I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

I don’t know what it is with Irish folk horror, or if I am now just simply obsessed with Sharpson's writing... I first discovered him just over a year ago with his second novel Knock Knock, Open Wide a horror novel with Irish folk underpinnings that I really enjoyed (I have his first which I haven't read yet, and looks very different, more scifi dystopian, which I also love so I need to get to that one soon.)

With The Burial Tide, he draws you into a mystery filled with terrifying creatures, a tiny, remote island community filled with secrets and a horrifying past, and the strange woman named Mara, who breaks her way out of a coffin during a storm after waking up with no memory of who she is. She receives an oddly reticent welcome into the community, with suspicion and some rather culty behaviour on the part of the locals.

I had (rightly) suspected that the story would centre around one of my favourite myths (hint: look at the cover) but I was so curious to see where Sharpson would take the story after reading his previous book and I was not disappointed! He weaves a modern day tale of mystery, isolation, and absolute terror as Mara struggles to piece together who she is, where she came from and why she looks just like a woman in a 100 year old picture…

And oh yeah… there’s that whole thing about why can’t she go into water…

I was absolutely enthralled with this novel. I need more Sharpson in my life!

My thanks to NetGalley and Zando for the ARC!

First half was creepy and atmospheric but I felt the story lost a little steam once the protagonists teamed up. Turned a little too buddy action movie for me. A creative take on Irish folklore but probably not a book that will stick with me. Simply not as scary as I wanted it to be. 3.5 stars.

5 stars

Irish folk horror with atmosphere, characters, and a storyline so compelling I could not put it down. Neil Sharpson has created a brilliant, creepy, horrifying story that I will not soon forget.

The story begins with the main character coming to in a small, dark place. She has no idea where she is, or even who she is. As she feels around in the pitch black, it becomes clear that she is in a box, underground and she realizes that she's been buried alive. She is able to break free and runs in the pouring rain to the first light she sees, a house not too far.

The story unfolds as Mara, she is told that is her name, tries to piece together who she is. She is on a tiny Irish island where all the residents seem to know her, but she can't remember any of them. Things seem more and more off and as she begins to piece things together, more and more horror emerges.

The atmosphere is perfection. A small Irish island where the locals detest outsiders and everyone seems to have a secret. The darkness, the rain, and the ocean make everything feel that much more scary and when monsters finally appear, they are not at all what you might have imagined.

This story has the perfect blend of horror, heart, and twists to keep you glued to the page. If you love folk horror, rainy Irish islands, family secrets, and body horror, run to pick this up as soon as it's released.

I love o good folk horror book and this was up there with the best. The writing is on par and I really loved the plot. The elements of body horror adds to the story and is not only there for the gore.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The folklore in this one was great, the irish influence really adds to the creepy vibes - great writing style which incorporates the folklore perfectly into the mix.
The body horror and descriptions of the creatures in this story were crafted beautifully. Great story and a great addition to the many folk horror novels.

On the back of A.M. Shine’s The Watchers (2021) duology and The Creeper (2022), horror involving Irish folklore returns to the spotlight, with Neil Sharpson backing up his superb Knock Knock, Open Wide with the entertaining The Burial Tide. I wish there were more supernatural tales on the market exploring Ireland’s rich history; there are certainly plenty of authors up to the task. John Connolly and Kealan Patrick Burke would top my list, but this great pair primarily set their books in the USA rather than the land of their birth. Peadar Ó Guilín is another personal favourite, author of the stunning YA duology The Call (2016-18), which beautifully blends fantasy with Irish folklore and history.

When I reviewed Knock Knock, Open Wide back in 2023 I commented that Neil Sharpson was already good enough to be name-checked with all these great Irish names and that I hope he decided to return to this rich historical area, which is perfect ground for horror novels. I am delighted to say that Sharpson has granted my wish! The Burial Watch ticks every possible box, but as this Folk Horror, mashed with a healthy dose of body horror, is very easy to spoil I will be light on details.

The action opens with Mara Fitch waking up in a grave, she has either been buried alive deliberately or there has been some terrible mistake. Finding a crack in the coffin, and the soil sodden with water she manages to escape her prison. Suffering from memory loss and ravenously hungry, she soon finds herself at the cottage of Declan, a visiting poet who is looking for literary inspiration from the island, helps her come to her senses.

As Mara, minus her memory recovers, the reader is informed there has been some sort of ‘outbreak’ on the island community of Inishbannock, set off Kerry, on the west coast of Ireland. Little or no further information is given and it is implied that this is the reason for Mara ending up in the coffin. The story revolves around Mara’s search to discover who she is and her circumstances surrounding the information she is being fed. The peculiarities of the island and its locals are drip fed to the reader, with many unpredictable twists and turns, the conspiracy concluding nowhere near where I expected it.

Even if there is a lull in the middle part of The Burial Witch the story was engaging enough to keep me reading. It was slightly let down by a support cast of Inishbannock locals who were interchangeable and were so similar I frequently got them confused and as the story jumped from character to character they remained too similar. The only truly distinguishable characters, apart from Mara, were the two outsiders Declan and Natalie, who help Mara with her question to find out who she really is.

The story is populated with great moments as Mara snoops around, such as identifying fake photoshopped photos, or feeling seriously strong déjà vu when she enters another local’s cottage. The weirdness of the island was at its most powerful when seen through the eyes of Declan, who before long wishes he never left Dublin! The island itself was powerfully and atmospherically described, from the local pub to the wind, rain, beaches and the unnatural sounds which can be heard at night.

The internal sense of unease Mara feels bleeds off the page; why does she not feel comfortable with the man who is supposed to be her boyfriend? Why are others not pleased to see her ‘back from the dead?’ These are all questions which are answered in a compelling and immersive narrative which takes its time to unfold. Patience is definitely required, but in the end all questions are answered in a wild conclusion which connects to the folklore of Ireland’s past.

Thank you to Zando Books for the ARC e-book copy of The Burial Tide in exchange for my honest review. This novel is set to release in September, and I highly recommend that readers who enjoy something a bit eerie, a bit off-kilter, and entirely immersive mark their calendars.

What initially pulled me into The Burial Tide was how it reads almost like a series of acts: at first, it’s as if you’re flipping through a misplaced journal, fragmented and personal in a way that feels accidental. The prose has a lulling rhythm that quietly unsettles you, drawing you into what feels like an ordinary place with not-so-ordinary people. There’s this nagging sense that something isn’t quite right, and that tension creeps in early, making every page feel like a clue, or a trap.

Then, right when you start feeling like you’re drowning in the weirdness, in come Natalie and Declan—two characters who add the kind of strange, slightly offbeat comic relief that’s as welcome as it is disarming. Their presence balances the tone in a way that made me feel like I’d stumbled into a strange hybrid world that could only exist inside the minds of Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, and Stephen King. It’s quirky, it’s macabre, and it’s layered.

And just when I thought I had some kind of grip on what was happening, the third and final act hit and THAT’S when The Burial Tide truly shines. It’s the kind of reveal and unraveling that makes you sit back and reevaluate everything you thought you understood. Without giving anything away (because this book deserves to be experienced spoiler-free), I’ll just say it’s the kind of ending that lingers.

I’d classify The Burial Tide as folk horror with a literary twist. There’s definitely darkness here; sometimes quiet, sometimes stark, but it never feels gratuitous. Instead, it’s atmospheric, intelligent, and deeply unsettling in a way that made me want to immediately dig into some of the real-world inspirations. I actually ended up doing research after finishing, because it stirred up curiosities I didn’t know I had.

It’s hard to review a book like this without giving away the magic of the discovery, but I hope this conveys just how wild of a ride this story is. It’s a book that sinks its teeth in slowly, then doesn’t let go. I couldn’t stop reading and honestly, I didn’t want to. For the right reader, this book will hit hard.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for an advanced copy!

As an avid horror fan, I usually prefer eerie, uncanny dread to traditional "jump scare" horror. While I love the Conjuring and Paranormal Activity as movies, I prefer a bit more ambiance in my books like A.M. Shine's The Watchers or The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. I'd place this book nicely in the category with the latter as it delivers a folklore-based slow burn very similar to the movie Get Out. Picture a closed "no outsiders" town, generations deep, where everyone is complicit in some dark secret the reader and main character(s) are on a quest to figure out.

The Irish folklore was a big draw for me. I came in relatively familiar with some mythological figures, but Sharpson offers a fresh, eerie interpretation. The book is told through multiple POVs (which usually isn't my preference), but in this case I think it worked to give the reader just enough information from multiple sources to add depth to the strange and unsettling island of Inishbannock.

What I liked:
> I love a book centered on some sort of mythos. Maybe it's because of my history degree, but I'm such a sucker for the dark centuries old stories that have been passed down through the generations. This book brought us into an old world (the island and the creatures) with contemporary themes of grief, revenge, and community.
> Declan. I loved Declan as a character. He was awkward, funny, and everything I want to see in a side character. He was relatable and, if I were to consider myself one person in this novel, it would be Declan 100%.
> It opens up the philosophical question: are monsters really monsters, or are people the real evil?

What needs some work:
> I'm not sure if this is something that will be edited by release, but there is a LOT of untranslated Irish in this book. It's mostly offhanded comments, but there are periods where there are lines of text written in a foreign tongue. I would like to either see a direct translation in the text, or an appendix at the end with the translations that a person like me (who can't speak, read, or understand the language) can cross-reference. I feel like I missed a very mic-drop climactic moment because it was written in Irish and was so much text that it would have been difficult to put into a translator. And had I taken the time to get a rough translation on my own, the moment that had been building up would have disappeared.
>The characters feel 1 one-dimensional. I love Declan and I love Natalie, and I love the friendship that blossoms later on in the book, but there is no real growth of characters. People are what you expect them to be. At a few points, we see snippets into interesting facets of side characters, but the details don't get explored in a way that makes me wonder why they were mentioned at all.
> The ending fell flat for me. I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of build-up for a very rushed (and, dare I say, "easy") payoff. Weeks of fighting uphill battles through the novel are tied up in a pretty bow in a single chapter.

While The Burial Tide didn't reinvent horror for me, it was still a good read. If you're into folklore, I say give this one a try!! It may not wow you but it will make for a good night or two of reading.

An original contribution to the folk horror canon.

Mara wakes in the dark, buried alive, with no memory of who she is or how she came to be underground. When she claws her way back to the surface, she’s met with a story: a deadly plague has swept through the remote Irish island she now finds herself on, and somehow, she has survived. A man insists he’s her husband. The townsfolk greet her with cautious reverence. But nothing feels right. There’s something off in their glances, their silences. And the house by the water calls to her in ways she can’t explain.

The Burial Tide is a triumph; a visceral blend of Irish folklore, psychological horror, and creeping dread, uniquely told through the lens of a mythology we rarely see explored in this way. Sharpson’s prose is razor-sharp, and the descriptions of mythological creatures are rendered in such vivid detail they practically crawl off the page. I was especially struck by how grounded the narrative remains, even as it veers into the uncanny. The wry humour and compelling ensemble cast offer just enough levity to keep the story from tipping into despair, while still holding space for terror and the monstrous.

There’s a romantic subplot that I could have done without, and a few secondary characters who felt underdeveloped, but these are minor notes in an otherwise standout novel.

The Burial Tide is a confident and original addition to folk horror. Sharpson has created something genuinely striking here, and I hope it’s only the beginning of his work in the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Burial Tide is a fun and twisty Irish folklore. Where we follow Mara, who just woke up in a coffin and realizes that she'd been buried alive. Luckily, she escapes, but oddly has no memory of her life before being buried and must figure out how she got there to begin with. To make her situation more complicated, it seems like everyone she encounters on Inishbannock is acting suspicious around her. I really enjoyed the irish folklore aspect and the rural island atmosphere with it’s gritty locals. The characters were charming and the steady pacing made this an easy read. Having said that, I would’ve rated this slightly higher if the characters had more depth to them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for this Advanced Reader Copy.

I read Sharpson’s debut novel Knock Knock, Open Wide earlier this year and it instantly became a new favorite! I absolutely love the way Sharpson weaves Celtic mythology and horror into haunting tales set in a modern-day Ireland. And, in The Burial Tide, Sharpson delivers that yet again!

My only minor issues with Knock Knock were that I felt the disparate threads didn’t really feel cohesive by the end and there were a few too many threads left incomplete. However, The Burial Tide perfectly improves on this issue. The writing is amazing, the character work is so compelling, and the mysteries and plot twists keep you on the edge throughout. I read this entire book more or less in one sitting because I simply couldn’t put it down.

I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy when it comes out.

Go raibh míle maith agat, Neil Sharpson! Already can’t wait for your next one.

A moonlit path strewn with thousands of small teeth. A decapitated head calling hello from atop a brick wall. A sea awash in bounty and tranquility that hides a terrible vengeance. When Mara Fitch wakes in a coffin on Innishbannock, she must first claw her way out of the grave and then piece together the bits of her shattered memory to understand the monstrous secrets of the island, the strangeness of the villagers, and her place in the horrifying puzzle.

The Burial Tide opens with Mara finding herself buried alive, setting the tone of outright horror for the whole book. In the beginning, I was reminded of David Barnett’s Withered Hill, which I read last year and also loved. The setup of a woman with no memory suddenly finding herself in a remote village with strange customs and even stranger people is undeniably similar (side note to readers who took issue with the sexism in Withered Hill: you won’t find that here). But the further I read, the greater the differences were, and Sharpson’s book is more viscerally horrifying right from the jump. That first scene, while mercifully brief, had me feeling the suffocation and panic experienced by Mara thanks to the author’s evocative writing. The Burial Tide also drips with more palpable hostility from the villagers and the island’s mysteries, and you feel a much greater sense of danger for Mara and her allies from the start. And while the villagers were that much more sinister, Mara, Declan and Natalie were entirely sympathetic. I cared about these characters and was full of dread at the terrors they faced.

There are some scenes and descriptions of body horror and creatures that were pretty wild and I absolutely loved it. These scenes and the malevolence of both the natural landscape and the people had me looking up the author’s other work and I realized that Sharpson is also the author of the excellent Knock, Knock, Open Wide, another novel dealing with Celtic folklore in modern-day Ireland. I think The Burial Tide is a tighter, and therefore more dread-infused, novel overall, although I did really like the earlier work. I hope Sharpson continues to write horror, as I will be eagerly awaiting his next book.

My only criticism might be that the real, primary villain (and there are plenty) in The Burial Tide was rather one-note, but this is just a minor quibble from me. The ending was entirely satisfying in so many ways, and this was an easy five stars. I stayed up way too late last night to finish this book, and I don’t do that often these days. I will definitely be ordering a physical copy to reread.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the digital advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. The Burial Tide will be released on September 9, 2025.

Sharpson's Knock Knock, Open Wide is a 2024 favourite read of mine, so I was really excited to read this.

Unfortunately I couldn't even finish it, DNFing at 72%. Most of the writing is done in short sentence fragments, which I assume was done in an attempt to impart suspense, but instead it comes across like a high schooler writing a scary story for English class.

The characters were flat, some of them downright stupid. Everything was confusing. At 72% I still had no real idea of what was going on, and by that point I just stopped caring.

The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson

4⭐⭐⭐⭐

The soil of Inishbannock cemented itself around my feet. The mud-like substance glued me to this single moment as I watched a woman erupt from her tomb buried beneath the grime of the Irish peaty soil. Mara’s vivisepulture had left her noticeably disheveled and confused, as one could imagine. I followed Mara at a distance, for who knows what infection she carried. That is why she was there, wasn’t it? An epidemic that the community had rid itself of by burying Mara alive, but how was she still living?

Neil Sharpson, our author, is a seamster of sorts and has sewn together an Irish island’s fated story. As the waves lap at the shoreline, the grey fog dissipates. The reader’s eyes gather focus as the characters become clearer. Inishbannock has a secret dating back hundreds of years. Year after year, fortunes shine upon the inhabitants, with pleasant weather and an abundance of food to sustain them. Sharpson’s hand lifts, and with each plunge of the needle into the fabric of Inishbannock’s existence, Mara is stitched as the focal point of the piece. In a bout of amnesia, Mara questions the townspeople she meets. The answers she receives are less than helpful, and in some strange way, they seem to lead her astray purposefully. Her curiosity, ever tormenting, whisks her away to olden times, a timeline of doppelgangers, but how could that be possible? Mara, of the present, remains puzzled by pictures of the past. This woman is certainly Mara, captured through a lens, and yet the clothes of yesteryear and various husbands draw red flags. Something is amiss.

My head emerged from reddish-brown stalks; the “Froach,” or bog myrtle, sweet in aroma, uplifting my senses. I had to be careful, for our author Sharpson has another crafty idea. Out of the corner of my eye, a beast appeared, nothing quite lifelike or real, though. Of a truly insane nature, this creature had multiple mouths and was in a foul mood. Slithering my way along the dense flora, I snaked my way forward, avoiding detection from what was surely a secret unbeknownst to those on the mainland. What had I gotten myself into?

Gazing through holes in Irish crosses set in the cemetery, I glimpsed Mara befriending a man and a woman. A gentle breeze hit my face, and the impact of gunshots grabbed my full attention. That sweet aroma of plants has quickly turned to a smoky zest—a fire? Whatever Mara had found had certainly set danger in motion, and those in charge were looking to extinguish the truth. Were those people her friends or enemies in wolves' clothing?

The Burial Tide crashes through with mysterious fervor. The story will have you escaping the harshness of the elements, all while searching for the veracity of the townspeople. Who can you trust? Imagine those painted as do-gooders, only to understand their true motivations, and none of it benefits you. This is Mara’s life, sadly. When the reckoning comes, all will be revealed, and perhaps, dear reader, we had it all wrong.

A fantastic read!

Many thanks to Zando for the ARC through NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.

addicting, fast paced, and scary!! i loved the irish mythology mixed into the story and i loved the pacing of this book - it was perfect

incredibly fun and well-done horror drawing on folklore and some very interesting set-building and ominousness. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

‘The Burial Tide’ is a fantastic horror novel. The pace was set in the first few pages and did not let up until the story was over. The way the author was able to twist Irish mythology into a modern setting was amazing. The complex characters, the twists and turns. You do not want to miss this one‼

Thank you to NetGalley, Neil Sharpson, and Zando for the ARC.

When I say I couldn’t put this book down, I mean it with every fiber of my being. I was completely consumed from page one. Sharpson proves himself to be one of the most captivating storytellers writing today. Weaving together elements of body horror, folk horror, and psychological dread into a story that commands your full attention.

The island setting is so vividly rendered, it felt like I was right there alongside the characters, breathing the salt air, feeling the damp chill, and constantly glancing over my shoulder. The pacing is pitch perfect, the tension unrelenting, and the twists!! Let’s just say you won’t see them coming. And the horror isn’t just skin deep. Sharpson explores the monstrous in humanity as much as the supernatural, leaving you unnerved in the best way.

This is the kind of horror that seeps into your bones and lingers. Visceral, unsettling, and utterly unforgettable. Burial Tide is a must read. Don’t sleep on this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Neil Sharpson, and Zando for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Between this and Knock Knock, Open Wide, I can confidently say Neil Sharpson KNOWS how to write a first chapter. I went into this book blind but I was absolutely hooked after the opening pages! It grabbed me fast and kept my attention the whole time.

This entire book takes place on this small Irish island, and was so atmospheric I could practically smell the sea air. The village is full of people who have a secret, and the main character Mara has no idea who she can trust. Who is she really and how is she connected to the island? I really can’t say any more without spoiling— but if you like isolated, small town, folklore inspired creepy books, you’re gonna wanna pick this one up!