Lovely writing, though some of the similes felt a bit heavy-handed. The pacing is nicely done, the plot moves along smoothly and I loved the setting in rural Ireland. 

Still - something was missing, the novel never quite "caught me". Possible reasons: The plot felt a bit trivial and drew on quite a lot of tropes. Some of the characters were rather stereotypical and uninteresting, in the sense that I didn't feel the need to follow their thoughts and try to understand their motivations. A bit... Forgettable?

I don't know.

But I look forward to reading whatever Barrett comes up with next - the writing really is brilliant.