Review of Keshed by Stu Hennigan, The Irish Times, 28 February 2026, p. 26:

This unflinching fiction debut channels the entire history of British kitchen-sink realism. Young anti-hero Sean Molloy escapes miraculously from a life dedicated to “self-annihilation” into one of incipient domestic bliss. Although set mainly in the noughties, Sean feels the old days are “close enough to touch” as though he had “lived it all himself”. With atavistic inevitability, he slides back into his bad old ways. This is foreshadowed by the experimental white-knuckle opening scene: one of five manic episodes describing an unfolding tragedy. The switch from third- to second- and even first-person narration is almost imperceptible, leading to a sense of entrapment within the Yorkshire vernacular, whose formidable verve is also the novel’s veritable powerhouse. Heartbreaking yet exhilarating.