This fall, new horror novels are in abundance. Every week through September, there are at least three coming to bookstores. We are eating good this autumn. This makes us crave stories that chill us as we burrow under our cozy blankets and grab a warm drink. The Burial Tide, Neil Sharpson’s newest novel, transports you to Ireland. It is brimming with cinematic horror, Irish folklore, and the stuff of nightmares. So, let’s talk about it.
The Burial Tide begins on Inishbannock, an eerily quiet island off the coast of Ireland. We discover a woman quite literally buried alive. She awakens to a sound, with no memory, mud and debris filling her grave, suffocating. She has to claw her way out to survive. Upon surfacing, she still cannot remember how she got there. She finds her way to a nearby house and is soon discovered by the owner. But, we soon find out, not everyone is happy to see Mara Fitch is back.
Layered on top of Mara’s mystery, Inishbannock itself harbors a terrible secret. In The Burial Tide, we observe as strange figures watch from its dark edges and some roads are covered in … broken teeth? We meet two brothers who gamble for nothing, a doctor who only treats the dead, and the local pub owner who speaks in riddles. Everyone claims all is well and everything is fine, but it feels anything but. As Mara returns to her life on this strange and eerie island, her memories begin to find their way back to her, lurking just beneath the surface. Her past will not stay buried and the islanders are hell bent on keeping her from the truth.
Mara’s re-entry to the community is uneasy and tense. The warmth of familiarity is undercut by feelings of alienation, a sense of belonging but not fitting. The emotional terrain is bleak, sitting in the silences, unspoken words, and awkward moments. These offer uncomfortable scenes that just scream at the reader that there is something seriously wrong in Innishbannock. The inhabitants are cryptic and strange. They avert their eyes when Mara enters a room. What is going on in this community? Why do they sometimes call her by a different name?
As Mara’s memory slowly returns, it is like the tide itself, surging forward then pulling back, some things visible but just out of reach. This structure mirrors the unforgiving sea that surrounds the island and the seals that inhabit these waters. The effect is disorienting but deliberate, leaving us wondering what is real and what is false. But we soon learn that what has been buried, whether it be in the earth or the mind, will inevitably resurface.
Sharpson’s The Burial Tide is a novel of atmosphere and ache. Ache for the truth, ache to find one’s self and ache to escape a place that is gunning to be your personal hell. Sharpson turns his attention to creating a haunting terrain, where every lurking figure is out to kill. The threat and fear seep into our skin, slowly washing over us just like the frigid tide of the sea. The result is a tale that lingers with us long after it ends.
The Burial Tide is set in a coastal community that feels timeless, a place where the sea is both sustenance and threatening. Sharpson uses the setting as a backdrop, yes, but also as a character itself, embodying the inevitability of return and truth, trying to unsuccessfully wash back what has been cast away.
The Burial Tide is told though multiple perspectives and incorporates the claustrophobic small town mystery with gnarly body horror and horrifying monsters straight out of Irish mythology. Some of these scenes had me audibly reacting. Cinematic and effective, Sharpson writes some of the most frightening creatures I have ever read about. What do these creatures seek? What really happened to Mara? And why is everyone determined to keep her from finding out? You will soon have your answers as The Burial Tide was published yesterday, September 10, 2025, from Zando Projects. Thank you Emily for sending me an ARC.
Neil Sharpson is an Irish Writer’s Centre Novel Fair-winning author and playwright living in Dublin with his wife and two children. He is the author of When The Sparrow Falls (a London Times’ 10 best science fiction novels of 2021) and Knock Knock, Open Wide (“a high-water mark for the Irish horror novel” – Publisher’s Weekly). He is also the author of Don’t Trust Fish, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat. For weekly updated, follow his comedic review blog Unshaved Mouse.
Image courtesy of publisher
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