I still have no idea what the book was really about, especially as there is no real ending. Thankfully it was short so didn't take too much of my time.
March 12, 2024
While I enjoyed the style of writing, this book was lost on me.
April 9, 2025
I've had such good luck with Irish authors, I thought Mike McCormick might be extending that luck, but no. Instead, I wasted my time with THIS PLAGUE OF SOULS. At least it is a short book.
A little more than the first half of this book is taken up with examination of the main character, Nealon. At least it purports to be examination. You really learn next to nothing about him. It's a lot of wasted words.
One thing does happen during this first part. Some man keeps calling, trying to convince Nealon to meet with him. We never learn why; we never learn anything until we get to the next part of the book.
In this part of THIS PLAGUE OF SOULS, we finally learn a little something of Nealon (including that "Nealon" is his last name, not his first name). We mostly learn possibilities, maybe likelihoods, but no certainties. It's a lot of blathering and blah, blah, blah.
A little more than the first half of this book is taken up with examination of the main character, Nealon. At least it purports to be examination. You really learn next to nothing about him. It's a lot of wasted words.
One thing does happen during this first part. Some man keeps calling, trying to convince Nealon to meet with him. We never learn why; we never learn anything until we get to the next part of the book.
In this part of THIS PLAGUE OF SOULS, we finally learn a little something of Nealon (including that "Nealon" is his last name, not his first name). We mostly learn possibilities, maybe likelihoods, but no certainties. It's a lot of blathering and blah, blah, blah.
April 7, 2024
This book is a little hard for me to review because it may be that it's well written but not my thing. I was very pulled in and intrigued at the beginning with all these little mysteries. Then the story for me felt very long to work my way through despite being a short book. I struggled to follow what was happening. There are stunning descriptions and phrases throughout. It was a bit too confusing for me. Perhaps I'm not smart enough though and I'm sure there will be people who love it.
November 1, 2024
I enjoyed the writing style and the familiar setting of rural Ireland, but halfway through the book I attempted to reflect on what I’d already read and found myself struggling to remember anything that had actually happened, and by the end I wondered if perhaps I’m just too dense to have understood any of it.
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