Standout Prequel, The Castle By Tom O. Keenan, Takes Readers Back To The Beginning Of Psychosleuth’s Crime Solving Career

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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best book magazine in the UK“, in a prequel to his Sean Rooney Series, The Castle by Tom O. Keenan, the ‘death by suicide’ rates at Hillwood Psychiatric Hospital are unusually high, so Rooney gathers together an eclectic mix of inpatients to find out who, or what, is on a killing spree.

The Castle

In his prequel to Tom O. Keenan’s three-part thriller series, The Castle takes readers back to when Sean Rooney discovers his crime-solving expertise. Whether you’re already acquainted with Sean Rooney, or you’re going to ‘meet’ him for the first time, The Castle is an absolute must read.

In The Castle, aka Hillwood Mental Hospital, trainee psychologist Sean Rooney is having his first experiences  of working at a psychiatric facility, and his first pyschosleuth case. 

There are many secrets at The Castle, some going back hundreds of years, and now long-term patients are mysteriously killing themselves. The Hospital Management Team consider suicide in large mental hospitals as coming ‘with the turf’. Rooney doesn’t agree and after ‘going undercover’, believes there is more to these suicides.

The Castle doesn’t give up its secrets easily, whether historical, criminal, or supernatural. It takes a group of like-minded patients – a psychotic scientist, depressed philosopher, delusional vigilante, dope-head crime writer, autistic arsonist, wannabe detective, and a bipolar psychologist to find out who or what is killing patients at The Castle.

Further cementing Tom O. Keenan’s reputation as a critically acclaimed novelist, it is Keenan’s appreciation of how those with mental disorders tick, and his ability to then bring his characters alive with the appropriate foibles and traits, that sets his writing apart. 

Tom O. Keenan

I write because I just won’t do anything else. Over thirty years as a social worker in mental health care was my apprenticeship in understanding people and the dynamics that occur between them. It informs my writing. I live in Morar in the north west highlands of Scotland. The Father and The Family are set in Glasgow, which has a rich tradition in crime writing, with the kind of conflicts and characters which are a rich vein for a writer.

The Father was my first major literary work, The Family is the follow up and book two in the Sean Rooney psycho sleuth series. The third book, The Son, was published in early 2022. I put my head, heart and soul into my books. I write novels to move people, to stimulate consciousness, and to entertain.

–Tom O. Keenan

Brought up in Hamilton, Tom currently lives in Morar in the North West Highlands of Scotland, where he also writes plays, poems and songs. His critically acclaimed debut novel, The Father, was nominated for the 2014 CWA Debut Dagger. His writing is underpinned by more than 35 years of independent mental health social work experience. Tom additionally composes plays, sonnets and tunes.

Find more from Tom O. Keenan now:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/3EyDMit

Paperback: https://amzn.to/3RiMlW0

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