The therapy house: Interesting premise but a mediocre read

I ventured into The therapy house as the premise intrigued me. I hadn't previously read anything by NZ-born, Dublin-based author, Julie Parsons. Unfortunately, The therapy house didn't motivate me to look for her other titles. It was a mediocre read for me. Check out my review to see why.

The therapy house | Published April 2017 | Read January 2025

OK, so the book is essentially about retired Garda Inspector, Michael McLoughlin, who lives next door to a prominent Dublin judge who is murdered at the beginning of the story. McLoughlin buys a grand but crumbling house in a posh neighbourhood and was renovating the property in retirement, along with doing some private investigative work. The therapy house of the title refers to McLoughlin's' new home, both in its past use as a counselling and medical practice and its potential for its own therapeutic influence on McLoughlin. As the investigation into the judge's murder progresses, McLoughlin discovers that it may be linked to the death of his police officer father decades earlier at the hands of the IRA.

First of all, I need to read up on my Irish history as I found the Dublin setting confusing with the IRA angle. I understand the history of the creation of the Republic of Ireland in the 1920s, but I thought that IRA activity during the height of the Troubles was mostly in Northern Ireland. The supposed links to the Troubles didn't really work for me as I felt the story would have been better set in Belfast, or the IRA connection left out altogether. There was enough other stuff going on not to need it.

I also found the cast of characters hard to keep track of and that's not usually a problem for me. It might have been because Parsons doesn't draw them well and they seem to blend into together. I did like that the book involved characters in their later years, bearing the burdens of a shared history and past traumas. I also liked the way Parsons handled the character with dementia. Those things made the novel somewhat unique and added a layer of interest.

I persevered and made it to the end, but I had trouble connecting with The therapy house. Michael McLoughlin has the potential to be a great character, he just felt a bit flat to me. I didn't connect with Parson's style of writing, either. I kept hoping the book would get better, but it didn't. The pace is slow and whatever messages Parsons is trying to convey aren't explored convincingly enough.

Rating: ⭐⭐