Safe Return Doubtful

Irish Literature – published July 2026

In early spring at an Irish bog a man watched while his lurcher digs. He even joins in, and returns to the bog with tools over the next days to eventually unearth an ancient elk antler.

In the same bog in a different timeline, Tomás and his team of turf-cutters put down their equipment and stare, at first in horror, at the question-mark shape of a corpse.

In fact there are the stories of four characters, woven together, all interacting with the bog. Tomás‘s find, the Bog Woman, is central though, to the mystery. Its solution defies even newer archeological technology. The characters are wonderfully described, all at important junctions in their lives, becoming unemployed, at the brake of a relationship, or dealing with loss.

Armstrong’s timing is perfect, a few paragraphs dealing with such an event in their life, then the plot advances in thrilling sentences.

It is difficult to find fault here. Chapters begin with a page or so on the nature of the bog, at that particular time of year; Armstrong shows a deft ability to repeatedly craft a layered and poetic sentence, and to set an atmosphere.

My GoodReads score 5 / 5