posted on 11 Sep 2025

The Mad Road by Laurie Cusack

Back in 2016 we were fortunate here at The Letterpress Project to be given the chance to exclusively publish a short story from Laurie Cusack entitled Mountain Men. Now we have the chance to read and review his first book of ten short stories, The Mad Road, first released in 2023, which features Mountain Men as the finale to the collection.

Cusack’s subjects are all what he himself describes as ‘scraped’ from the ‘underbelly of the Irish diaspora’ and his literary influences are clear to see - John McGahern, Kevin Barry, Eimear McBride, Claire Keegan and Colin Barrett. But that’s not to say that Cusack is just a patchwork or pastiche of these influences – he has his own distinctive and often uncompromising voice. Alongside the desperation, the complex urban landscapes, the bad-judgements and grim realities of lives always on the very edge, Cusack, like McGahern, can find those quiet, still moments of reflection or, like Kevin Barry, those bitter, sardonic moments of humour.

The stories are short and don’t overstay their welcome but cover an interesting range. I thought the opening story The Bottle and the Trowel – a narrative conducted through the eyes and mind of a young man sitting at the side of an unconscious workmate laid up in hospital following an accident on their building site – was a great opener. How will he resolve his moral dilemma: will he shop the building firm for their complicity in the accident or will he buckle to the threat of being put on a labour blacklist?

In Jig, Shane Kelly has to play out a dilemma of a different kind as his daughter, Alisha falls under the spell of Irish dancing a la Riverdance. How will Shane find the money to finance his daughter’s shot at fame? Well, an old friend Daryl might have the answer but it comes at a price.

Strays takes the tortured soul to a yet darker place as Sean’s mind is plagued with flashbacks to his past and his distress at the knowledge he carries with him about the truly evil abuser and paedophile, Tom Fahey. Does Fahey’s death wipe the slate clean or must Sean publicly acknowledge the evil in order to exorcise it – not just for him but for the community as a whole?

Although every story has its sting, not all of them plumb the very murkiest depths. Ball-Ache, for example, sees a man, Dermot Kelly, seeking counselling advice over the fact that his wife isn’t sympathetic towards his obsession for the Irish football team and what it means to him. His only problem is that the women he’s chosen to confide in has her own, very specific reasons for wanting to hear Dermot lay his soul out for her.

It will be interesting to see where Cusack goes next and whether he will stick with the short story format or try stretching out to novel length. Even before I actually noted Cusack’s own acknowledgement of his admiration for Kevin Barry, I was immediately minded to draw that comparison. And, as with Barry, it seems to me that there may well be something even more substantial coming along from Laurie Cusack in the future.

Published by Roman Books, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop who will be happy to order it for you. Alternatively, you can order from the website at https://romanbooks.co.in/product/the-mad-road/

 

Terry Potter

September 2025