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Experts in a Dying Field
The Heathens thought of themselves as 'the 1000th best band of all time'. Then their tour van crashed, and one of their members died.
Twenty years later, weird things are happening in Dublin, bringing the surviving members of the band together in ways none of them could have anticipated and lifting the lid on mysteries from their shared past.
Experts in a Dying Field is a gloriously sharp, witty and surprising novel about friendship, secrets, the strange workings of grief and guilt, and the joyful alchemy of music, from a writer with a unique ability to access humour and deep emotion.
Praise for Patrick Freyne...
'Patrick Freyne is a comic genius' MARIAN KEYES
'A writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity' MARK O'CONNELL
'No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne' PAUL HOWARD
'A brilliant writer' BLINDBOY BOATCLUB
'Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling' SINÉAD GLEESON
'One of the funniest writers in Ireland' IRISH EXAMINER
Twenty years later, weird things are happening in Dublin, bringing the surviving members of the band together in ways none of them could have anticipated and lifting the lid on mysteries from their shared past.
Experts in a Dying Field is a gloriously sharp, witty and surprising novel about friendship, secrets, the strange workings of grief and guilt, and the joyful alchemy of music, from a writer with a unique ability to access humour and deep emotion.
Praise for Patrick Freyne...
'Patrick Freyne is a comic genius' MARIAN KEYES
'A writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity' MARK O'CONNELL
'No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne' PAUL HOWARD
'A brilliant writer' BLINDBOY BOATCLUB
'Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling' SINÉAD GLEESON
'One of the funniest writers in Ireland' IRISH EXAMINER
- GenresFiction
Hardcover
Expected publication June 11, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 26, 2026
4.5/5
Patrick Freyne brings you the history of The Heathens, the 1000th best band of all time. It must be true because they even have their greatest hits album out. The fact that it was their only record is unimportant.
The Heathens, however, are no more. Their story ended one night in a field in Galway when their van overturned, killing their lead singer, Joss, and leaving the rest of the band - Snoopy, Maggie and Burton blaming themselves and each other.
So when Maggie turns up back in Dublin it seems like the right time to find out exactly what did happen on the night of their very last gig. As if that wasnt enough to unravel why has Burton taken to abusing computers and exactly who is The Captain and why is he so fascinated with The Heathens music?
Patrick Freyne has produced another totally off the wall novel. His characters and dialogue are brilliantly drawn. I could imagine each of them and everywhere they went.
Funny, clever and immensely readable. Experts is not the laugh-fest Mr Freyne gave us in Okay, We'll Do Your Stupid Idea but it is entertaining and there are some truly laugh-out-loud parts. But he mixes this with a thoughtful book about youth, grief, loss and belonging.
I loved it. It's such a gentle book that shows what an entertaining and empathetic writer Patrick Freyne is. I can't wait until he writes another and just hope I don't have to wait too long.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the digital review copy. Most appreciated.
Patrick Freyne brings you the history of The Heathens, the 1000th best band of all time. It must be true because they even have their greatest hits album out. The fact that it was their only record is unimportant.
The Heathens, however, are no more. Their story ended one night in a field in Galway when their van overturned, killing their lead singer, Joss, and leaving the rest of the band - Snoopy, Maggie and Burton blaming themselves and each other.
So when Maggie turns up back in Dublin it seems like the right time to find out exactly what did happen on the night of their very last gig. As if that wasnt enough to unravel why has Burton taken to abusing computers and exactly who is The Captain and why is he so fascinated with The Heathens music?
Patrick Freyne has produced another totally off the wall novel. His characters and dialogue are brilliantly drawn. I could imagine each of them and everywhere they went.
Funny, clever and immensely readable. Experts is not the laugh-fest Mr Freyne gave us in Okay, We'll Do Your Stupid Idea but it is entertaining and there are some truly laugh-out-loud parts. But he mixes this with a thoughtful book about youth, grief, loss and belonging.
I loved it. It's such a gentle book that shows what an entertaining and empathetic writer Patrick Freyne is. I can't wait until he writes another and just hope I don't have to wait too long.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the digital review copy. Most appreciated.
November 26, 2025
Experts in a Dying Field (2026) is a sporadically enjoyable and over ambitious book about a fictional Irish band called The Heathens. The band considered themselves "the 1000th best band of all time." After a tragic tour van crash kills one of the members, the surviving members are brought back together twenty years later by weird happenings in Dublin, uncovering mysteries from their shared past. I thought I was going to love this book as I generally love books about bands and music but alas it was just okay.
Patrick Freyne includes a plethora of different characters to try and keep track of, and this is often aligned to all manner of different points of view and styles of writing. I can't fault its ambition but I was often adrift and unsure what was going on. I went with it and found it all very readable but suspect I missed aspects of the story. Or maybe not? None of it felt very consequential.
3/5
The Heathens thought of themselves as 'the 1000th best band of all time'. Then their tour van crashed, and one of their members died.
Twenty years later, weird things are happening in Dublin, bringing the surviving members of the band together in ways none of them could have anticipated and lifting the lid on mysteries from their shared past.
Experts in a Dying Field is a gloriously sharp, witty and surprising novel about friendship, secrets, the strange workings of grief and guilt, and the joyful alchemy of music, from a writer with a unique ability to access humour and deep emotion.
Praise for Patrick Freyne...
'Patrick Freyne is a comic genius' MARIAN KEYES
'A writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity' MARK O'CONNELL
'No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne' PAUL HOWARD
'A brilliant writer' BLINDBOY BOATCLUB
'Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling' SINÉAD GLEESON
'One of the funniest writers in Ireland' IRISH EXAMINER
Patrick Freyne includes a plethora of different characters to try and keep track of, and this is often aligned to all manner of different points of view and styles of writing. I can't fault its ambition but I was often adrift and unsure what was going on. I went with it and found it all very readable but suspect I missed aspects of the story. Or maybe not? None of it felt very consequential.
3/5
The Heathens thought of themselves as 'the 1000th best band of all time'. Then their tour van crashed, and one of their members died.
Twenty years later, weird things are happening in Dublin, bringing the surviving members of the band together in ways none of them could have anticipated and lifting the lid on mysteries from their shared past.
Experts in a Dying Field is a gloriously sharp, witty and surprising novel about friendship, secrets, the strange workings of grief and guilt, and the joyful alchemy of music, from a writer with a unique ability to access humour and deep emotion.
Praise for Patrick Freyne...
'Patrick Freyne is a comic genius' MARIAN KEYES
'A writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity' MARK O'CONNELL
'No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne' PAUL HOWARD
'A brilliant writer' BLINDBOY BOATCLUB
'Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling' SINÉAD GLEESON
'One of the funniest writers in Ireland' IRISH EXAMINER
February 22, 2026
Got the proof from doing my thing and working in a bookshop!
To start off with the good:
Structure:
The author had alot of fun with experimenting with how the story is told, whether through short chapters describing a music review from a pretentious critic, or one where it turns into a play script. Very creative and enjoyable to read.
Prose:
Very engaging and easy to read, with alot of reflective comments on why music is so important. Quite funny at times too.
The cons are very short but sure:
Characters:
Don’t get me wrong, all the characters are interesting and compelling but I wanted MORE about them. This comes down to the length of the book and the structure taking more precedence. You can feel the depth of the characters, I just wanted more. Abigail in my opinion, is the least fleshed out really.
Overall a very solid novel debut and quite touching, I just wanted abit more from it as well.
To start off with the good:
Structure:
The author had alot of fun with experimenting with how the story is told, whether through short chapters describing a music review from a pretentious critic, or one where it turns into a play script. Very creative and enjoyable to read.
Prose:
Very engaging and easy to read, with alot of reflective comments on why music is so important. Quite funny at times too.
The cons are very short but sure:
Characters:
Don’t get me wrong, all the characters are interesting and compelling but I wanted MORE about them. This comes down to the length of the book and the structure taking more precedence. You can feel the depth of the characters, I just wanted more. Abigail in my opinion, is the least fleshed out really.
Overall a very solid novel debut and quite touching, I just wanted abit more from it as well.
January 15, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
‘Experts in a Dying Field’ is a found media collection of bits and pieces, as well as narrative, that builds into the story of an underground in Ireland that never quite made it to the big time. It was a really well presented book and I enjoyed the context all the pieces put into the story- it felt very much like drawing all the fragments together to form a full picture.
I think the disconnect for me a bit was in how many characters there were and what we learn about them. I don’t feel I got to know them as people, which was really disappointing, as I feel it would have added a lot to the story for me. I just wanted to get to know them outside of the band context, and I didn’t feel as much of that heart was there.
I do think that the central mystery was enough to keep me engaged though, which I appreciated- and there were satellite conundrums that were good as well. I just wanted a little bit more punch in how we saw these people as a whole.
Also the cover for this one? Gorgeous. Such a beautiful design.
‘Experts in a Dying Field’ is a found media collection of bits and pieces, as well as narrative, that builds into the story of an underground in Ireland that never quite made it to the big time. It was a really well presented book and I enjoyed the context all the pieces put into the story- it felt very much like drawing all the fragments together to form a full picture.
I think the disconnect for me a bit was in how many characters there were and what we learn about them. I don’t feel I got to know them as people, which was really disappointing, as I feel it would have added a lot to the story for me. I just wanted to get to know them outside of the band context, and I didn’t feel as much of that heart was there.
I do think that the central mystery was enough to keep me engaged though, which I appreciated- and there were satellite conundrums that were good as well. I just wanted a little bit more punch in how we saw these people as a whole.
Also the cover for this one? Gorgeous. Such a beautiful design.
December 26, 2025
For the majority of this book, I very much enjoyed it.
I felt the warmth and friendship between these characters.
Their pain, and the struggle to put lives back together.
It made me feel all nostalgic for old friends (I hadn't been in a band with)
It had a cast of wonderful characters, from the main band, to Becca and Edie. Each perfect for what was needed of them.
But some scenes just felt a bit off to me, I always think I'm not quite understanding the context. I'm a simple person 😃
It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book, just left me momentarily puzzled.
I felt the warmth and friendship between these characters.
Their pain, and the struggle to put lives back together.
It made me feel all nostalgic for old friends (I hadn't been in a band with)
It had a cast of wonderful characters, from the main band, to Becca and Edie. Each perfect for what was needed of them.
But some scenes just felt a bit off to me, I always think I'm not quite understanding the context. I'm a simple person 😃
It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book, just left me momentarily puzzled.
January 30, 2026
This is less a coherent novel, and more a collection of vaguely interconnected short stories.
DNF
DNF
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews