‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch    (2023) – 309 pages

‘Prophet Song’ begins with an ominous knock on the door. The Dublin wife Eilish answers the knock. It’s the newly formed Irish secret police, the Gardai. They want to speak to her trade unionist husband Larry. The police insist it is nothing to worry about, but they take him away since he is under investigation for agitating against the authoritarian government.

From then on, the wife and mother Eilish must fend by herself for her family. She has four children, teen Mark, adolescents Molly and Bailey, and baby Ben. Eilish finds that her family is being watched constantly. Her car is vandalized by thugs. Eilish is first sidelined in her work as a laboratory researcher and soon loses her job. Even her children are not left alone. The oldest son Mark must decide between being forced to work for the secret police or running away.

“Your son was most likely detained, but you should go to the morgue.”

‘Prophet Song’ has captured the menace of our times as more countries around the world fall into fascist authoritarian rule. Somehow I don’t expect that Ireland will be one of those countries that will make this huge mistake.

I do think that ‘Prophet Song’ could have been more effectively written, that the author has made some decisions that lessen its impact. My main concern is the author’s decision to write the story in the present tense.

“She turns again to face her son, thinking about how much more she has to lose, not just a husband but a son as well, grief upon grief is still more grief, watching her son as though suspended in time, his image graven to memory”

Using the present tense does lend a sense of immediacy to Eilish’s predicament as she moves from one terrible event to another involving the authoritarian government. However depth is sacrificed for immediacy. The reader does not get any insight or understanding into why or how this fascist regime got into power in the first place. Instead we get impressions and worries and dreams rather than facts.

“How can I even begin to explains this to the kids, that the state they live in is a monster?”

I wish there had been more of a thoughtful consideration of how this “monster” authoritarian government had taken over Ireland.

The entire novel is written in that single note of Eilish’s desperation. It would actually be more terrifying if there were a few good times for Eilish and her family between the horrifying events. We go from one desperate scene involving this mother and her children on to the next desperate scene. That makes reading this novel rather a chore.

Grade :    B-