In the Forest

About the book

Based on a horrendous true crime, IN THE FOREST si the story of Mich O'Kane -- 'not all there in the head' it's said -- who shoots three people dead in the woods of Ireland. Edna O'Brien traces the events that lead to such horror.

Mich O'Kane hears voices; he cannot stop mourning the death of his mother. Theft and other crimes lead him to a Christian Brothers borstal, then to a British prison. By the time he returns home, he is an institutionalised criminal incapable fo telling the truth even to himself.

Single mother Eily lives with her you son Maddie in a house Mich camped out in after his mother's death. One night Mich drags them out of the house and orders Eily to drive to the forest. The third death is that of a priest he entreats to come to the murder site.

This tragic an starkly terrible story is told from various points of view, including Eily's, Mich's granny, a priest, but the core of it is Mich, born to fail. Can there be any hope for him?