At its center, Colin Barrett's debut novel Wild Houses, which was published in 2024, is about the lengths people will go to when they are desperate. Barrett's novel follows a young man named Dev Hendrick, whose life in Ireland up until the start of the novel has been an unmitigated disaster. His mother recently died and his father has been confined to a mental hospital for quite some time; as a result, Dev has struggled to earn a living, forcing him to turn to becoming a drug mule for his dimwitted cousins. One day, after babysitting a shipment of drugs, Dev becomes involved in a kidnapping plot with a sinister man called Cillian English wherein they will kidnap Cillian's teenage brother Doll, who is fairly unintelligent man but is someone that engenders a lot of good-will towards him. Throughout his novel, Barrett discusses the Hijinx surrounding the kidnapping attempt and the boy's associated drug business, revealing each character to be mischievous and devious, but complex in their own ways.
Typically, authors coming out with their debut novel aren't afford the same kind of fanfare Colin Barrett was with this novel. That's because of Barrett's two previous short story collections, which were unexpected hits. American author Dennis Lehane wrote a mostly positive review of the novel in The New York Times, saying "In Colin Barrett’s nimble hands — save for the occasional adverb so obtrusive and unnecessary it muddies what it’s supposed to make clear — the lives of a small collective of mournful souls become vibrant before us, and their yearning is depicted with wistfulness."
