Becca, Andy, Cian and Dreamy. They jokingly call themselves ‘the Shackles’ because they can never escape each other in their small Irish town. But after they cover up a fatal hit-and-run the school friends’ fates are truly shackled together.

December 26, 1999. On the cusp of the new millennium, the nineteen-year-olds are going home after an alcohol-fuelled night out their local town. In the freezing darkness, their car hits something or someone. Three out of the four make a split-second decision to keep going; the fourth has already blacked out. The next morning, when they hear a neighbour’s body has been found on the side of the road, they decide to cover up their involvement in the fatal incident.

In the years that follow the four friends attempt to forge futures in and away from Ballylea, drifting apart though occasionally colliding. But when they start receiving hostile anonymous emails five years after incident, it’s clear that someone knows their secret and may expose it at any moment.

In 2026, deputy publisher Patricia Deevy, at Penguin Sandycove acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Shackles.

She says: “The Shackles is an astonishing novel about the corrosive toll of guilt on a group of friends. Conor’s brilliantly drawn characters are recognisable and authentic, his sense of place is impeccable, and the sustained sense of tension is off the charts. Like all the best crime fiction, The Shackles is equal parts gripping and thought-provoking, and I believe readers will be blown away by it.”