The Driftwood #12: Recommended Reads

If you’re not into holiday cheer, how about a dark and creepy psychological suspense? The tragically underrated Darling Jim begins with Dublin mailman Niall discovering the diary of one of the three Walsh sisters, two of whom were recently found dead, along with their aunt, in their home. As Niall delves into Fiona Walsh’s journal, he becomes wrapped up in how itinerant storyteller Jim Quick came to their Dublin suburb, enveloping local audiences in his seductive charisma.

At first, Jim’s stories seemed to be all Irish myth and charm, according to the diary. But it soon became clear that he’d cast himself as a snarling, murderous wolf in his dark tales—and he saw the women who crossed his path as easy prey. The sisters soon realized that the man who looked like a bad-boy hero out of a romance novel might actually have been a murderous psychopath. And they knew they had to bring him down.

When Fiona’s diary ends abruptly, Niall goes off in search of the rest of the story, discovering yet another piece of the puzzle in the form of Roisin Walsh’s journal. What really happened to the two deceased Walsh sisters? And where is Aoife, the third? Niall is determined to discover the truth, but he may not if Darling Jim discovers him first.

Fair warning: The opening frame story is terrible, but the rest of Darling Jim is a masterful layering of psychological suspense with Irish fairy tales. The compelling plot and deep characterization both moved and terrified me. Skim through the first chapter in Niall’s point of view and get to the diary as quickly as you can. Once you do, I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down.