Kala

???and the earth felt soft and i was above us, could see all of us from above, like i was dead and shattered about the sky with the stars looking down and i saw the way we fanned out to make a moving rope pushing itself through the grey grass??? 

had a bit of a hard time getting into this. most of the characters except mush didn???t speak to me basically at all until this picked up pace 30-40%. really missed some depth for some of the characters as well, most importantly titular kala, but also for aiofe, joe, aidan. i usually love a book where you???re dropped into a story without much context, which is sort of how the early part of this book feels, but it also felt like it was trying too hard to keep me at a distance? 

but i will say! there were also a lot of parts that spoke to me and stuck with me that could have been pretentious but edged enough towards heartfelt. 

???you knew then, in the face to face, that it had been wrong to think of aidan as a lost cause, that no one is the simple playing card you reduce them to, (???) that there???s this whole animal being to everyone and that in this animal being there???s a point where you and everyone else in the world can meet??? 

Love the subtle sci fi elements woven into this book. I never read whodunnits but this one really kept itself hearty, considered and grounded throughout. Found it to be a quick engaging read.

Very impressive. The characters are all flawed, believable, complex. The story is tragic and compelling. I found it hard to get into it for quite a while. I suppose I've read too many missing woman/girl stories, I wish they'd change the record. But this was recommended and I'm glad I read it. It was very well written. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Kala Lannan is the kind of person who draws everyone around her. Girls want to be like her, boys want to be with her, and everyone feels a bit special to be close to her. In 2003 she disappeared without a trace and has never been found.
Fifteen years later, part of the group is back in town and Kala's body is discovered, reopening old wounds that never truly healed.

“Life is like this: immense when you are inside it, but manageable from the outside, touched from a distance.”

I don't usually read thrillers but once in a while I like to pick one and see what I am missing. I couldn't be more happy that Kala was the one I chose.

This book is much more than discovering what happened with Kala. It's also a coming of age story to remind us about the summers of our lives, about the friendships that mean the whole world, the beauty of first love and the raw intensity of teenagers emotions. It is also a story about how the past affects us and life turns out to be different than we dreamed.

The story is told through Helen, Joe and Mush POV, which encompasses both present and past timelines as they remember the events before Kala's disappearance. This strategy gives a special rhythm to the story, and it is one of the things that make this book such a page turner.

I liked the story and I was invested in the case but my favorite part of the book were the characters. Colin wrote brilliant characters and I believe some of them will stay with me for a long time.

Kala was Colin Walsh debut and I can't wait to see what he will bring us next.