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The Counting Game

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About this listen

 *A SUNDAY INDEPENDENT HOT DEBUT AUTHOR OF 2025*

Into the woods.

Count to ten.

Only one of us comes home again.

1995, Ireland. Panic grips the village of Drumsuin when a teenage girl goes missing in the nearby forest.

Saoirse is not the first girl to disappear in those woods. And when it’s revealed she was playing the Counting Game that day – a ritual believed to ward off the forest’s evils – old superstitions send the community into turmoil.

One person saw what happened to Saoirse. But 9-year-old Jack won’t tell the Gardai. Freya, an English psychotherapist with her own history of grief, is brought in to help the investigators break his silence.

As the race to find Saoirse alive accelerates, can Freya make Jack talk? Why is he keeping the forest’s secrets? And who is hell bent on driving Freya out of Drumsuin before the truth is discovered?

The Counting Game is a deeply haunting, atmospheric and emotional mystery, from an unmissable new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Tana French, Erin Kelly and Belinda Bauer

©2025 Sinead Nolan (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers Crime Fiction Fantasy Genre Fiction Mystery Psychological Small Town & Rural Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Game

Critic reviews

‘This is an astonishing study of guilt and grief wrapped up in a mystery that points to a very dark time in Irish history. It is both intriguing and enthralling and beautifully written’ Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond

‘Tense and haunting from start to finish, The Counting Game delivers a chilling blend of mystery and dark folklore. A compelling and unforgettable read’ Emiko Jean, New York Times bestselling author of The Return of Ellie Black

‘The tangle of grief and guilt is a kind of haunting in this beautifully wrought and atmospheric mystery. Emotional, deep, and enthralling, The Counting Game takes us deep into the woods of superstition and buried secrets to explore with unflinching humanity all the ways in which we harm and save each other. A remarkable, moving, debut, not to be missed’ Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Served Him Right

‘The Counting Game is a striking debut steeped in Irish myth and history. Sinead Nolan has written a richly layered psychological thriller that explores the long shadow of trauma and the tangled bonds of family. Atmospheric and surprising’ Caitlin Mullen, author of Please See Us

‘Beautifully crafted, chillingly atmospheric’ LoveReading Debut of the Month

‘Clever and compulsive’ Irish Examiner

All stars
Most relevant
The actress who played Freya’s pronunciation of the Gardai drove me nuts throughout the book nearly ruined it for me

Interesting

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Gripping story to the back drop of an Irish village. Good use of Irish history as a backing. Really captured the small village mindset.

Only gripe with the performance was that the reader for “Freya” kept mispronouncing the word Gardai (Gard-ee). Very minor but as an Irish person it was a bit annoying considering how heavily they were involved in the plot.

Irish thriller

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the mispronunciation of "Gardai" throughout this book. Narrator kept pronouncing it "Gard-I. Gardai pronounced GARDEE is the plural or collective noun of Garda. so annoying, lacked research maybe?

children's voices.

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