"Her hand squeezes his. ‘I plan to die like a warrior: fiercely and upright.’"
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Part love story, part ghost story, part redemption story, part dark comedy #Himself by Jess Kidd is wholly wonderful.
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Mahony, returns to Mulderigg on Ireland's west coast in search of a missing mother. He is determined to find the truth within a community that seeks to shut him out. Someone knows the answers to his questions but no one, living or dead, wants to share the answer.
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Mahony's story takes the reader into the mindset of a small town in 1976 & plays bare the prejudice shown towards unwed mothers, outsiders, & the power of superstition & religion.
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I knew Himself was going to be a great read only a few pages in because Kidd's writing created a film in my mind. I could see the characters, I could picture the church hall, I could feel the quiet of the forest. Kidd has created a world, that for me, may very well exist.
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I recommend this to readers of all tastes but as always, use your own discretion. You know what you like (or don't like).

On the face of it, not my normal read as I tend to steer clear of the supernatural. However, there was something about this book that drew me. The prologue did it's best to send me scuttling with a shocking opening but I persevered, and I was so glad I did, because this book is a gem.

Once Mahoney made his appearance, strolling into town with his long hair, loon pants and handsome charm, and it was clear that his appearance would unsettle more than the hormones of the majority of the female population. But he wasn't looking for love, or even a passing dalliance although if it happened ...

Mahoney was in Mulderrig for answers. Brought up by the nuns in a Dublin orphanage he'd been told in no uncertain terms he was unloved and unwanted, abandoned by a feckless mother. But a letter he's given when he's 26 reveals a different story, he was from Mulderrig Co. Mayo, he was called Francis Sweeney and his mother, Orla had loved him - past tense. So, he's here to find out what the village knows and more importantly what happened to his mother.

He finds himself staying at Rathmore House, a shadow of its former premium hotel self, along with its other long term guest Mrs Cauley. Mrs Cauley is an aging actress, also a shadow of her former self but living with the belief she was one of the greatest actresses of her age at the Abbey theatre. Her intimidating, pernickety demeanour is a barrier to most people but not Mahoney. They both see something in each other that draws them to each other. The other thing they both see are ghosts. They are not the chain rattling ghouls of horror stories, but the faded shadows of people who have shared the spaces they find themselves in. They watch, mutter, guide and protect, mostly with benevolence. There is nothing to induce sleepless nights here, in fact it might just make that dark shadow in the corner less of a concern.

Mahoney and Mrs Cauley are determined to find out what happened to Orla and in the process discover who Mahoney's father was/is - not easy given the number of candidates. Also not easy because certain people don’t want the truth to be revealed, somebody in the village knows exactly what happened to Orla because they were responsible for her disappearance.
I've been visiting Ireland since the early 1980's - not that far away from Mahoney's 1976 timeline and I was transported into a believable, authentic, backwater town in the wilds of Mayo. Everyone knows everyone else's business, feuds go back for decades, and secrets are preserved for decades. Mammies will gossip between themselves, Daddies will drink in the bar, but what happens in Muldrigg, stays in Muldrigg.
The book is inhabited by some big characters, not always likeable and possibly stereotypical at times, but then stereotypes exist for a reason, they universally represent a type that we recognise and so this is not meant as a negative comment. It’s a book that doesn’t shy away from the darker side of people’s natures and actions so it can at times be an uncomfortable read, but life can also be uncomfortable. What is never far away is the sense of the Ireland of myth and magic, the landscape and the surroundings are as much a character in the book, as the flesh and blood characters, and the ethereal departed. It’s a place where it isn’t hard to imagine that there is a thin veil between this world and the next.
It’s a book that I found absolutely bewitching. What held me captive was not just the unfolding mystery of what happened to Orla, but the almost fairy tale quality and lyrical beauty of the writing. It is a literary tour de force.

A well crafted novel with mystery and a touch of the supernatural, set in a village in Ireland. Full of comedic prose which will put a smile on your face, it's a book I really enjoyed.

I look forward to reading more of Jess Kidd.

loved that book and have read all of Jess Kid's books since then. She hasn't disappointed me. With every book she created a new world and her characters, whilst flawed, are always believable. A great writer.

Unfortunately, I never got around to reading this book while it was available.

I absolutely loved this genre bending, darkly humorous book. Opening with the brutal murder of a very young woman in the fictional village of Mulderrig on the west coast of Ireland in the 1950s, Himself initially reads as a crime novel. As the novel jumps forward 20 odd years, to the arrival of handsome Dublin orphan Mahony – armed only with a tip his mother had been taken from him in Mulderrig, and that he shouldn’t trust anyone in the village – we move from a crime genre to something harder to define. We journey with Mahony into an unravelling of the dark heart of what happened to his mother, and what secrets the village – haunted in many ways – holds. There’s a surrealism that is at times David Lynchian – but with the humour of Flann O’Brien. Jess Kidd had me at “Just look at her, she’s a sex-mad culchie”.

Mahony takes up residence in a B&B with a long-term occupant – the aging actress Mrs Cauley – who shares Mahony’s affinity with the supernatural and a love of mysteries. Their relationship leads to the hatching of an improbable plot involving staging a riotous village production of The Playboy of the Western World as a method of uncovering the truth about what happened to Mahony’s mother. There are some plot threads that aren’t resolved, partly as there are as many ghosts in the novel as there are the living – particularly haunting is the constant appearance of Ida, a little girl without the back of her head who wants Mahony to play with her. While some balls are dropped, for this reader it didn’t really matter – I enjoyed going along for the ride. Frankly I would love to see a Mrs Cauley spin-off – she’s a brilliant character. I totally forgave any of the elements of the book that didn’t knit together, and look forward to reading more from Jess Kidd.

Not my kind of book. The plot sounded promising but I felt it didn't follow through

Inventive, well plotted, filled with compelling characters and also just bloody funny. Probably the best book of 2017.

When Mahoney returns to the place he was born, the small Irish village of Mulderrig, it doesn't take long for the locals to figure out who he is.

He is the son of the town trouble maker, a devil girl and a teenage whore. There are stories of how she simply left town one day, some seeing her get the bus, with or without her son, others saying they simply saw her walk away. With no solid evidence and a single photo of his mother, Mahoney is back to uncover the truth.

Throwing himself in to village life he soon learns that his mother's sins have not been forgotten and although his good looks endear him to many of the female residents, most of the village see him as a outsider looking for trouble. He finds one true friend in the village of Mulderrig, the flamboyant, elderly actress, Mrs Cauley, one of the few people who people who fretted over the fate of his mother. Cauley is positive that Mahoney's mother is dead but with no evidence they're forced to team up and investigate the locals to dig up the truth. But when a secret has been buried so long, there's always someone who will do anything to keep it that way. And if Mahoney didn't have enough to handle with the living, now the dead are talking to him as well.

From the explosive violence in the opening pages this novel gives the impression it's going to be an incredibly dark read but Jess Kidd weaves a wonderful tale of mystery, humor, violence and friendship into something utterly wonderful. The village of Mulderrig is packed with some of this most vivid characters I've read in ages. Mahoney (who I couldn't help but imagine as actor Joseph Gilgun from Preacher) is a lovable rogue, a small time criminal with a heart of gold and you warm to him immediately. Cauley couldn't care less what people think of her, is over the top and fabulous, bringing a lighthearted side to story.

This genre mash up is the perfect example of how well it can work. If you're looking for something unique and fun, look no further. I was so sad to turn the final page and say goodbye to Mahoney but I can't wait for more from Jess Kidd.