Darkrooms
The must-read debut thriller of 2026! Dark, twisty and shocking
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 15 Jan 2026
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- 12,99 €
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- Pre-Order
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- 12,99 €
Publisher Description
'Haunting, fast-paced and unforgettable' KARIN SLAUGHTER
'Astonishing' LUCY ROSE
A chilling thriller' PETER SWANSON
A masterful, menacing debut' ANNA BAILEY
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Two girls went into the Hanging Woods. Only one returned.
Twenty years ago Caitlin vowed never to return to her small Irish hometown. Now she drifts from temporary jobs to temporary men, trying to escape memories of the Hanging Woods. Of what happened to Roisin there.
But with news of her estranged mother's sudden death, Caitlin is forced to return home, back to the town where everyone knows each other's business and old resentments run deep.
Roisin's sister Deedee, now a Garda, has never given up on finding the truth of what happened in those woods. And Caitlin's return makes old wounds fresh, threatening to exhume secrets that have lain buried for two decades - while the Hanging Woods begin their siren call to Caitlin and Deedee once more . . .
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FIVE-STAR READER REVIEWS OF DARKROOMS
'Honestly this is one of the best books I've ever read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'the novel grips you with its atmospheric tension and emotional resonance' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'No matter what theories I formed, I was still no where close to figuring out the final twists' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Hannigan has gone above and beyond in building astonishingly raw, brutal, real characters' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'If you like dark twisty mystery thrillers you have to keep an eye out for this one' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'This is a gripping, masterfully written debut' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Hannigan's somber debut, pickpocket Caitlin Doherty leaves London for her hometown of Bannakilduff, Ireland, after learning that her alcoholic mother, Kathleen, has died. Though Caitlin is happy to reconnect with Colm and Maureen Branagh, the amiable couple who rented their gatehouse to Kathleen, she's less enthused to cross paths with the gruff Deedee O'Halloran, a rookie cop whose sister, Roisin, vanished 20 years earlier. The last place nine-year-old Roisin was seen was in the notoriously creepy Hanging Woods, where she was playing with Caitlin—a fact that has long convinced Deedee that Caitlin is hiding something major about the case. Returning to Bannakilduff forces Caitlin to relive traumatic childhood memories and reignites her irrational fears of a monster that haunts the Hanging Woods. Hannigan renders the downward spirals of Caitlin, Deedee, and Kathleen with gut-wrenching specificity, though the proceedings become almost overwhelmingly bleak. Still, the plot's slow burn heats up at just the right pace, and the twists excite without straining plausibility. Readers will look forward to Hannigan's next outing.
