Book review: Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan

Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan was a mixed bag for me. I didn’t particularly like either of our two lead characters…. though Hannigan doesn’t try to make them particularly sympathetic or likeable. And the plot itself felt a little disjointed. At times it felt obvious where it was heading and who was responsible for the disappearance of 9 year old Roisin (I should mention the book’s title doesn’t help), but then we’d be given new information that was inconsistent with what we thought we knew or what we were told. And at one stage the guilty party confesses which felt somewhat anticlimactic. Though Hannigan does throw in an unexpected twist or two.

Twenty years ago Caitlin vowed never to return to her small Irish hometown. Now she drifts from temporary jobs to temporary men, trying to escape memories of the Hanging Woods. Of what happened to Roisin there.

But with news of her estranged mother's sudden death, Caitlin is forced to return home, back to the town where everyone knows each other's business and old resentments run deep.

Roisin's sister Deedee, now a Garda, has never given up on finding the truth of what happened in those woods. And Caitlin's return makes old wounds fresh, threatening to exhume secrets that have lain buried for two decades - while the Hanging Woods begin their siren call to Caitlin and Deedee once more . . .

My thoughts

Deedee has recently joined the police in the hope of looking into her sister’s disappearance twenty years earlier. She’s living with her long-term boyfriend and has a seemingly settled life, however she spirals here and I wasn’t sure if that behaviour is normal or if it’s in response to events unfolding. Caitlin is living in London and has not returned to Ireland since her best friend Roisin disappeared. She’s estranged from her mother Kathleen – who has since returned to Ireland. We learn Kathleen has a reputation for drinking and partying hard, though when we revisit her past through Caitlin’s memories she’s occasionally had her life together. Caitlin however seems to be a bit of a grifter. We certainly learn more about her past but I would have liked a little more backstory on her transition from young talented art student to occasional thief.

When Caitlin returns to Ireland to bury her mother she’s forced to revisit the events of twenty years earlier, her arrival coinciding with the return of a police suspect from that time. Deedee believes Caitlin knows more than she shared about her sister’s disappearance and takes the chance to question her again.

Hannigan gives us some hints about the motivation behind Roisin’s death or disappearance through references to other events taking place at the time. Some of it didn’t come as a surprise but Hannigan does add a few extra twists and even those who thought they knew what happened at the time were misled, which I liked. Ultimately however my lack of empathy with either main character meant that I wasn’t as invested in the plot or outcome as I would liked to have been.

Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan will be published by Sphere publishing (Hachette in Australia) and available in mid January 2026.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.