Jess Kidd has a PhD in Creative Writing from St. Mary’s University. She grew up as a part of a large family from Mayo and now lives in London with her daughter. Himself is her first novel. She is currently at work on a second novel and a collection of short stories.One of Kidd's ten essential supernatural mysteries, as shared at Publishers Weekly:
Beyond Black by Hilary MantelRead about another entry on the list.
The real mystery in Mantel’s darkly comic novel is the protagonist’s past, which is a riddle not easily solved. Alison is astage-show medium, traveling the circuit, picking up a dour helper, Colette, en route. While Alison gives her clients comfort she knows that the afterlife is not a place of peace. Alison has her own methods of keeping her own traumatic past at bay, but history keeps resurfacing. I love this book for Mantel’s deft use of magic realism to create vile, heckling, down-to-earth ghosts. But also for the way in which Beyond Black explores how we deal with the phantoms of childhood, especially when that childhood is deeply damaged.
Beyond Black is among Sarah Porter's five top books with unusual demons and devils.
--Marshal Zeringue
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