Kerry author whose work featured on Apple TV is back with a new book

The new literary thriller by the Kerry man, who now lives in Japan, is described as his most “atmospheric and unsettling novel to date.”

It comes after the Killarney native made headlines last year when one of his books was made into series for Apple TV putting him into the limelight

‘Sunny’ was based on Colin’s novel ‘The Dark Manual’ but the title of the book was changed to coincide with the TV series which featured Rashida Jones – of both ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ fame – and Hidetoshi Nishijima, one of Japan’s most well known actors, star of Oscar winner ‘Drive My Car’.

It tells the story of American woman Suzie living in Kyoto, Japan, whose life is upended when both her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash.

As ‘consolation’ for her loss she’s given Sunny, one of a new class of domestic robots made by her husband’s electronics company. Though at first Suzie resents Sunny’s attempts to fill the void in her life, gradually they develop an unexpected friendship and uncover the dark truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family.

Following this success the Ardshanavooley man’s latest novel tells of the story of three musicians —Maiko Mikami, a mercurial Japanese lead singer, and her two foreign male bandmates—who come to a forest house seeking inspiration but instead find something much stranger.

What begins as a creative retreat becomes a fever dream of dread and dissolution. Are they descending into madness—or awakening something darker?

This literary thriller delivers lyrical prose and slow-burn psychological horror in equal measure according to its reviews.

The Killarney native’s first novel, Killarney Blues, a crime novel influenced by his home town picked up the prestigious French Prix Mystère de la Critique award in 2018.

Colin who is his 50’s left Ireland in 1999 and has lived in Aomori, northern Japan, for about 20 years where he works as an English teacher in a high school. He is married to Yuki and has two children.

His work has been widely published, translated, and acclaimed and his latest novel is hoped will once again get the same attention.