The Magic Form of the Expressionless (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781739588809)

In small town Ireland lives Keehan Dang, a fantasist and vodka drinker in his early twenties who is struggling deeply with the emptiness of his existence and with the growing separation between his fantasy life and his increasingly dispiriting real life. He spends his days with his childhood friends James and Lisa, regressing into nostalgia for the past and finding ways to while away the hours as they battle with their particular demons. One day, while in a particularly despondent state Keehan finds a handwritten note from a stranger in an old second hand book, the contents of which both disturb and entice him in a way he's never felt before. He decides to take a trip to the city to track down the writer of the note, instigating a chain of events and meetings that will ultimately shape the future direction of his life.

Along the way he finds himself attracted by the strangely charismatic but deeply disturbed Daniel. When Daniel suddenly produces the handgun he's been hiding away we see the potential culmination of Keehan's path of growing bitterness and resentment. The urgent battle for Keehan now is to find a way to finally embrace life in a way he finds genuine and meaningful before he and Daniel are consumed totally by the romantic bitter emptiness of revenge which seems so alluring.