One Came Back

Starts intriguing, soon becomes creepy, moves swiftly on to downright unsettling. - Sharon Bolton, author of THE SPLIT

Dark and devastating, with a beautifully realised Highland setting, One Came Back delves into an eerie obsession where nothing is quite what it seems. When Emily sees an old childhood friend in Edinburgh at New Year she is transfixed - because Nicky has been dead for twenty years. McDonagh's prose is spare and intimate, pulling the reader into the claustrophobia of Emily's mind as she becomes fixated on Nicky and the things he seems to know about her. A portrait of limerence and the enduring importance of teenage years and experiences, this is a story that haunts you long after you've left the page. - Heather Critchlow, author of UNSOLVED

I found this compelling and genuinely eerie. There's a fever-dream

quality to it but also a directness of gaze which makes the whole story

of loss and confused identity feel distinctly plausible. Rose McDonagh

has woven such a closely layered and claustrophic tale that I was left

guessing all the way through. I didn't see the ending coming but when it

did I realised how cleverly she had in fact been leaving a trail to

follow. I was so impressed with the way she combines oddness with

ordinariness - and how complex and frightening scenes are described with

such clear-eyed precision. Apart from anything else, I always approve of

novels which don't abandon the small-scale and the hum-drum - which is,

of course, exactly what adds to the chilling effect here. - Ruth Thomas, author of THE SNOW AND THE WORKS ON THE NORTHERN LINE

One Came Back is a haunted and haunting gothic thriller about how grief and obsession obscure memory. Creeping, dark and twisty: like scaling a mountain, and peering over the sheer drop at the edge. - Jenna Clake, author of DISTURBANCE

A hugely impressive debut. It left me reeling. A mesmerising and powerful ghost story that delves deep into memory and the emotional landscapes of grief. Rose McDonagh is a rare talent and a masterful storyteller. - Devika Ponnambalam, author of I AM NOT YOUR EVE

A gripping mystery, that balances its eerie, page-turning plot with poetic and moving insights into grief and the porous boundaries between reality and illusion. McDonagh observes so beautifully the haunting and uncanny coincidences life presents us with. I loved it. - Lucy Ribchester, author of MURDER BALLAD