The Troubles made Northern Ireland a ghost factory: as the manufacturing industry withered the death business boomed. The voices of those ghosts – and ones from earlier in Irish history – have influence on the locals’ lives, and random acts of violence have unforeseen and terrible effects.
In trying to come to terms with his father’s sudden death and the attack on his harmless best friend Titch, Jacky is forced to face the bullies who still menace a city scarred by conflict. After he himself is attacked he flees to London to build a new life. But even in the midst of a burgeoning love affair he hears the ghosts of his past echoing in his head, pulling him back to Belfast, crying out for retribution and justice.
Written with verve and flair, and interleaved with humour, The Ghost Factory marks the arrival of an auspicious new talent.