Booklist: Sharpson (Knock Knock Open Wide, 2023) presents another homage to Irish folklore and the creatures that inhabit it, though this time he takes a different approach. On the first page of The Burial Tide, readers meet a woman who is quite literally fighting her way out of a buried coffin. She escapes but has no memory of herself or her life and must rely on those living on an out-of-the-way Irish island to help her. However, Mara (and the reader) quickly realizes that things are not what they seem and that these people are dangerous . . . but Mara herself might be even worse. Sharpson uses horror tropes in new and exciting ways to meditate on the themes of what makes a monster and how a simple adjustment to perspective can change someone’s life for the better, or worse. His prose perfectly encapsulates the isolation of the island and the desperate needs of the people on it, and his fans will love it, as will those who like T. Kingfisher’s dark fairy tales.
Aug 192025