The Call by Peadar O’Guilin

Book of the Week: 30 October 2016

I hope you have all had a good half-term and are ready for a suitably frightening Book of the Week in time for Halloween. The Call depicts an Ireland that is now united against the Sidhe (pronounced ‘shee’), the fairy folk of Irish mythology.

The story opens on Nessa’s tenth birthday when she learns that most young people in the country have been taken by the Sidhe. Sometime during her teenage years, without warning, she will get ‘the call’ when she will be transported to the monstrous land of the Sidhe, the Grey Land. There the Sidhe will hunt her down. If she does not outrun them she will die. In our world this will last three minutes, in the Grey Land victims will need to run and hide for the entire day.

Four years later and Nessa is with her friend Megan on the way to survival camp where she will be trained in order to give her the best chance of coming back alive. She will need every bit of grit she can muster to withstand the horrors and to find alternative ways of coping – Nessa has been disabled by polio and runs using crutches.

The Call is grim and gripping and, although the teenagers-fighting-for-survival element is similar to books such as The Hunger Games, Insurgent and The Maze Runner, the writing and the folklore, as well as the truly disturbing experiences of those hunted in the the Grey Land, make it a fresh and exciting read. However, it is not for the faint-hearted and frank language and violent scenes make it more suitable for older readers.

There is a detailed interview with Peadar O’Guilin here.